> Heheheh, oh man, that ROCKS LOL!
> I enjoy stuff like that, not done near enough!
> Only one actual gig, in fact, and that was a stitch-up - guy I went to
> school and college with (his dad, Phil Newell, big into his studio tech.
> stuff here, worked for Branson etc.), well when we quit college, he went to
> work in London at a big rehearsal studio called E-Zee Studios (or similar
> spelling), they also had a small rec. studio.
> Anyway, I'd not done any mixing at all, but had seen a little, and like
> you - I pick stuff up and can do the whole seat of the pants thing. So, my
> mate Jules was offered this gig, mixing live music, couldn't do it as he had
> studio tech. stuff to do at E-Zee, and I was over there in London with him,
> taking a holiday, and needed the cash (I'd smoked and drunk most of my own
> by that time!), so he offers the gig to me. Tells me nothing about it, just
> that it would be piss-easy for me, involved a little mixing for some live
> music (Yamaha 24 or 36 channel mixer, nothing huge or real fancy). I got an
> attack of bravery and took it. The London lads with the gear who drove me
> there (total strangers to this Northern lad), also wouldn't tell me what it
> was all about. They just kept passing me joints in the back of the van...
> So, we are now in Angels, Islington, and pulling up outside an old stone
> church, real pretty.
> They set-up and live this stoned, paranoid, and ridiculously nervous ~20 y/o
> lad outside to try and chill. Next news, it's time for me to check the deal
> out inside. I get in, and front of the church, a one step stage, about 14 or
> so microphones. Stage right, an electronic keyboard. Either side of the
> stage on 9 ' stands and pointing at the pews, are two 2x12 3 way speaker
> cabs, plus a couple bass cabs on the floor. I am positioned stage left,
> between outside wall and side of the pews, about 20 or so feet from the
> stage. I get a quick tour of the Yamaha mixer, the guys do a quick sound
> check and I preliminarily set the levels and EQ, then in come this small,
> all female Baptist fucking black gospel choir, led by this tall black dOoOd
> in a suit... then in come the congregation... heheheh... oh yeah, and my
> guys leave me alone there and go off to do some other shit!
> Well anyway, to cut a long story less long, they fired up and the girls
> sounded just beautiful! Took me about one bar to reset the levels and EQ to
> suit the choir and room accoustics best (no warm up time, ugh!!!)... but
> then, the guy, 'leader dOoOd'
> Steps up, grabs his mic. steps off the stage, and starts whalin' on it, and
> he walks back and forth, right down the sides, and spends most of his time
> in front of and underneath the fucking speaker stands, FFS! So, now I got
> shit-loads of feedback to deal with... !
> 1st things 1st, I back his levels off like a flash, then tweak the EQ down
> at the resonant/feedback freq's. best I can without ruining the girl's great
> work, then up his levels again most I dared. Guy was furious with me (HUGE
> ego!!!) because his voice now blended with the choir more, rather than
> wailing out up front. So he's waving furiously 'UP! UP!!!!' at me, while I'm
> flipping him the bird and wafting him the fuck away from the damned speaker
> cabs, utterly scared to death of the whole mess, and still mightily stoned
> LOL!
> So this goes on, back and forth for the whole almost 2 hours, him trying to
> get me to up his levels, me trying in vain to communicate to him to get the
> hell out from under the speakers with that fucking mic, but I make the very
> best I can of it and just ride it out. Congregation is going nutso too,
> jumping up and dancing like MoFos in the isles, wailing, shouting, singing,
> howling and having ecstatic fits etc. - kinda freaky as hell for me at the
> time... heheh...
> End of the gig he goes to the guys back of the room and starts giving grief,
> while the girls (who were all real humans, no ego shit, sweet-as etc.) all
> come up to me and thank me for doing a great job, and managing to cope with
> that ego-in-a-suit dOoOd's stupidity and attitude. They then go and tell the
> lads (my bosses, if you will) the score.
> We leave, I threaten to murder Jules and every last one of these guys for
> the set-up, then we laugh and smoke all the way back to E-Zee, I get my £60,
> and all is good LOL!
> I tell ya, scared the shit outa me, but I wouldn't give it back for anything
> ',;~}~
> (Sorry for the long spin!)