[00:00:00] James: Welcome to episode 180 of the Bandhive Podcast. It is time for another episode of the Bandhive Podcast. My name is James Cross and I help independent artists tour smart. This week on the podcast, I'm going to talk about 16 ways that you can upset the sound engineer at the show as you're playing and a fun little backstory.

[00:00:20] James: I asked chat g p T to make a list of things that annoy sound engineers, and I specifically asked for 20 things, and like five were not actually bad things. Some of them were even good things, but the rest were all pretty accurate.

[00:00:34] James: And so this list, I've modified it, I've added in my personal examples of people who did this. Some of them I might name names, some of them I probably won't. But I've added in context and literally I was amazed by this list that chat GT made, and I was like, most of these have happened to me.

[00:00:51] James: What? And so specifically, all of the ones that I'm sharing here today have happened to me. First of all, I wanna say that ai, when used correctly, is a really interesting tool.[00:01:00] I am kind of undecided on if it's the best thing ever or potentially the worst thing. But this outline has been created mostly by ai.

[00:01:09] James: It's been tweaked by me. I added, I think, one kind of like bullet point, and I changed a few others. But aside from that and the personal stories I'm adding in, this has been created by Chat g, pt, and it's incredibly accurate. really just scrolling through here, it's quite accurate as of the things that frustrate me as a sound engineer and production manager, or even a tour manager or stage manager.

[00:01:31] James: so these are the things that you do not ever want to do at the shows you're playing or even before the shows you play the first thing is poor communication and it's really simple. Failing to communicate clearly. With the venue staff, not just the standard engineer, but also the production manager or the gm, whoever it is about the requirements that you have to put your show on or the changes to those requirements can really easily mess things up.

[00:01:58] James: And I'm currently dealing [00:02:00] with this right now. A so, so hardcore band out of Worcester, Massachusetts. That's as far as I'm gonna name them, but literally I'm working on advancing a show. The show is happening tomorrow, which is several weeks before this episode drops, all the other bands have replied.

[00:02:14] James: The first band replied right away. The second band replied with one follow up, and the headlining band, who by the way, have not posted about the show once on their social media and the show is tomorrow. Like, what's up with that? They also haven't replied to emails at all. this is just Truly one of the most unprofessional bands I've ever worked with, like who headlines a show and doesn't post about it unless there's a clause saying they can't. And in this case, this band probably doesn't even have any idea what a radius clause is, but they just simply have not emailed back with their stage plot and input list.

[00:02:47] James: And I get it, you know, not every band has a stage plot and input list. I literally say, here's where you can go to make one using a free tool. Or if you have questions, let me know in the template that I sent out so I don't get it. [00:03:00] Why do bands not reply to emails, and why is it always the local bands who are kind of terrible but think they're the best, who don't do email because they're too good for it?

[00:03:08] James: I don't know. So if somebody asks you a question, try to answer it within 24 hours, or at the very least three days. So 72 hours, it's been like a week and a half with these guys. Again, so-so banned out of, uh, Worcester, Massachusetts. I'm not gonna name them cuz who knows?

[00:03:22] James: Maybe they'll end up being really nice guys and I'll be wrong and they just, forgot their email password or something, in which case that's still not an excuse, but who knows? So that's the first thing is poor communication. Second thing is showing up late for soundcheck Because not only does showing up late put pressure on the engineer, it also could put pressure on the other acts. So recently we talked with Troy Millette on episode 175, which was Band Dynamics and growth. Troy Mullet on authenticity and opportunity in music. And Troy shared a story about a headliner who completely beyond their control. There was a blizzard showed up late, and Troy was flexible about it because you know what?

[00:03:58] James: It happens, [00:04:00] but you know what's not okay. a perfectly sunny day and you leave. late That's not fair to the other artists playing who want to get their soundcheck. That's not fair to the venue staff who are just sitting waiting around for you.

