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Paperwork: Clarity Pays Off For This "Necessary Evil"
Before I started handling tour and production management for bands, I worked in various venues as a sound guy. I got really sick of crews coming in, looking at the stage plot and input list we had for them, and saying, "Oh, the agent sent you the wrong one!"
So, in other words, they didn't have five minutes in the last month to call up and make sure that we had the right one. I used to patch the stage before they got there, hoping to get a head start on the soundcheck, but eventually I got out of the habit of doing that, since it so often needed to be re-done.
It made me want to be the person walking into a venue, who the local guy skeptically asks, "Is this the right input list?" And I glance at it and answer, without breaking stride, "Yes, it is." There are a few ways I have developed to insure that I get what I want for my clients.
DESTROY ALL OTHER VERSIONS
At the end of 2003, I made a new backline sheet, input list, and stage plot for the band Berlin. I faxed the plot to the agent's office and e-mailed his secretary the input list and backline sheet. Then I told her specifically to destroy all other previous versions in her possession.
However, I discovered shortly thereafterward that there is another task I need to perform - rewriting the basic tech rider that goes out with the contract. I confess that I had never really looked at it since I took over from the previous tour manager. I just talked to venues and sound companies ahead of time, worked out agreements as to what they would supply for us, and never had any problems.
When it came time to advance one particular show, the owner of the sound company supplying it said, "It's going to be really expensive to sub-rent a Midas console for you." I asked him what he meant and he said the band's tech rider specifically insists on Midas or Yamaha for FOH and he only had a Crest. I assured him that a Crest would be fine.
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YOUR RIDER SAYS YOU DO
More recently, I walked up to a monitor tech at a show, who asked me if a TC unit would be OK for reverb in the monitors.
"We don't use reverb in the monitors," I replied.
"Well, your rider says you do," he responded.
I guess I really do need to rewrite that thing!
From my work in different venues, I have seen some ludicrous demands, including one from a band that shall remain nameless, for half a dozen Focusrite compressors. Another thing that has always amused me are riders that ask for a given number of watts of amp power per audience member, in relation to the room's capacity. You don't see so many of them nowadays, but they were once quite prevalent.
What does that mean, really? What if there's a bunch of big amps blowing at an assortment of crappy cabinets? What if the cabinets aren't aimed correctly, so you have tons of power, but it's banging off the walls and ceiling?
Sound companies can sometimes nitpick you to death. I used to mix a band of women whose drummer had grown up steeped in the East Bay funk exemplified by Tower of Power. She liked a ton of kick in her monitor. Most sound companies and venues nowadays automatically provide a drum fill that includes a sub.
We went to play an outdoor festival at a beautiful site in rural Northern California. Many of the other acts on the bill were quieter, like Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, and Taj Mahal playing solo. After the show, the drummer said to me, "Man, I was dying up there! I couldn't feel the kick at all!"
YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR ONE
I looked up by the drum riser and saw a single Meyer UM-1 wedge, with a 12" speaker. I asked the monitor tech from the sound company, "Why didn't you bring a real drum fill with a sub?"
He looked me right in the eye and calmly said, "You didn't ask for one."
So now, every band I draw a stage plot for, it says "Drum fill with sub" next to the drum riser. The drummer in Berlin carries his own mini-mixer that he hears a click from, and also puts up an ambient mic behind himself. When the drum fill does not put out enough energy, he is very self-sufficient and has an XLR Y-split that he will insert on the kick mic, and run it to the mini-mixer for his IEM's.
Speaking of stage plots, if you do not have a computer based program to generate them, just use a Sharpie! That is what I do, and Big'un, the veteran stage manager at the Key Club on Sunset Strip, actually congratulated me on it, and said "I can tell you've seen a lot of these!"
It's true, I have, and from that experience, I go with the simplest representation possible. I hate the ones that an excitable person does with their new whiz-bang software program, that has countless little symbols all over the place, that you cannot easily decode the meaning of.
With mine, the techs will know where to put their mics and stage boxes, we will get power drops where we need them, I indicate where the playback outputs are located, and my phone number is at the bottom if they need to know anything else.
When I work with Cake, I use a sheet that Will Cotter previously designed, in the .pdf format. He puts a half-size stage plot at the top, and then the input list in two columns below. I asked him to put my name and number on it, instead of his, and I was good to go.
It is important to speak to the sound company yourself ahead of time, since promoters are notorious for not passing on the info that you send to them. However, there may still be operator error, even if you personally fax the paperwork directly to the sound company.
I LEFT IT AT THE SHOP
Recently, I worked a show at a resort hotel on the East Coast. I took the precaution of walking by the area where the stage was being assembled a couple hours before our scheduled load-in time. I introduced myself to the monitor tech, who confessed he had left our input list and stage plot at the shop.
I have written before about how I have learned a lot from people whose main goal is a successful show, instead of making other people feel small or stupid. I did not castigate or humiliate this person, I needed him on my side later on. It was not going to help matters to cuss, frown, or roll my eyeballs sarcastically.
This is where learning to bring more sheets with me paid off, instead of assuming oh, I faxed these to them before we left, I don't need to bring any more - which has ambushed me in the past. I smiled and said, "No problem, I've got some extra copies down in my room. I'll go get them and bring them back up to you."
So what if that takes fifteen minutes out of my life? I'd rather do that than spend eight hours a day driving a messenger car all over Los Angeles, or hold pieces of steel against a grinder in a lab animal cage factory, or chop frozen pork and make tostada shells in boiling oil, all of which I did when I was younger.
I am grateful for the way I make a living now. If I can do some faxing, send some e-mails, and take a little time on the phone, and then my show days run much more smoothly? I will gladly spend the time, and a few dollars, to do that.
Chris Kathman is a working mixer, production manager and regular contributor to Live Sound and ProSoundWeb. He is a widely published author and can be reached at chris@prosoundweb.com.
