Some years back, when I was the editor of a magazine for musicians, we got a press release for a new product that I thought was a brilliant idea. Someone had come up with a couple of adapters that plugged into both ends of a standard AC extension cord and turned it into a speaker cable terminating in 1/4-inch connectors. Being a musician that dabbled in sound (who is slowly growing up to be a sound guy who still plays a few gigs), I thought this was completely cool. After all, a decent speaker cable costs actual money. I had finally–after years of making my own from cheap lamp cords and the least expensive connectors I could find at Radio Shack–bought a pair of good-quality, fairly heavy cables to go from amp to speaker. But the pair cost $75, and I didn't want to spend that kind of money on a backup. So this sounded like a really good idea.
I wrote about it in the magazine and got a pretty rude surprise. While some musicians I knew agreed with me, I got a slew of letters from actual sound guys railing on the idea and telling me what an idiot I was. The typical letter laid out one of two scenarios–both bad.
In one, the person using this system had put the adapter on one end of the extension cord and plugged it into the speaker, but then maybe got distracted and left the other end unterminated and not plugged in for a moment. That gave someone else, probably attempting to be helpful, time to plug the other end into an AC outlet. And, as they astutely pointed out, 120 volts AC into a speaker cab will surely destroy something and might actually set it on fire.
The other scenario was actually scarier. It started basically the same, but neither end was plugged in, and when the "helper" plugged the extension cord into the wall, there was a "live" 1/4-inch connector at the other end. If someone picked it up by the cable end, it could have pretty tragic consequences. Yes, most of us have taken small 120-volt hits, but we all know that under the right circumstances, that kind of shock can be fatal.
The reason I bring this up is that it is one of many experiences in my life that have taught me to think things through before committing to a course of action. Of course, just because I have learned that thinking things through is a good thing, that doesn't mean I actually do it all the time. And most of the times when I have royally screwed something up, it turns out that I could have avoided the problem had I thought all of the consequences through first.
That can be very hard to do on a gig, especially when things are running late and there are multiple problems flying at us all at once. It is then that we really need to find the ability and willingness to stop for just a second and think things through.
That short pause for thought will not make a huge difference in how soon the system is up and ready to go, but not taking that time can have serious and sometimes dangerous consequences.
Just this week I heard about a situation where someone made a "not-thinking-it-through" mistake with some gear, and then failed to check it before going out on the gig. The result was destroyed gear and a ruined show. Far be it from me to pass judgement, as I have done similar stuff way too many times. But I hope it is something I will think about the next time I am rushing to get ready for a show and am tempted to take a shortcut.
Remember: stop, take a deep breath and think for a second. You won't be sorry if you do and may be real sorry if you don't. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to rush this column (which I put off writing until the last possible second) to the production department so it can get into the magazine. Looks like I still have some learning to do…
