solo4652

Another band, another drummer audition. Beforehand, guy asked what was provided at rehearsal rooms. "Just a basic kit - you'll need to bring your own cymbals, stands, seat and any other favourite equipment you particularly like". Guy turns up with two drum sticks and nothing else. Turned out he didn't actually own any drums, cymbals, stands, seat - just two drum sticks.

We were looking for a drummer. This guy turns up with his kit, an oxygen cylinder and a face mask. He was OK with slower songs, but had to increase his oxygen flow for faster numbers. After about 8 songs, he announced that he'd virtually run out of oxygen, so had to stop playing. Clearly, he wasn't in the best of health, and it was quite sad to see somebody really struggling with something they were desperate to hang onto.

Let's call it a communication breakdown between P2G and Evri. A plague on both thier houses.

Shocking customer service from Parcel2go/Evri. I carefully boxed up a short-scale bass I'd sold, re-entering the weight and dimensions of the parcel 3 times into the Parcel2go broker website. Each time, the Evri drop-off service came up as being suitable. Not once did the booking system alert me to the fact the parcel would not fit into the locker. At the drop-off lockers, it was immediately apparent the parcel was too big. Back home I contacted P2G to complain. They suggested the parcel was re-booked onto an Evri collection service the next day, Courier never arrived. I contacted P2G to complain. Unbelievably, they suggested I use Evri's drop off locker service! They insisted that the parcel would fit the lockers. "I can assure you that it won't - I was there" I asked P2G to rebook the parcel onto another courier's drop off service. Thay refused to pay the difference in cost, expecting me to stump up the difference. "Why should I pay for your incompetence and shocking customer service?" At this point I gave up, lodged a formal complaint and asked for a full refund. I booked the parcel onto another courier's drop-off service through another parcel broker. That's the first and last time I'll use Evri.

Drummer's new mixer is one of these; https://www.studiospares.com/studiomatser-club-xs-16-16-channel-mixer-860080.htm That's not a "digital stage box", is it? Pardon my ignorance..

@Phil Starr Thank you - that's a helpful and thoughtful response. Actually, from my perspective, the real issue is not money. It's striving for low-faff simplicity. The band already takes ages to set up, with pedal boards (not mine), patch leads, radio mics, drum mics. Often there's a loose connection somewhere, or a piece of equipment doesn't "talk" to some other piece. Stage-space is becoming more and more limited. Recently, the drummer had a major moan about having to transport and store the existing PA system (which he owns), complaining that the rest of the band could do more to help with load-in, set-up, load-out. I stand off to one side shaking my head. The drummer is a bit of a gear-head. He seems to enjoy building IEM PA systems. His last one was for an acoustic duo. He played cajon alongside an acoustic guitarist/singer. I went to one of their gigs and it took them 45 minutes to set up. IEM's for an acoustic duo!? Really? He's already got himself tooled up with a new desk, new drum mics, loads of leads for our band's new IEM system - it's what he does even though, from my viewpoint from the touchline, I wonder whether it's over-egging the pudding. Emperor's new clothes, and all that.

Thank you.

So, it's a done deal. Latest message from drummer: "Thanks for looking into things Steve. I’ve built a few PAs with IEMs in them so I’ve got it buddy. Just trying to work out the most cost effective architecture to make it works for us so we can all opt in or out of using them. [Myself and guitarist] will [pay for it] between us. If you could just check your Di out and let me know what type of plug it needs I can take it from there." Currently, I don't use the DI on my head. Not sure I want the added complexity and faff of that.

Monitor has keys and both vocals through it. Currently, keys player has no personal monitor - she listens to the single monitor out front at singer's feet.

We're a 5-piece pub covers band, playing the local pub circuit. Bass (totally independent through own backline), guitar (totally independent through own backline), guitarist also sings BV's through the desk/PA, keys through the desk/PA, lead vocals through desk/PA, acoustic drums. I'm trying to use KISS principle to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible. We already have a mountain of kit that takes over an hour to set up, and to break down. I'm with PaulWarning - before buying a load more kit which adds complexity and set up time, I'm suggesting that the drummer perseveres with his musician grade ear plugs. Three desk inputs already taken by keys and vocals, leaving one free. If drummer so desires - and it's his choice - he could mix his own mics using his own desk and feed that into band's desk. As for more monitors - we could perhaps put the desk output into a splitter so that anybody who wants their own monitor can plug into that. I accept that this means individuals won't be able to mix their own monitor sound, but keys and vocalists simply being able to hear each other would be a significant step forward. No need for expensive new desk. Would that work?

Could we feed the monitor output from the desk into one of these splitters https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/miscellaneous-peripherals/dap-pmm-401-4-channel-passive-mixer Anybody who wants their own personal monitor can buy one and plug it in.

The nature pf The Problem seems to be changing. It started off with the drummer and the guitarist being concened about tinnutis, and sugegsting that IEM's would help protect their hearing. Latest message from drummer reads: "Our current desk only has 4 mic inputs and 1 monitor output so we’re out of ports before we even start. It’s all about the mix that individuals want to hear. I think our monitoring is a bit poor atm as [keys player] struggles to hear herself and also [lead vocalist]. And I struggle to hear both of them because of where I’m sat. Just trying to avoid more wedges and more volume as it rarely improves sound." So now the discussion is about poor stage monitoring. Currently there is just one monitor - it sits out front on the floor at the singer's feet. Is there a way that the output from the desk could be split so that individuals could have their own mini/personal monitors, perhaps? Some sort of snake??