[00:04:12] James: None of that is okay if you don't have a good reason, like a blizzard or a storm or you know, maybe even a delayed flight if you're doing a fly date. That's all. Okay. But there was one specific drummer that we worked with last year. They were over 45 minutes late to their soundcheck. Now, they were bringing their own drum kit, but we said, Hey, we gotta get this soundcheck going because there's another band to soundcheck and we want to be able to get this show opened on time.

[00:04:38] James: We wanna have doors open on time, so we're gonna set up the house kit. it's a perfectly sunny, beautiful day outside. There's no excuse. We're gonna set up the house kit. And so the band showed up and we said, Hey, just so you know, because you were 45 minutes late, or really over 45, it was almost an hour.

[00:04:53] James: We had to set up the house kit for you. The rest of the band says, oh, that's fine. The drummer goes, oh, well I, we didn't need to bring two cars in it. It's like, well, [00:05:00] you also didn't need to leave an hour later than you were supposed to. that's not our problem. That's your problem. So get there on time.

[00:05:07] James: It's really not that difficult if you are the kind of person who's habitually late. Well maybe leave a little earlier, and I don't mean like that day. Leave a little earlier. I mean like plan into your daily life. Hey, it takes me an hour to get there and I have to be there by six, so I'm gonna leave at four.

[00:05:25] James: Because then if you have in your head that, Hey, I have to leave at four, maybe by five o'clock you'll actually be out the door and you're gonna be at the soundcheck on time. Whatever it is, do something that works for you and make sure that your habitual lateness doesn't affect the other people you're working with or the people in the venues that you're playing.

[00:05:45] James: Now, I know that this is easier said than done. It's something that you have to do if you want to have any chance at a music career, because if people know that you're always late and you're not easy to work with and you complain, they're not gonna wanna work with you. The third thing, [00:06:00] this is, I don't even remember the band's name, but they were truly awful. Ignoring soundcheck instructions. As an engineer, we give instructions. During soundtrack, trying to get the best sound possible. if you ignore those instructions, you're not gonna have the best sound possible. That's really what it comes down to.

[00:06:17] James: And I'm not necessarily talking about things like, Hey, tweak your settings on this. I'm talking about things like going through the line check, saying, gimme the kick, gimme the bass, gimme the guitar, whatever. This band literally in the middle of line check, I was going through the lines asking them for, I think at this point I was saying acoustic.

[00:06:36] James: And they literally just started playing their set. We hadn't even finished the line check, they just started playing. So I kinda just said, okay, the stuff that we have, line check. Now they got that. Anything else too bad. And literally that set was set it and forget it. They didn't care about their sound, so why should I, it still sounded good in the.

[00:06:54] James: At least to the extent that I could do with the very limited capabilities that I had set up. Turned [00:07:00] out halfway through the set, I found out that two of their guitars were plugged into the same amplifier. They didn't use the direct input box for the acoustic guitar that I had given them. if they had actually line checked them, which literally is what I was asking for when they started playing, was the acoustic guitar, then we would've figured that out and I would've been able to do a better job on their.

[00:07:17] James: But we didn't figure that out because they ignored the instructions. Not only is that unprofessional, but it's also just stupid. if you're gonna play a show, do you not want it to sound great? So take 30 seconds to finish the line check instead of just launching into your song.

[00:07:33] James: makes no sense to me and it's totally mind baffling how artists can do something like this. They are literally sabotaging themselves, and I can guarantee you that band never played that venue again. They were not invited back because like the band, in my first example, they didn't promote the show very well.

[00:07:48] James: I think they sold three tickets. It was terrible. The opener brought more people than the headliner in that case. So all that said, just listen to. And that kind of ties into this next one. Number four is overly loud stage volume. If [00:08:00] you're playing too loud on stage, especially guitarists, if it's too loud. The sound engineer isn't going to be able to make a good mix from this. First of all, you're gonna be fighting other things on stage, especially the vocals, which, if you have a drummer who hits hard, you can't do much about that aside from replacing the drummer. And they're hard to find, or you know, if it's a symbol problem, you can always get thinner.

