I did a gig mixing FOH for a small folk act, which is led by a local respected mastering engineer. He's owned a mastering studio for longer then I've been alive and he's busier then ever these days.
After visually inspecting the digital console to see that I had turned off all EQ & dynamics, we then spent a leisurely two hours working on mic placement and listening. He supplied all his own mics (which were very nice) and the group was very quiet on-stage... On a handful of sources, he had me place .5 - 1.5 dB EQ cuts as he deemed necessary.
The results were good, but somewhat pointless as the musicians began to act like musicians, and move around a bit during the show. I'd have preferred a bit more close micing, as his careful placements were just too far to allow much of a sweet spot.
I don't remember doing less work behind a console for two hours on any other gig... He didn't want me to change anything, and he personally wanted to position the mics & listen. I had so little to do, I ordered, received & ate Chinese delivery for dinner during the second hour.
No SM58's or 57's were deployed in this case, though the house mic kit was full of them. By looking at his mic kit, he may have considered those to be "too modern" for his taste!
