A thread on the LAB made me type this up, and I thought it would be a fun thread over here too.
I had a nightmare last night that I was mixing some high profile event with a lot of spoken word in between music acts. I set up the system, Midas Pro 6 at FOH, and we did a check. For some reason whoever was in charge was all over my back the whole time, asking if I'd done this and that... I kept assuring them that I had certainly done that and was more than ready for their event. I was also under staffed, the only audio guy on the show, and my mix position was buried deep in the audience.
Anyway, we finish the run through and prep for the show. Show opens with an announcement by some dignitary, and I realize I haven't prepared... at all! Channel gains aren't set, no EQ or high pass, and I have nowhere near enough gain before feedback. Somehow there also doesn't seem to be any connection between my channel gain and the feedback that keeps happening, and people in the audience are starting to mutter to themselves about the audio. Another announcer steps up and I can't find her mic at all, it must be on some other layer, and I've covered up the banking buttons with a script or something. Every time I move it to try and find them I somehow just cover them up again, can't find them anywhere on the board. So I panic, and go into my patching, and try and patch her channel (which I can see on the screen) to the fader right next to the guy who was just speaking. Somehow I manage to delete my whole patch, inputs and outputs... dead air.
This is when I realize that the whole time I've actually been mixing on some kind of sidecar, and the actual desk is on the other side of the audience. When I killed my patch I also killed the assignments that make the sidecar work, so I have no control whatsoever any more. I'm going to have to get out of the row, packed with people, across the aisle, and into the other audience section to get to the main desk... and still there's dead air.
Just as I'm starting to think I've finally totally fucked my career I get that funny feeling like this isn't real, and I might be able to just wake up. This isn't my show, it never was and never will be, I can just wake up.
So I fucking did!
I had a nightmare last night that I was mixing some high profile event with a lot of spoken word in between music acts. I set up the system, Midas Pro 6 at FOH, and we did a check. For some reason whoever was in charge was all over my back the whole time, asking if I'd done this and that... I kept assuring them that I had certainly done that and was more than ready for their event. I was also under staffed, the only audio guy on the show, and my mix position was buried deep in the audience.
Anyway, we finish the run through and prep for the show. Show opens with an announcement by some dignitary, and I realize I haven't prepared... at all! Channel gains aren't set, no EQ or high pass, and I have nowhere near enough gain before feedback. Somehow there also doesn't seem to be any connection between my channel gain and the feedback that keeps happening, and people in the audience are starting to mutter to themselves about the audio. Another announcer steps up and I can't find her mic at all, it must be on some other layer, and I've covered up the banking buttons with a script or something. Every time I move it to try and find them I somehow just cover them up again, can't find them anywhere on the board. So I panic, and go into my patching, and try and patch her channel (which I can see on the screen) to the fader right next to the guy who was just speaking. Somehow I manage to delete my whole patch, inputs and outputs... dead air.
This is when I realize that the whole time I've actually been mixing on some kind of sidecar, and the actual desk is on the other side of the audience. When I killed my patch I also killed the assignments that make the sidecar work, so I have no control whatsoever any more. I'm going to have to get out of the row, packed with people, across the aisle, and into the other audience section to get to the main desk... and still there's dead air.
Just as I'm starting to think I've finally totally fucked my career I get that funny feeling like this isn't real, and I might be able to just wake up. This isn't my show, it never was and never will be, I can just wake up.
So I fucking did!
