Dave Rat Blog - New journey

Town car off to Lax and a schedule to rival the punk tour days.

22 fly
23 arrive
24 seminar Frankfurt
25 Show Frankfurt
26 fly Prague, seminar Prague
27 show Prague
28 fly Zagreb, seminar Zagreb?
29 show Zagreb
30 fly Bucharset, seminar Bucharest
31 show Bucharest
1. show Sofia
2. off Sofia
3. fly Athens, seminar Athens
4. show Athens
5. fly Beirut, seminar Beirut
6. show Beirut
7. Fly Istambul, seminar Istambul
8. show istambul
9. Fly Tel Aviv, seminar Tel Aviv?
10 show Tel Aviv
11 fly home or stay and seminar Tel Aviv
12 fly home

Yay! A day off in three weeks or at least wishful thinking and Kim and I will end up self destructing. We will be traveling light, fast and nearly independant of the actual tour.

Sustain-ability test and how cool would it be to be able to go on tour as a sound engineer without the band?

Oh, and I will try try to blog the unraveling sanity I somehow feel we are heading towards.

Bye bye to Sammy and Madeline just melt my heart and at least I was in town for the first few days of their senior year.

Well alright, off to Frankfurt and hey, I included a reference pic of recommended minimum package labeling in case you ever need to ship something.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Dave Rat Blog - New Toys

Well the home town LA and Oakland shows are done and all seemed to run well. Surreal to be surrounded by so many long time friends immersed in excitement. 

Some cool stuff happening with the SoundTools products and slowly but surely filling out the product line.

www.soundtools.com

The Switcher: A 3 in 1 out XLR switcher.  On Chili Peppers tour we use one, with Anthony's main vocal mic on channel A, a spare mic on channel B and a wireless mic on channel C.  Anthony can grab any of the three mics and our monitor engineer can switch to it instantly for both monitors and FOH.  The mic of choice just shows up in my main vocal channel. No more of that ClearCom calling and warning of a mic switch. Plus, all three mics show up in my already EQ'ed channel.  It is totally the best way to deal with mic switching

The Swapper: Same as the Mic Switcher but it is a 2 in 2 out unit that allows you to preview the spare mic before switching to it or test the mic on another board channel after switching from it.

Both units work with mic level or line level and can be used for a wide variety of other A/B and switching applications.  Plus the tubular housing fits in a mic clip.

1/4" Sniffer/Sender: Same as the XLR Rat Sniffer/Sender units except it is 1/4" TRS.  These 2 piece units allow the testing of 1/4" tip/sleeve and tip/ring/sleeve lines and you do not need to have both cable ends in the same location. Plus they can be used in conjunction with the XLR Sniffer/sender units

More products to come soon. 

In seminar world I took a break on the last run to regroup a bit with the exception of Tampere Finland which went really well. Thank you Pauli! So now, Kim and I are back on track with the most adventurous seminar schedule yet. We have moved the sessions to days off in the evening instead of show days to reduce the stress and potential overlap with gig issues.  If you are interested, shoot an email to seminar@ratsound.com and see you soon.

• 24th August-Seminar in Frankfurt
• 26th August-Seminar in Prague
• 30th August-Seminar in Bucharest
• 2nd September-Seminar in Sofia
• 3rd September-Seminar in Athens
• 5th September-Seminar in Beirut
• 7th September-Seminar in Istanbul
• 9th September-Seminar in Tel Aviv

Other cool and curious stuff:

There are few business-humans that I hold respect for but one is Jack Bogle.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/business/john-bogle-vanguards-founder-is-too-worried-to-rest.xml

Next up in curiosities is check this out

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679248/dutch-kids-pedal-their-own-bus-to-school

And who would have known there are such things as a Ligor and a Tiglon!

And finally for today,

9 great mechanical principles and inventions

Well alright.  Off to take the daughters to a soccer game and 2 days before I am off to Europe.

Dave Rat

Dave Rat Blog - Just a bit of travelling

Not going home between tour legs can really be disorienting. June 19th to Aug 5th left me seven weeks away and while by old school and most tour standards, that is just a short jaunt, for me personally I just feel like I have been batted around like a cat toy.

