So I have recently been picked up by a touring company - last night was my first night working with them. I figured I'd share my experience.

So at noon I show up at the location, and no-one is there. I make a few calls but noone knows what the hell is going on. And better yet, noone even knows who I am when I call so their is mass confusion. An hour later, a truck pulls in which had broken down, which explains the lateness. It is fudge-packed to the door with cases.

So those get unloaded onto the stage - 4 dual-18 subwoofers, 6 mid-highs, 12 wedge monitors, racks of power amps, and a big ass Allen and Heath mixer that luckily I am familiar with [the GL4800] plus another mixer for the monitor mix. The lighting equipment was a bunch of portable lighting trusses, laptops, lights, and crazy light-show things.

I spent a few hours setting up the lighting trusses [which come apart for ease of transport, even though they still weigh a freakin ton] and wiring the power up. Then once they were up the audio was all set up, starting with the wedge monitors, and then the FOH. In my opinion, half of that stuff was there for show and not needed. There was no way it would be turned up loud enough to need all that crap. But no one asked my opinion so I kept it to myself.

The band eventually showed up, and the guys left me to mic up everything... as a test of sorts. Of course they said that they "usually" mic stuff "this" way hinting that maybe I should do it like that... but I told them to trust me. They said they'd give it a try. The bass player moved his amp 3 times... each time after I miced his cab up. Pain in the ass... he didn't tell me he was moving stuff, and once he even tried to get away with micing it himself. FAIL. Good thing I didn't trust him not to move stuff again and kept checkin back on it. The drummer was equally "helpful" insisting that "This is how I always mic my drums" and when asked what mics he owned, he admitted to owning none, and just using what was available where they played.

I did the monitor mix, and everyone was happy in a few short minutes. I think there is nine people in the band and I can relate to 3 of them being a vocalist/guitarist myself, and of course they didn't request any changes at all. One of the singers was a little finicky and had no idea what she wanted or maybe she did but couldn't explain it. Eventually it turns out she had moved upstage too far and her monitor was just blasting audio into her knees. I used tape to mark where she should stand. Then the FOH guy did his sound check, and was really happy with what I'd done with the mics. Honestly I look ten years younger than I am and get treated like a kid alot which just pushes my buttons. Though ten years ago it still bugged me cause even if I had the experience I have now I would still be treated that way. Damn ageism. I wonder if those guys I was working with went to school for audio? I find that 1/2 of the people I meet that go to schools for audio learn one way to do everything and the other half get a decent education.

I left the monitor mix in the hands of someone less experienced [I just set it up, in theory it wouldn't need any adjustments] and took off until 2am and went back, counted and coiled up miles of cable, took down the lighting, moved the pa and everything back into the truck, and then got home around 5am.

All in all, it was fun. But to be honest, it's not something I'd want to do full time. It's pretty backbreaking, and I'm pretty fit. Everything gets dirty being dragged around, and building stuff only to take it apart is a pain in the ass. The hours are long [if they didn't have others working and I worked from noon to 5am on a regular basis like the other dudes do]. I prefer working in a controlled environment like the theatre I work at where the PA is installed, the lighting is all remote controlled, and the only thing to set up is the monitors and microphones. However, I am only working when they come through town, so It's gonna be a couple nights a month, so I'll stick with it.