“This is how
is works,” he said, “if the mixing console catches fire, you use one hand to
put it out while using the other to distract the client.” I was 19 when I was given this sage
piece of advice. The
new-high-school-graduate smell had not even worn off, and I was sitting in the
recording studio of Bob Singleton. I wanted to get into the recording industry
and he was willing to let me sit in on a few sessions. By far this is the best piece of advice
I have been given through my audio career, and I try to pass it on to anyone
who may have need of it.
Upon
realizing that I did not know a thing about the gear he was using, Bob
suggested I get a job in live sound to learn the ropes. Now pushing 35, I’m still thinking
about “growing up and getting a real job some day” in the recording business,
but in the mean time, I’m having a blast doing live sound.
Why do I
share this story? It’s because you
can be the most competent audio engineer, with degrees in acoustics and
engineering from any prestigious university, yet not be able to handle the
client. If that’s the case, you are not going to get many repeat customers and
you won’t be in the business for very long. At the risk of sounding preachy let me explain what I mean. (Trust me, even though I got this piece
of timely advice at an early age, I have had plenty of on-the-job learning... “ahem” opportunities.)
First of
all, I want to be clear about what this does
not mean, which is being dishonest with your client. This is a bad idea every time, and even
if I did not have a moral objection to that sort of thing, it is simply a bad
practice that will sooner or later lead to the demise of the relationship with
your client.
By way of
example, let me set up a scenario I’ve encountered first hand. San Diego Marriott, small corporate
show with 8 wireless mics, (this may start to sound familiar to some of you). A nice place to
do a show,
great weather, beautiful harbor views, and some great seafood close by finish the
scene. All indicators were pointing
towards a good, smooth running show until that military vessel cruised through
the harbor just outside the hotel and completely blitzed all of my wireless
frequencies. I’m not talking about
a few signal lights here and there getting above the noise floor, we’re talking
about the RF flood gates being opened, and for the space of 30 seconds or so
there was nothing but white noise being transmitted no matter where I dialed my
receiver frequencies. Fortunately
this was just a set up day, giving me several hours to answer the question
“what am I going to do about this potential problem?” Thirty seconds, in the scope of eternity, is a drop in the
in bucket, but thirty seconds of pure static acoustic energy during a show
feels like an eternity! Leaving this problem to work itself out was not an
option. I can also tell you that
calling the FCC and reporting the US Military to them would not do a bit of
good, (I have a friend that works for the FCC, so I know for sure) I knew I was
going to have to live with the possibility that the frequency bands my mics
were in could get crushed at any point.
If I had several days I could have monitored the airwaves to see if
there was a timed pattern to the military patrols, and planned accordingly for
that time period, but show was the next day, so that option was off the
table. At this point I could see several
options concerning the client.
1. Keep them in the dark, and pray like crazy that
nothing happens.
2. Tell them about the issue and “how messed up it
is that they chose this stupid venue but, sorry, they shot themselves in the
foot on this one, good luck!”
Or,
3. Come up with several reasonable solutions before
approaching the client, and seeing which one they liked best.
I’d already
taken option 1 off the table, since that would put me in the hot seat all show
long, and as gratifying as option 2 may sound in the heat of the moment, I
think we could all come to a consensus that option 3 is probably the best idea
in any situation. Here’s the
thing, a crazy as it sounds I see guys opting for number 2 all the time,
usually without even realizing it.
Yeah it may not be as critical of an issue, but as I tell my kids, there
are two kinds of people in this world:
those who cause problems, and those who solve them. Guess, which one will put out the
console fire before the client so much as smells the smoke? Guess which one will ultimately bring
more work for us in the future?
Here’s a key
to this, be calm, or in San Diego saying “chill out dude!” might be more
appropriate. Even if there is good
reason to freak out over a situation, it will never be constructive. Are we under a lot of stress at
times? You bet. Do we get put into unfamiliar territory
with gear or hands with questionable abilities? Absolutely. Are
we sometimes just plain old thrown-under-the-bus? Yep. But
getting bent out of shape over things that are not in our control will never help. Take a moment to relax, breathe,
collect yourself, call someone if you need a second opinion or a sounding board
(no pun intended), and then present your solutions to the client so you can
solve the problem together. At
this point, even if the client does not like any of your ideas simply planning
and being honest shows that you are conscientious about your job. It
communicates to the client that you are invested in how their show runs, and it
puts them in a good space to join you in your problem-solving venture. In my case, the solution my client
liked the best was simply hiding a hardwired SM58 behind some decorative
foliage on the lip of the stage with a lot of spare cable. That way, if
wireless world went south, they could reach down and continue speaking
relatively uninterrupted, until they got the all clear and could go back to
wandering the stage un-tethered.
As it turned out, the precaution was unnecessary. But it sure was nice,
for both the client and myself; to know we had an ace up our sleeve just in
case.
I know I am
mostly preaching to the choir here, so take this for what it’s worth and glean
what is helpful.
Happy
mixing, and I pray your console never catches fire.
Nathan Clark
National Director of Audio
J&S Audio Visual
Show Services
Originally
wanting to get into a recording career, Nathan started working in live sound
directly out of high school in order to gain a better understanding of
audio. Employed in the field part
time while working on a college degree in economics, live audio quickly became
his passion. Deciding this was the
career path he wanted to follow Nathan initially hired on full time with Dallas
Stage Right, then in 2004 struck out on his own as a freelancer. Nathan came on board with J&S
Audio Visual as the director of the audio department in 2007, and is
excited about new technologies on the horizon, and looking forward to tackling
the opportunities they present with the rest of the audio team.
