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<blockquote data-quote="Jeff Babcock" data-source="post: 206996" data-attributes="member: 46">Hey there Geri.Sorry to hear that.&nbsp; With your extensive production background over the years I&#039;m sure you must have been cringing the whole time.&nbsp; I often play the &quot;production manager&quot; role when I am gigging myself.&nbsp; I&#039;d say that probably 50% of the time the production crew either say that they didn&#039;t get our rider and stage plot, or they have the wrong one.One of the acts I tour with (signed) is fully self contained with an IEM rig - we basically carry everything including mics and just hand tails from our split to FOH (or sometimes mix ourselves via iPad so just send a L+R pair to FOH.&nbsp; This works very well but of course is more work.&nbsp; I think it is worth it for the consistency.This works great for non-festival style traditional shows where there is ample time for setup.On larger (big production from a &quot;Varsity&quot; provider) festival style gigs we still use the IEM rig but use house backline and mics and take our split from THEM.&nbsp; No big deal, these guys are prepared for acts like us.The SMALL festivals are the problem child.They often have inexperienced or uninterested staff and there typically isn&#039;t enough time to accommodate our setup, even IF they are willing to try&nbsp; Usually we are the headliner which helps and might give us time to sort something out, but more often than not we just show up and make the best of it with the house wedges etc etc.&nbsp; We&#039;re not using tracks at this point so we can get away with that.&nbsp; Our preference is simply to avoid these types of shows as much as possible, though that&#039;s not always a realistic approach.In any situation I try to go out of my way to be friendly and build some rapport with the crew upon arrival.&nbsp; If I run into someone who is grumpy I try to kill them with kindness and try to be sympathetic.&nbsp; If they seem uninterested, sometimes a little motivation is all that is needed......one trick I have learned is to ask them for their business card /contact soon after arrival with the &quot;carrot&quot; being possible future work with other acts and events if they perform well.I have never called a production company about bad service, but I have certainly told the event promoter when things were less than stellar.&nbsp; These guys won&#039;t last long if word gets around that they are sleeping on the job and being lazy and uncooperative.&nbsp; That&#039;s just ridiculous.&nbsp; This is a service industry, I think they missed the customer service 101 course.Hope that your next gig is more enjoyable!Cheers</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jeff Babcock, post: 206996, member: 46"] Hey there Geri. Sorry to hear that. With your extensive production background over the years I'm sure you must have been cringing the whole time. I often play the "production manager" role when I am gigging myself. I'd say that probably 50% of the time the production crew either say that they didn't get our rider and stage plot, or they have the wrong one. One of the acts I tour with (signed) is fully self contained with an IEM rig - we basically carry everything including mics and just hand tails from our split to FOH (or sometimes mix ourselves via iPad so just send a L+R pair to FOH. This works very well but of course is more work. I think it is worth it for the consistency. This works great for non-festival style traditional shows where there is ample time for setup. On larger (big production from a "Varsity" provider) festival style gigs we still use the IEM rig but use house backline and mics and take our split from THEM. No big deal, these guys are prepared for acts like us. The SMALL festivals are the problem child. They often have inexperienced or uninterested staff and there typically isn't enough time to accommodate our setup, even IF they are willing to try Usually we are the headliner which helps and might give us time to sort something out, but more often than not we just show up and make the best of it with the house wedges etc etc. We're not using tracks at this point so we can get away with that. Our preference is simply to avoid these types of shows as much as possible, though that's not always a realistic approach. In any situation I try to go out of my way to be friendly and build some rapport with the crew upon arrival. If I run into someone who is grumpy I try to kill them with kindness and try to be sympathetic. If they seem uninterested, sometimes a little motivation is all that is needed......one trick I have learned is to ask them for their business card /contact soon after arrival with the "carrot" being possible future work with other acts and events if they perform well. I have never called a production company about bad service, but I have certainly told the event promoter when things were less than stellar. These guys won't last long if word gets around that they are sleeping on the job and being lazy and uncooperative. That's just ridiculous. This is a service industry, I think they missed the customer service 101 course. Hope that your next gig is more enjoyable! Cheers [/QUOTE]

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