Oh Lord. That hadn't occured to me as a possibility at all! I used to play alongside a heavy-hitting double-kick drummer. Eventually he bought an electronic kit with a most marvellous thing - a volume control.

I'm struggling to fully understand how micing up drums and then feeding them into a desk is going to help with tinnutis. When I suggested musician-grade in-ear protectors, drummer said; "I also already use expensive in ear filtered ear protection and they’re okay but they only muffle the sound and the whole point of monitoring is to improve clarity and also the mix that you’re receiving. The idea is to have a quieter more balanced audio." But he's still going to be pounding away on his acoustic drum kit and making a lot of noise isn't he? That's not going to reduce the overall on-stage sound levels, is it? But, according to him, it isn't about reducing overall sound levels - it's about "improving clarity and,,,,,,,to have a quieter more balanced audio". I'm confused. I did start to read the IEM thread but quickly started to glaze over. Also - keys player has now decided she would like to have IEM as well as guitarist and drummer.

So far, the band PA is for vocals (lead and backing), and keys. The desk was upgraded 6 months ago and is owned by the drummer. Drummer plays acoustic kit, myself and guitarist use our own backline. Rear-facing monitor sits out front. Guitarist (who also does BV's) and drummer have now decided they'd like to use IEM's in order to protect their hearing, and to prevent their tinnutis getting worse. This will need a new desk with more inputs, apparently (I'm clueless about IEM systems), and drummer and guitarist have suggested we all contribute to the cost of a new desk and other associated equipment. I don't feel I need or want to use IEM's. Don't know about lead vocalist or keys player. Questions: Is there any way the existing desk could be adapted? Who then owns the desk and equipment if somebody leaves, or the band folds? Will IEM's help to reduce tinnutis? Could the drummer simply use musician-grade ear plugs? Won't IEM's introduce yet more leads and complexity to what is alreadyy a ton of on-stage eqipment for a 5-piece band?

Yep. Helping out at a Bike Repair Cafe next week.

Update: Decision made - I've told the radio station that it's not for me. For the most part, I enjoyed presenting the shows, and the banter with my co-presenter/mentor. I haven't enjoyed the sound engineering aspects, however. You were expected to choose the songs from the station's stockpile of 68,000 songs. That done, you'd have to listen to each chosen song and "clean" it to check for sound levels and possible clipping, using Audacity. During the show, there would be an almost anal concentration on the clock to ensure you weren't running over or under time, even though the clever desk would make automatic allowances for that. It would have all been worth it if there was anybody listening. But, there wasn't, and I couldn't see any viable plan to engage patients and staff more. Last week I did a show and, as I left, I found myself thinking' "Well, that went pretty well but, really, what was the point of that?" So, I've said Thanks, but no thanks.

Perhaps I should say that the main reason I was interested in Hospital radio was to do some voluntary work with my spare time, for the good of others. I'm not really interested in reaching a global audience with my own show via podcasts or Spotify recordings.

Anybody here have recent experience of hospital radio presenting? I'm struggling with it. I've recently started presenting a weekly show on my local hospital radio. Steve's Funk, soul and Groove show. It's taken quite a while to learn how to operate the desk, upload songs to the system, "clean" (adjust sound levels/clipping) song tracks before playing them and so forth. Yesterday was my third show and my co-presenter/mentor said he'd just received marketing information about listener numbers. Approximately 25 people per show. Which makes me seriously wonder whether all the time and effort is worth it. - Getting out on the wards to gather requests is not encouraged at all. Post Jimmy Saville, hospital managers are very wary of random people wandering around wards. High level of DBS needed. Ward volunteers are too busy to be the radio's outrunners, apparently. - Although requests are welcome, they are invited through the station website/chatbot, social media. I've only ever seen 3 requests come in and they were all from other presenters. - Which makes it seem that the radio station exists primarily for its presenters, rather than for hospital patients and staff. - I asked how easy it was for patients to listen to hospital radio in their beds through the bedside media monitor, "Oooh - we've had problems with the technology. Don't think it's working at the moment, actually" - If you're a patient and you want to listen to some music, you'll use Spotify or YouTube. - Much of the time, I seem to be an audio engineer rather than a presenter. Maybe I'm living in the past by thinking that Hospital Radio is/should be about contacting patients directly and playing their songs for them.

Thank you for your comments. Looks like I'll be putting together a LR profile.

Thanks Rick.

We're in Devon...

My band has decided that I should look into getting us onto the Lemonrock website in order to promote the band and get more gigs. I've had a quick look at the site this morning, and I'm left wondering whether it offers that much more than a well-managed Facebook or Instagram account. I am not well-versed in social media and I may well be missing something important here. What has been other people's experience, please?

Will do. At next rehearsal, I'll ask her how's she's getting on with her bass, and what her playing intentions are. See what she says.

Drummer - her husband - is band leader.