[00:08:21] James: Symbols that aren't as loud, that can help quite a bit. But your amps, that's super easy. You can turn them down because a lot of venues have decibel limits in. And if you're already at the decibel limit, before you even bring anything into the pa, the engineer, their hands are tied. They can't do anything about that.

[00:08:40] James: So say goodbye to the vocals. Guess what? If you're at the DB limit before the PA is even turned on, or before the vocals are in the pa, you're not gonna get vocals because the venue's not gonna risk getting a fine or a complaint from the neighbors just because you won't turn your stuff down.

[00:08:57] James: So if the venue asks you to turn your gear [00:09:00] down, turn it down, and then don't turn it back up. I see that a lot too. The band will turn things down and then later they'll turn it back up. If you turn it back up, you know what? Everything's coming down a little. And then if it's still too loud, you're gonna get your set cut because that venue decibel limit is in place for a reason.

[00:09:17] James: And typically the reason is other people who like to be Karen's and complain and could result in a fine for the venue. So don't do that because you're literally, again, sabotaging your own set if you don't listen to those simple instruc. Now the next thing is having an annoying manager. And this is a word that has probably been used before, but I just came up with it at least as far as I know.

[00:09:40] James: A fan who's also a manager who makes irrational demands, This dude was actually on the Voice. His name was Sam James. he seemed perfectly fine. His fan on the other hand was not, he was playing an acoustic show in a small room that holds, I think about 90 people at the time. And this venue had a [00:10:00] 90 decibel policy outside the door, which 90 decibels outside is. Okay. It's not the loudest that's gonna be like 95 to a hundred, 105 in the room, depending on what the walls and door are made of.

[00:10:12] James: But for this show, because it was acoustic, the venue management decided to leave the door open, which meant that we were quite limited on what we could do in the room without exceeding the noise limit outside the door. I don't know how many times the engineer came over.

[00:10:27] James: Telling me to turn it up. I lost count and I kept saying, I'm sorry. We are at our limit. You have to talk to the venue gm, I can't remember if I was the production manager at that point yet, or maybe just an engineer. Either way. I was saying, I can't do anything unless I get approval, so you have to go talk to this guy, and they just say, no, no, no.

[00:10:44] James: Can't you just turn it up? I'm like, no, I cannot turn it up. I've explained to you why I can't turn this up. I've explained to you what you need to do. Then he comes back and says, Okay, cool. I talked to the guy, he said, we can turn it up. He said, okay, that's fine. I just need confirmation from him. So [00:11:00] I talked to the venue GM and he said, no.

[00:11:02] James: I told him we can't do that. So the guy was even lying, and I don't remember the manager's name, but the artist was Sam James. And again, the artist himself, he was on the Voice at one point. He was nice. He was a little bit of a di, but he was nice. Overall, it was really the Fanger who was the. If the venue staff tells you something, they probably know more about that than you do, as long as it relates to the venue.

[00:11:24] James: I'm telling the guy, Hey, this is the limit for our sound. We cannot go over this yet. He keeps asking, you know what that's gonna do, that's gonna annoy me, and it's also distracting me from mixing your artist on stage. Why would you do that again, self sabotaging. Number six, intentional feedback. And I'm not talking about like feedback on a guitar amp or something like that, that can sound really cool and that's not really damaging to the pa.

[00:11:50] James: However, if you are intentionally creating feedback way that the vocal mics that is bad, that can damage gear. The audience is not gonna like it, and you're [00:12:00] just gonna have your vocals lower in the mix or lower in your monitors for the rest of the night because the engineer doesn't want to react quickly to you doing something stupid.

[00:12:08] James: So a good engineer will ring out the room and prevent feedback from happening, but that isn't going to prevent feedback. if you put a mic directly in front of the speaker, or if you cup the mic. There's just not much the engineer can do in those cases, so it's a quick way to get your vocals turned down.

[00:12:26] James: Don't do it. It's not difficult to keep your mic in a place where it doesn't feed back. again, sometimes if you play a venue with an engineer who's not great. Maybe there's gonna be feedback no matter what, and that sucks. I have left shows because the engineer was so bad. When that happens, that is not your fault.

