What is it about technical folks and musicians getting along? In my experience getting these two groups in sync is like putting angry cats in a room full of dogs. You just know a fight is going to break out! While commissioning a sound system in another state, my friend Jeff saw the cats and dogs ready to brawl and picked up some new lingo that he passed it on to me.
During the final rehearsal before the opening Sunday of a new church building Jeff, having finished commissioning the system was hanging in the tech booth listening to and watching the worship band rehearse. He watched as the typical scenario played out. The musicians on stage kept asking for more monitor. The front of house soundman was struggling to get any clarity in the mix as the wash from the stage was overtaking the room. The soundman quietly and secretly kept backing down the level of the stage monitors as he boosted the level of the main system. Not necessarily a bad plan, a bit sneaky, maybe even underhanded, but Jeff thought hey he has to do what he has to do. If he kept escalating the stage monitor level there would be no hope of ever having a decent mix. As Jeff watched this all play out he kept thinking that much like angry cats thrown into a room of dogs, a fight was brewing to take place.
Sure enough after a little while and a 9 decibel reduction in stage volume one of the singers said in rather short fashion “I need more monitor”. The soundman undaunted resorted to the ultimate soundman sleight of hand move. He calmly put his hand down on the mixing console and acted like he was turning up the monitor all well smiling at the stage. It was as if his smile was saying are you all set now? Really all us sound guys know that his smile was saying Hah! I tricked you! You musicians can't tell the difference anyway! This sly move seemed to satisfy the singer for at least a few minutes, but then it happened the brawl was about to begin. In the middle of a song as the singer struggled to keep his pitch, he stopped singing and shouted into the microphone “More Me Monitor” as he was turning red in the face from shouting (and probably from anger) he emphatically pointed to the monitor in front of him and once again yelled “More Me Monitor!” Surprisingly the soundman still undaunted calmly turned to Jeff and said “can you get me some M3 technology for this system?” Jeff, perplexed by the question and thinking what the heck is M3 technology got up out of the chair he had been comfortably reclining in(all the while is some sick perverse way enjoying the events that where happening, even strangely hoping he would see a brawl). He sauntered over to mixing board to ask the soundman to repeat what he had said. The soundman again asked Jeff, “Can you get me some M3 technology for this system?” Jeff, trying to play it cool and act like he was in the loop on M3 technology asked back, “What kind of M3 technology are you looking for?” The reply back surprised Jeff and caused him to break out in great laughter, “The kind that shuts up a musician! You know the More Me Monitor technology, better known as M3 technology”.
After Jeff's (and the soundman's) laughter subsided, Jeff decided to use this as a teaching moment. He first called the rehearsal to a halt and then gathered the musicians and the tech team in the front pews. He explained to the musicians how “less is more”. By that he meant that the musicians did not need every instrument in every mix. In fact doing that just cluttered the stage sound making it harder to hear what you actually needed to hear. He went on to explain to the tech crew that if the musicians can't hear themselves on stage you won't even want to turn on the mains because the musicians will be off key and not playing well together. Jeff was then able to walk each musician through what he suggested that they have in their monitor, and at the same time help the soundman realize that some stage volume is necessary if you want the musicians to play with confidence and sing on pitch. At the end there was a group hug and other than the shirts that the sound team now wears that say “powered by M3 technology” this potential brawl was completely forgotten about. Personally, I think that to this day Jeff wishes he would have let it escalate a bit more before he intervened. After all doesn't everyone enjoy watching a good brawl every now and then?
Jeff's story reminded me of a statement that another friend of mine (yes I have more than one, not many but more than one) made during a teaching session we were doing together. “Tech and Talent, TNT…. It's explosive and that can be either good or bad.” Thankfully, Jeff helped this church use TNT for the good!
