So I got a weird call to go do sound for a "School of Rock" type of music school, and record it a few weeks back. I accepted, easy money. They give me a list of what's to be on stage, and I use mics from my own personal collection. The owner of the school kept joking about having a list of songs they do and who to run down, it was kind of funny at first but got old very quickly. Then on the night, he had a song list, complete with notes about which kid sucks and when to turn them down. That made me mad. There was way more stuff on stage that needed to be miced than was on the list, and they insisted on using those "3 for $10" type of vocal mics. Also, the teachers all had these rock star attitudes, and the amp volume on the one teacher's amp wasn't even running through the PA. "Gotta crank it up to get that tone, man" he kept saying... however, it was a solid state amp and therefore doesn't get any power tube saturation when it's up louder. Plus, in my opinion... his tone was like ass. So I turned him down MYSELF during soundcheck, and of course throughout the night he magically got progressively louder.

I did sound for the show and it sounded good, I didn't turn down the children as I was supposed to, but it seems to me that these teachers [who were with all the groups, taking all the solos and turning up louder than everyone else] just enjoy looking amazing next to the kids. They aren't all that good, but they sound great next to kids who only have 6 months under their belt.

The recording... I rushed the mixing and gave it back really poorly done and didn't charge them for it.

I know they were paying me to do sound and recording, but I screwed it up because in my mind they are just ripping these children's families off [they offer keyboard and vocal lessons, but don't have teachers for either - the guitarist does it, and he can't do either properly. He can probbly show someone the absolute basics of keys, but he can't sing]. It's horrible, and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if they can't find people their own age to jam with because of their monster egos.