[00:12:44] James: If you're using the mic as it is intended to be used and it's feeding back, there's nothing you can do about that except asking the engineer to get better, which I would never recommend that cuz they'll get upset. But if you. Running in front of the mains. Expect some feedback. If you are [00:13:00] pointing the mic at the monitors, expect some feedback.

[00:13:03] James: These are the things that you don't want to do. Number seven, poor instrument maintenance. if you don't maintain and tune your instruments. It's gonna cause issues and it's gonna be extra work for the engineer that really, most of the time they can't do anything about.

[00:13:16] James: If your guitar intonation is bad and you just sound out of tune, the people who don't know might be looking at the sound engineer of like, oh, that sounds terrible, even though it's actually the band who's terrible. It's impossible to fix that if your guitar or your instruments in general sound bad. The engineer can't do anything about that in a live setting.

[00:13:35] James: There's just no way to. Collect that data and process it. even with digital processing, you can't autotune a guitar. That's just not possible. That's not how it works. And unless you're traveling with your own engineer anyway, you're not gonna be able to say, Hey, put autotune on my vocals. Chances are they don't have that.

[00:13:53] James: Maybe you have a tuning pedal, that's fine, but the. No, they're not gonna have a vocal [00:14:00] tuning pedal, that's not in their job description. You bring your gear, they bring their gear for sound reinforcement anyway. Number eight, on a similar note, untested or unreliable gear. If you bring gear that you know is prone to malfunctions or just hasn't been tested, that can lead to more delays or technical issues.

[00:14:23] James: You really want a risk, and specifically one artist. This is actually the opener for the Sam James show. I don't remember her name. I think I've told this story on the podcast a few times, but on the mic, she called out and said, Hey, sound guy, can you take the distortion off of my guitar again, acoustic show.

[00:14:40] James: If you know anything about guitars, you already guessed the battery in her sound output was dying. That's where that distortion was coming from. She didn't know there was a battery in it. I, I got on the talk back and said, no, I can't. That's your guitar. You gotta replace the battery. Do you have an extra battery?

[00:14:56] James: She literally said, oh, there's a battery in here. Didn't [00:15:00] have an extra battery. And then ended up using the headliner's guitar. It was very nice that he let her borrow it. no, you're a gear. Test it before you play. And if it's something like a battery just. Yeah, I get that it adds up, but you can replace 'em and then use those older batteries that have already been replaced at your rehearsals or your practice.

[00:15:18] James: on that note, number nine, not respecting the sound engineer's expertise because no engineer in their right mind would add terrible like lo-fi distortion to an acoustic guitar in a live setting, unless that was specifically asked. So this person saying, Hey, can you take off the distortion on the guitar?

[00:15:37] James: On what planet do you think that's intentional? So if the engineer asks you to make a change, whether it's turning down an amp or moving something, or changing some setting on your gear, it's because they know more about that room that you're in than you do.

[00:15:52] James: Just imagine the Ron Swanson meme here, where he walks into Lowe's and the guy asks, can I help you? And Ron says, I know [00:16:00] more. that's what it is. Like the engineer knows more about that room than you do. So if the engineer knows there's a certain frequency that is resonant in that room and they ask you to turn down your lows a little bit, for example, you should probably do that.

[00:16:13] James: And worst case scenario, they're gonna make it sound great in the mix. That's really all that comes down to is they know that room. They know what they need from you to make you sound. So respect the knowledge that they have. And again, not all engineers are great. there are bad engineers out there, but if they are asking you to make a change, there's probably a reason for that.

[00:16:34] James: And if you wanna know the reason, by all means, please ask. But just ignoring it or pretending to do it or doing it, and then undoing. Oh, you're not pulling one over on the engineer. You're just making your own band sound worse, why do it. Number 10, poor mic technique. This is mainly for the vocalists who are free range.

