Month: July 2004

As I have said before, I have no idea who reads this stuff, or who happens on these pages in their Internet travels … There are many ways that someone could happen on this stuff being the wonderful way that the Internet searches and documents itself through search engines and web crawlers … So, at times I am vagues about things that I want to post up here for whatever reasons … I post this entry as a sort of vent as probably most of the other posts are up here as well …

I have been working house sound for approximately 9 months now. While it is something to easily fall into and something that someone like myself who has been “on the road” for the prior 7 or 8 years, it’s just not the same in many ways. The biggest is the money. In my current situation, it’s not my PA that is the house PA that I work on, so my PA has been sitting in a truck for the last 9 months. I don’t take any outside jobs as I am at the install 6 nights a week. Yes, 6 nights a week. The money is less than I made working with a band in the same situation. What we would refer to as “walk-ins” … I would show up just with the band’s equipment and run sound on the establishment’s PA system. In most cases, that PA was owned by a 3rd party and they were making money from the bar by them having that system in there … But that’s besides the point … So right off the bat, I am making less money in my current situation by not using my PA … Not that I don’t have a nice install to work on, it’s just not mine and therefor I don’t put as much “love” into that system as I would my own …

While I could have realistically sold off my PA either whole or piece by piece, I didn’t actively pursue that … Not for any particular reason, and not with any plans in mind … I just haven’t done it … and with the current job, my time has been severely limited … I may only work a certain amount of hours each night, but it is 6 nights … 2nd shift basically … I have also done extra things at my job … I have run a self serving network connection to the booth so that I can be on the Internet and do other things while I am at work. For example, if a band brings in a guy like my above example of the band’s gear and mixing, well, I just sit there and wait for 2 o’clock to roll around. So, I put in the network connection so I could work on Internet things while there doing nothing … So, I get paid to work on other projects while I am there “babysitting” as I call it …

When I started there was a DJ that worked Sunday and Wednesday nights … He moved to Chicago and they never replaced him … I purchased the appropriate cables and started to bring in my laptop to play music from the computer … I purchased a program to “rip” my CD collection (I was a DJ way way back too) and I provide the music between sets on these Sunday and Wednesday nights now … In fact, I did that before I put in the Internet connection, and I did that cause I started bringing my laptop to work more and more and I currently bring it every night now … When they needed things to use while others were repaired, I opened up my truck and grabbed those things … The short list is a drum monitor (that eventually got blown), a monitor board and some mic stands (or mounts) … I didn’t ask for money for any of these things … I have also done benefits where I essentially worked a “double” shift and I received quite less money than a normal shift … The thing about these benefits was that you were dealing with bands that were right out of the garage or who had never played such a club, so in my opinion it’s more work …

Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining … It is a fine place to work and very easy to sit back and just do it because there is little pressure what-so-ever … The stress factor is very close to zero … There are perks that I don’t even take much advantage of, and that’s free food and drinks … In fact, I buy $1.00 sodas out of their take out … When I get food, I believe I tip very well … All I am leading up to is that this job would be great for someone who hasn’t had a taste of “the road” … Where there is much more money to be had … While I may not think it’s that much money, someone else may think it’s the best job in the world … They could look at it as getting fed 6 nights a week with the opportunity to tie one on every night … While I don’t choose to do this, someone if well behaved could manage it … I seriously don’t think there are any plans of doubling my pay anytime soon, and I don’t think the bar would consider investing anymore money into a sound guy simply because in actuality, I don’t really do much … I may be realiable and a great worker and a pretty go0d sound guy even, but there just isn’t enough to justify paying more I think …

So, on to the title of this post … I decided that if I “came out of retirement” as I like to think of it, that I wouldn’t do that for a mediocre situation … In other words, when the band I worked for broke up, I could have easily did sound for various bands that needed sound for various venues and did it that way … I would have had to be responsible for booking myself and finding work … That wasn’t a scenario I wanted … I also didn’t think that if I ever got the itch to take my PA back out that I would do it with a band that wasn’t a true “A” band … I would need to do a band that would bring me the recognition that I think I deserve … I have done many things for many people in the entertainment industry and I seriously don’t think that it’s something that I shouldn’t take advantage of, or expect to be respected for … it’s about that time …

So, there is currently 2 bands that I would want to work for, and I am waiting around to see what pans out with them … One is very near and was a recent surprise availability … In the case of “Pick me!” it has to do with a semi-local sound company that does a lot of bands on the circuit … While the owner seems to be doing very well for himself, while it was said he would be declining this recent availabilty … that changed … He isn’t in business to say “no” to money … Me neither …