"Hey man, what have you been up to?"

"Ahh, not much, just mixing and travelling around a bit, ya know, well , lets see I went to do some SoundGarden dates and then went on to do some Chili Peppers gigs"

All I really did was go to.........

SoundGarden

28-Jun CREW FLIES TO TORONTO
29-Jun LOAD IN TORONTO
30-Jun FULL PRODUCTION REHEARSAL TORONTO
1-Jul FULL PRODUCTION REHEARSAL TORONTO
2-Jul SHOW- MOLSON AMP TORONTO
3-Jul SHOW- LABATT CENTRE LONDON
4-Jul OFF OTTAWA
5-Jul SHOW-LEBRETON FLATS PARK OTTAWA
6-Jul SHOW-UNCASVILLE, CT UNCASVILLE
7-Jul OFF NEWARK,NJ 
8-Jul SHOW- PRUDENTIAL CENTER NEWARK,NJ 
9-Jul SHOW-JONES BEACH LONG ISLAND, NY 
10-Jul SHOW-COMCAST CENTER MANSFIELD, MA 
11-Jul OFF FAIRFAX, VA 
12-Jul SHOW- PATRIOT CENTER FAIRFAX, VA 
13-Jul SHOW-PENNS LANDING PHILADELPHIA 
14-Jul SHOW-BORGATA ATLANTIC CITY 
15-Jul OFF CHICAGO
16-Jul SHOW-UIC PAVILION CHICAGO 
17-Jul OFF DENVER
18-Jul SHOW-REDROCKS MORRISON, CO 
19-Jul OFF LAKE TAHOE
20-Jul SHOW-HARVEYS LAKE TAHOE
21-Jul SHOW-BILL GRAHAM CIVIC SAN FRANCISCO
22-Jul SHOW-FORUM LA
23-Jul SHOW- THE JOINT LAS VEGAS
24-Jul OFF CALGARY AB
25-Jul OFF CALGARY AB
26-Jul OFF CALGARY AB
27-Jul SHOW-SADDLEDOME CALGARY AB
28-Jul OFF VANCOUVER,BC
29-Jul SHOW-ROGERS ARENA VANCOUVER,BC
30-Jul SHOW-THE GORGE SEATTLE, WA
31-Jul TRAVEL HOME SEATTLE, WA

And then Straight into Chili Peppers Tour with a show that night:

31-Jul Los Angles, CA- show


1-Aug Rehearsals in LA 
2-Aug Rehearsals in LA 
3-Aug Rehearsals in LA- Load out DC 
4-Aug Day Off
5-Aug depart for HK
6-Aug
7-Aug arrive Hong Kong
8-Aug
9-Aug CHINA, HONG KONG: ASIA ARENA
10-Aug Travel / Tokyo
11-Aug Day off 
12-Aug TV Show Tokyo
13-Aug JAPAN, OSAKA: SUMMER SONIC
14-Aug JAPAN, TOKYO: SUMMER SONIC
15-Aug Travel Home/ load in Forum
16-Aug Forum Rehearsals
17-Aug Forum Rehearsals
18-Aug Forum Rehearsals
19-Aug VH1 Story Tellers(TBC)
20-Aug Forum Rehearsals
21-Aug Forum Rehearsals
22-Aug Roxy   FUSE TV
23-Aug Forum Rehearsals
24-Aug Beniffit Nokia
25-Aug Flat bed truck perfromance
26-Aug Load out Forum
27-Aug Off
28-Aug Off
29-Aug Depart for EUROPE
30-Aug EURO PROMO
31-Aug EURO PROMO