[00:16:53] James: You're not tied down by a guitar, a bass, drums, a keyboard, whatever. If you don't use the mic,[00:17:00] If you cup the mic, if you swing it around, whatever you're doing, that can cause feedback or other issues making the engineer's job more difficult. So main thing is if you cup the mic, all your bets are off.

[00:17:12] James: You're probably gonna get feedback off the monitors, maybe even off the mains. If you swing the mic, first of all, that better be your mic. Second of all, you're stressing the connection. And third, it might be swinging right in front of the mains and you're gonna get feedback as it swings past those. Now if the engineer knows you're gonna do this and you can do it safely, and it's your own mic and your own cable and you've taped them together, that's one thing.

[00:17:37] James: as long as everybody is on the same page about this. But if you just show up to a venue and start swinging their gear, they're not gonna be happy. Especially because that puts stress on that connection, like I mentioned. So if it's not taped up, you're probably destroying that.

[00:17:51] James: That is not okay because it's not your Gear 11 unprofessional behavior. If you're rude or disrespectful or uncooperative [00:18:00] with the engineer, that can create a tense environment and it will honestly affect the sound quality, even if it's not conscious, even if it's subconscious. The engineer isn't gonna do their best job on your stuff because they're thinking about other.

[00:18:16] James: You wanna make it as easy as possible for the engineer to make you sound great. I've said this so many times about, I don't get it. Why bands self-sabotage. So a couple things here. The first one is being demanding, being rude to the engineers or saying, we need this, we need that. No ask nicely calling names.

[00:18:33] James: Absolutely not. Last week I was running a show and the drummer of a local band who honestly sounded quite. The next band, the headliner sounded great and it's easy to mix a band who sounds great. It's difficult to mix a band who sounds terrible. The drummer during their sound check told me the kick needs to come down in the house.

[00:18:52] James: I'm sorry, from back behind the kit, you can hear the mix in the house. I don't think so. The mix in the house was sounding as good as it possibly [00:19:00] could, but this drummer who literally can't hear the house mix, Is telling me what to do with the house mix. Now there were multiple issues with that person, and as long as that person's in the band, they're not invited back. That same guy earlier had repeatedly yelled a ticket guy at me. I don't know. There was a patron who wanted to buy tickets and they'd been informed that the box office is closed.

[00:19:20] James: I guess this person was related to him in some way, and all of a sudden he came back saying, ticket guy, ticket guy, ticket guy. I'm like, oh, what? What's up? What's going on? He said, yeah, this person wants to buy tickets from me. Like that's not my job. And that person has already been told the box office opens when doors.

[00:19:35] James: And he had a hissy fit about it. Like, dude, we can't do anything. I get that. This isn't your family member, but doors are in like 20 minutes. They can come back then and buy a ticket. Why push the issue? saying ticket guy, ticket guy, ticket guy. If he had said sound guy, that's one thing. If it's like, Hey sound guy, sorry, I forgot your name.

[00:19:52] James: When can people buy tickets? That's one thing, but just yelling. Ticket guy. Ticket guy, ticket guy, dude. Who taught you manner? And then again later after [00:20:00] soundcheck, right before the band was gonna go on, he came over giving me mixed notes. It's dude, I got this. It's gonna be okay. This isn't my first rodeo.

[00:20:07] James: And even the band other members had said, Hey, we've never played in a venue this nice before. this is really cool. You guys absolutely know what you're doing, but the drummer just next level. So anyway. Number 12, actually same band here is gonna have an example not providing accurate input lists or stage plots.

[00:20:25] James: If you don't give the engineer a correct detailed list of your inputs, that is up to date, that can cause confusion and delays, and it's literally one of the simplest things possible to make an input list. But somehow bands still mess it up. All you literally have to do is send a list of the sources you have.

