Bill has some good points but I do get the impression that some of his problems might be down to his attitude. Most student union systems seem to be run by people with little experience outside their own venue. They might have a perfectly workable way of doing things but if they're doing it in a completely different way to the rest of the industry then a visiting engineer isn't going to be impressed. I've often met student engineers who think that they know everything when they don't - which makes for a very difficult night. Bill, if you are finding that you are constantly battling with visiting engineers then maybe you need to have a good think about what you are doing differently. Maybe you need to spend time as an assistant on a large tour or something.

Your comment about channel assignments is one thing I would take issue with. I just wouldn't be happy if the engineer insisted on a strange channel layout. There is an industry convention for this and there is absolutely no reason to change unless you know that certain instruments will be missing. This convention extends not only to most of the live sound business but also to the recording business.

I'm also very suspicious of graphic eq's - especially if there are any boost settings or more than a few dB's of cut on any channel. If I saw a graphic eq setting that didn't look sensible then I'd be tempted to flatten it too. Monitor graphic eq settings won't be constant either because they totally depend on the stage layout and the distances between mics and monitors.

Cheers.

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net

Edited by James Perrett (17/05/05 10:19 AM)

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