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Anklebiters

Keeping It Safe

There’s nothing common about common sense.

Ken: So Brian, here’s how it goes: I’m usually a vendor coming into someone’s venue. When I get there, I have trouble keeping the reins on the folks around me — getting them to do what’s best for the show. There always seems to be simple, common sense problems with the venue’s representative or another vendor. And they’re usually doing something wrong that eventually becomes dangerous. I try to give them suggestions, but the trouble usually starts when one of these guys feels the need to give me his verbal resume to convince me of something that I know is a bad idea. Saying “I told you so” just makes me the asshole. Putting this problem on paper makes me sound conceited, but what is a guy supposed to do?

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Keep It Covered

Slam, bam, thank you, man.

Brian: So, Ken, why is it that even when we hire the best help we can find, they never seem to be able to take the same care with our gear that we do? I know most of this stuff is built with the rigors of the road in mind, but it’s still all got delicate little electronic circuit boards inside.

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Life On the Inside

[The Anklebiters is one column that I came up with the idea for that has never really been what I wanted it to be. I wanted to model it on Click and Clack from “Car Talk“ on NPR, just a couple of guys talking about the live audio biz. But we never got it right. Until now. Welcome back Brian Cassell (owner of Celebration Productions) and say “Hi” to Ken Rengering (owner of Ken’s Events). Both own small companies with aspirations to become something bigger. If you have a question, ask it. If not, they’ll be here until further notice. Hanging out and talking live audio. — Ed.]

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Site Survey

Brian: Hey Paul, I've got an interesting one for you. I recently went out to do a site survey for an upcoming show and had a rather awkward experience. You see, one of my clients is a local Christian radio station that promotes a variety of CCM concerts in the area. They typically use one of the larger area churches as the venue. While I am used to most of the rooms, I occasionally have to look at a new room that we haven't done a show in before. It was on one of these visits that I got myself into a bit of a bind. I listened to their system a bit and determined that I would rather bring in my own rig to cover the room, as I was not pleased with the coverage that their distributed house system provided.

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The $300 (x40) Gig

[A few months back, we ran an article in this space detailing the infamous "$300 Gig" and what it really costs you to take it. Well, everything is relative, and recently one of our Anklebiters took a gig that, for all intents and purposes (and disregarding the low-five-figure payout), was a $300 Gig. In the end, the client got way more than he paid for, and the soundco had destroyed their relationship with the company that supplied much of the gear, pissed off a bunch of crew members and earned very little money for a full week of work. Let's take a look at what went wrong and what can be learned from it. –ed.]

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The Phantom Power Menace

Dear Anklebiters, I have a mixer with a global on/off switch for phantom power. If I am using just one or two mics that need power, will it hurt anything else to leave it on?

Charles Cox Moapa, Nevada

Paul: Condenser microphones require a polarizing voltage and power for their built-in amplifiers. Sometimes provision is made to supply this voltage directly through the microphone cable. The procedure is called phantom powering, and the most common phantom supply voltage available in mixing consoles is 48 VDC, although 24V supplies are widely used. Most phantom powered mics can operate on a wide range of supply voltages, from as little as 1.5 volts or 9 volts up to 50 volts.

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Saddle Up!

Dear Anklebiters,

I run a small sound company out of my garage, and I can no longer fit all of my equipment in my trusty work van. Lately I have been renting a small box truck from a local homeowner truck rental store. This really gets expensive and digs into my profits for each show. Worse yet, renting a truck for each show has become a huge inconvenience. What do you suggest?

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Uncoiling the Constrictor

Dear Fellow Anklebiters, I had a small gig last Saturday. I had several friends helping me setup. The problem was no one knew what to do, so I had to direct all of the activities. When I fired up the system there were many problems with things plugged into the wrong places. Help!

Chris Russo Prescott, Arizona

Paul: I have had this happen a few times as well. I have since tried to fool-proof the system, but I still have some things I need to change. Is it possible to make the connections all different so they won't fit on the wrong place/connector? In my case, I have all NL4 Speakons but I have some marked Low and some marked High. The Lows have a red color on them. I should at least make all Speakons the same so they will fit anywhere on the amp racks or the back of the speakers. The color red is a problem as well. I use red to denote the input for Highs from the drive snake. The color scheme that I use is Blue for Lows, Purple for Mids and Red for Highs. I need to standardize on a universal color scheme for my drive snakes. Brian, what do you do?

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Doctoring Up Your Rentals

Dear Fellow Anklebiters,

I rent out my digital console to regional sound companies once in a while. I rent out EFX processors as well. What is the proper protocol for a console that is to be rented out? Should it be cleaned of all saved scenes? Will the engineer who ultimately uses this console just need to load his/her own libraries? Should the EFX processor have any custom programs on it or should it be factory clean?

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The Collection Plate Quandary

I am a small sound company owner and I also work as a volunteer on the sound crew at my church. My problem is that my church is planning an outdoor concert event and I have agreed to provide the production support for the show, with the understanding that I would be paid for my services. While attending a concert planning meeting, we were discussing all the different aspects of the event including some sponsorships that we plan to get from local businesses. At this point in the meeting, someone turns to me and says, "Hey, you could donate a thousand dollars as a sponsor and bring your equipment for free. You'll get your name on the back of the t-shirts we're having made." This put me in a very awkward position. While I generally do my part to support the church financially, I'm still trying to run a business and make a living here. I'd like to help, but I'm already thinking about my expenses on this show. What do you suggest in this situation?

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Cheap But Not Easy

[The Regional Slants piece written by Larry Hall in the May 2006 issue of FOH generated more mail than anything we have run in a very long time. The story about losing the gig because of an uncooperative engineer who did not advance the gig well, coupled with some discussion about growing your company evidently hit a nerve. At the same time, the Anklebiter duo was getting ready to discuss the topic of cheap gigs. Because Larry came up the ladder from musician to anklebiter to strong regional soundco, we asked him to sit in on the discussion here as well. Enjoy. –b]

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Brands and Riders–A Rose By Another Name?

I am finding myself in a frustrating situation. I've been doing sound for my friend's band for about a year, and some other local bands have approached me to do the same for them. My dilemma is that these other acts want me to provide more equipment than I currently have. I'm willing to make the investment, but the brands of equipment that fit the budget don't meet my expectations of quality. How can I provide what these clients want, and do it with respectable equipment?

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