[00:20:41] James: the engineer doesn't need to know every single speck on your gear. You could literally say, kick snare, rack Tom Floor, Tom Overheads, bass guitar one guitar two vocal, one vocal, two done. You don't need to say 24 inch kick, 14 inch snare, 12 inch Tom, 18 inch Tom [00:21:00] Overheads bass Now with bass you could say DI or Mike, that is very useful, But you don't need to say bass eight 10 cab. this is all extra information. All we need to know is what are your inputs, what needs to go into the pa? Or even worse is sending a list like this and it's totally different from what you actually show up with. For this example, I have another band that we worked with last fall. They sent us a stage plot and input list, and I was really impressed. It was well put together. I was very excited about it. And they showed up and it was totally different. literally their input list didn't mention a drummer, and then they showed up with drums.

[00:21:36] James: How do you miss that? And it was not that. They thought, oh, we don't need to mic the drums. It was that they didn't have a drummer, and then when the drummer joined, they didn't update their stage plot, which segues into not sticking to the agreed stage plot. This is number 13.

[00:21:52] James: So if you're changing the stage layout without telling anyone that can just mess things up, the band that I worked with this past week had a [00:22:00] hand drawn stage plot. Totally fine. I'm cool with that as long as I can understand. Now they did their upside down, but I figured it out. it's kind of looking at a map south up instead of north up.

[00:22:11] James: It's a little weird, but you can do it. It just takes them getting used to. However, they totally changed everything. They had three vocal mics on the stage plot. I set up three vocal mics they go, what are you doing? I'm like, setting up the vocal mics you want. Oh, no, no, we don't need those. We just need one.

[00:22:25] James: Okay, great. What's up with the cabs here? You had a guitar on either side and then bass stage, right? Yeah, that, that's, we're just switching it. They had two guitars stage left and the bass stage. Right. Okay. Again, no big deal, but you literally just drew a stage plot a couple days ago, and now you've already changed things.

[00:22:44] James: Why even bother? Why not just do the setup the way you want it to do on the stage plot or do the setup the way you did it on the stage plot, even though maybe you want something else. But again, this was the drummer who was a little complaining and he gave me attitude about the vocal mic.

[00:22:57] James: I'm like, dude, I gave you a vocal [00:23:00] mic because you asked for it. so then as I was taking it away, the guitarist goes, oh, what's the problem? And the drummer starts complaining about me giving him a vocal mic that they ask. These are all things that I'm amazed have happened because bands just like don't learn.

[00:23:15] James: And I know this is a really complaining episode, but I'm trying to use these as examples of what you should not do because. This is just going to create friction. If one of your members is a jerk, maybe you're not gonna get invited back. I have seen multiple bands get banned from multiple venues by multiple different people because they didn't know how to behave like adults.

[00:23:34] James: They were acting like little kids having a hissy fit. That's not the vibe that people want to be around. The headliner from that show was absolutely great. After the show, they emailed us and said, Hey, like we'd love to help out more. We have some PA gear that maybe you can use, like we can help you install it.

[00:23:53] James: Are you interested? That kind of stuff. That goes a long way. Being chill, being helpful, great complaining, [00:24:00] and just being a miserable person to be around. People aren't going to want to have you back. On that note, number 14, asking the audience how it sounds out there. That is the easiest way to tell the audience.

[00:24:11] James: You have zero faith in your sound engineer without directly saying it, and honestly, it's a really easy way to get the engineer to stop trying. Now, I don't do this, but I know many engineers who do and. Coincidentally, or maybe not coincidentally, it's usually the worst sounding local bands who ask this and I don't know, maybe it's a lack of confidence and they want to hear back, Hey, like, oh yeah, you sound good.

[00:24:32] James: That's amazing, or what it is, but it really doesn't come across well to the audience. if you need stage banter, find something better because that's not it. Next up, number 15. Playing too long. ignoring the limits on your set time can throw off the entire schedule for the show and make problems for both the venue in the way of fines or complaints if they go past curfew or for the other bands by the other [00:25:00] bands. Getting it cut short. Now, at the pro level, you'll hear that if a band goes over, the monitors cut out right when they go over.

[00:25:08] James: If they don't finish the song within typically 30 seconds to a minute, Then after another 30 seconds to a minute, the main's cut out and the band is just playing. And if they don't realize the man's cut out, they look really bad.

