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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kip Conner" data-source="post: 31930" data-attributes="member: 445">Re: The way real pros do itI run into this type of situation a lot. I work with an artist that performed on the Grammy stage, but prefers to play 300-500 seat rooms. It's a tough position to be in when your artist has high expectations and your venue has low production quality. Never the less I have seen it all when it comes to the battle of system processing. Most of the time there is a way to teach people a little something that will blow their minds and get them on your team. It helps when you are bringing in your own front of house rig that is tight and orderly. It shows them you mean business. After that I set-up my smaart rig, which I like to like to think I am proficient at operating. I believe that I can improve a system in under 30 minutes, including any house wedges. My tactic is tell the house engineer that I have two responsibilities- first to the artist to give him the system that he needs to perform his show and secondly to the house to be sure that I leave it better than I found it. I find that asking the right questions can create a sense of superiority to these small rooms and it helps to take control. In a trap box situation you might ask them about the horizontal coverage of the cabinet or where the crossover points are between the subs and the mids. I don't really have any intention of changing them- I just want to know how much he or she understands about their system. From there I might move on to Inverse Square and such. I have to admit it's a game of diplomacy that I have to play and I usually win someone over in 20 mins or so. It's a silly game really, but it's necessary to give the house guy comfort in that you're ready to work together on maintaining the system and give the audience the show that they have paid to see. I rarely have to dig into a system processor but I can quickly show you what your system is doing in Smaart and offer you any information that I find. For some reason I find that house systems are over processed while the monitors are just over equalized. I typically let the house watch as I work and giving him a visual tool (smaart) their brain starts to come alive. Smaart is the one tool that I don't leave the house without. Of course there are times when it does nothing but sit there and look pretty, especially in rooms that I have tuned. Regardless, you are going to run into people that are going to fight you the whole way, most pros will not. You have to find the casual things you can say that show you mean business. Find out as much as you can about your house engineer as quickly as possible. If they are studio guys I tell them that "I also engineer the albums, but that's not what I like to do- I was asked to because of the live engineers ability to think and move fast to get sounds," Whatever your approach is, be prepared to modify and you can get your way. When all else fails then you have to go back to your artist and let them know what is going on and ask for their help in approaching a higher power in the food chain. This should be done at a last resort because it's always best to let them have a clear mind to perform, not worry about the sound that they cannot hear. If the system has the potential to work and you're being blocked by a house guy to a point where it won't work then you just need to tell the show purchaser and venue manager your position and that you can't return to their venue and may not even perform tonight. Adding that you would rather cancel and refund tickets than put on a bad show. You have to hope it never gets that far.</blockquote>

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