[00:25:19] James: But when somebody does give you a little wiggle room, don't take advantage of that. Years ago I worked a show and one band said, Hey, can we do one more song? please Yeah. You know, they'd been playing like three to four minute songs the entire night, so you know what? Yeah, we have a little bit of wiggle room. We can do one more.

[00:25:37] James: So I said, yeah, go for it. They launched into another brick in the wall parts, not I not II not III but parts I II and III All three parts of another brick in the wall, which is like an eight or nine minute song when you combine them all. together That was the last time I've allowed a band extra time when they ask for it.

[00:25:55] James: Now, sometimes I suggest to a band, Hey, you have a few minutes extra if you wanna do [00:26:00] another. But if a band asks, I do not allow it because I've been burned by that. And I would rather say no and be the bad guy than cut them off Midsong. If somebody ever offers you this, don't play a ridiculously long song.

[00:26:13] James: Play something that is, as long as your other songs are shorter. So the engineer knows what they're getting into when they say yes or just better off? Don't ask at all. That's really what it comes down to. not ask because by asking, you're showing that, hey, we know we're out of time, but we want to bend the rules.

[00:26:32] James: And if it's your first time at that venue, you don't wanna bend the rules. If you've been there a bunch of times and you know the people, maybe you can get away with it. But you know what? Why don't you ask before you get up on stage? Don't ask on the mic when the entire audience is listening and make the engineer be the bad guy in front of the entire audience.

[00:26:48] James: When they say no, ask beforehand, say, Hey, can we have an extra five minutes on our set? Please give them a specific time. Don't say one more song. Remove the ambiguity and say a specific time. [00:27:00] Now, last thing, when we're wrapping up your set, don't move slowly. Get your gear off the stage so the next band can set up.

[00:27:07] James: And the same goes for the end of the night. If you're the last band, get your stuff off the stage so the venue staff can strike their gear too. I've seen this, there was a band playing Middle East upstairs in Cambridge. And they literally finished their set.

[00:27:21] James: most of the band was loading their gear off the stage. But the singer was literally just on stage, shaking hands, hugging people would not get off the stage. It's like, okay, if you don't have to carry anything, that's fine, but you are actively impeding the people who are trying to move around you moving that gear So get off the stage, get down on the floor, and talk to people there. If you wanna talk to them, that's fine. If that's how your band rolls and you don't have to move stuff, totally fair. That's your agreement with the band. But don't do it somewhere where you're slowing down the entire process of the set change.

[00:27:51] James: An additional part to this is don't put your gear into the cases that you use for transport on stage. take all your gear off stage, and [00:28:00] once everything of yours is off the stage, you can start putting it into those cases on the side stage or in the hallway or wherever it is. But don't do that on stage. You don't need to bring your cases onto the stage and pack everything up completely and then take it. Just get it off stage as quickly as possible because otherwise you are again, holding up the process. You're slowing down the set change, and you might even be cutting into the next band's set time,

[00:28:24] James: That does it for this episode of the Bandhive Podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening. I hope that this has given you some really good examples of why you don't wanna do these 16 things. Now, you probably know a lot of them already because you listened to this podcast, but just in case you didn't, I hope that this helped, and really, please just don't do these things.

[00:28:43] James: They're all really cringey, and again, I get that this sounds like a lot of complaints. 16 complaints in a row. I'm putting this out there so you don't make these same mistakes and upset the engineers, the production managers, the other venue staff, because the music industry is all about connections and if you are burning bridges[00:29:00] left and right, you're not gonna have any connections to speak of.

[00:29:03] James: So be easy to work with, be a good hang, don't do stupid things. That's the summary of this week's episode. These are 16 specific examples of what not to. But in general, if it makes you look bad, just don't do it. It's that simple. We'll be back with another brand new episode of the Bandhive Podcast next Tuesday at 6:00 AM Eastern, right here in your favorite podcast app.

[00:29:24] James: Until then, I hope you have a great week. Stay safe, and of course, as always, key for rocking.