September 2011


1-Sept EURO PROMO
2-Sept EURO PROMO
3-Sept EURO PROMO
4-Sept EURO PROMO
5-Sept EURO PROMO
6-Sept EURO PROMO
7-Sept EURO PROMO
9-Sept DEPART FOR COLOMBIA -17 DAYS / 7 SHOWS
10-Sept LOAD IN BOGOTA
11-Sept COLOMBIA, BOGOTA: PARQUE SIMON BOLIVAR
12-Sept COSTA RICA
13-Sept Travel to Peru
14-Sept PERU, LIMA: ESTADIO UNIVERSIDAD
15-SeptTravel to Santiago
16 CHILE, SANTIAGO: ESTADIO BICENTARIO LA FLORIDA
17Travel to Buenos Aires
18 ARGENTINA, BUENOS AIRES: Estadio Unico
19 Travel to Sao Paulo
20 LOAD IN SAO PAULO
21 BRAZIL, SAO PAULO
22 Travel to Rio
23 Load in Rio
24 BRAZIL, RIO DE JANEIRO: ROCK IN RIO
25 TRAVEL HOME
26 Off
27 Off
28 Off
29 Off
30 Off

OCTOBER

1 TRAVEL TO GERMANY
2 Arrive Germany
3 Setup
4 GERMANY COLOGNE REHEARSAL (PLUS PRODUCTION)
5 GERMANY COLOGNE REHEARSAL (PLUS PRODUCTION)
6 GERMANY COLOGNE REHEARSAL
7 GERMANY, COLOGNE: LANXEES
8 GERMANY, HAMBURG: 02
9 Travel to Sweden
10 Setup Sweden
11 SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM: ERICSSON
12 SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM: ERICSSON
13 Travel to Denmark
14 DENMARK,HERNING: BOXEN ARENA
15 Travel to Holland
16 HOLLAND, ROTTERDAM: AHOY
17 Travel to France
18 FRANCE, PARIS: BERCY
19 FRANCE, PARIS: BERCY
20 Travel to Frankfurt
21 GERMANY, FRANKFURT: FESTHALLE
22 FLY HOME
23 Off
24 Off
25 Off
26 Off
27 Off
28 Off
29 Off
30 Off
31 Halloween - Off

NOVEMBER

1 TRAVEL TO IRELAND
2 
3 Load in
4 EIRE, DUBLIN: 02
5 Travel
6 
7 UK, LONDON: 02
8 Travel
9 UK,LONDON: O2
10 UK, LONDON: 02
11 Travel
12 UK, GLASGOW: SECC HALL 4
13 Travel
14 UK, MANCHESTER: EVENING NEWS ARENA
15 UK, MANCHESTER: EVENING NEWS ARENA
16 Travel
17 UK, SHEFFIELD: MOTORPOINT ARENA
18 Travel
19 UK, BIRMINGHAM: LG ARENA
20 UK, BIRMINGHAM: LG ARENA
21 FLY HOME
22 Off
23 Off
24 Thanksgiving - Off
25 Off
26 Off
27 Off
28 Off
29 Off
30 Off

DECEMBER

1 Off
2 TRAVEL TO GERMANY
3 Travel
4 GERMANY, BERLIN: O2 WORLD
5 GERMANY, MUNICH: OLYMPIAHALLE
6 Travel
7 AUSTRIA, VIENNA: STADTHALLE
8 Travel
9
10 ITALY, TORINO: PALAOLIMPICO
11 ITALY, MILAN: FORUM
12 Travel
13 SWITZERLAND, ZURICH: HALLENSTADION
14 Travel
15 SPAIN, BARCELONA: PALAU SANT JORDI
16 Travel
17 SPAIN,MADRID: PALACIO DE DEPORTES
18 Travel
19 PORTUGAL, LISBON: ATLANTIC PAVILLION
20 FLY HOME
21 Off
22 Off
23 Off
24 Off
25 Christmas Day - Off
26 Off
27 Off
28 Off
29 Travel to St Barts
30 Setup
31 New Year's Eve - St Barts

2012

January - Off

February - Off

MARCH

1 DAY OFF

2 DAY OFF

3 DAY OFF

4 DAY OFF

5 DAY OFF

6 DAY OFF

7 DAY OFF

8 DAY OFF

9 DAY OFF

10 DAY OFF

11 DAY OFF

12 DAY OFF

13 DAY OFF

14 DAY OFF

15 DAY OFF

16 DAY OFF

17 DAY OFF

18 DAY OFF

19 DAY OFF

20 DAY OFF

21 DAY OFF

22 DAY OFF

23 DAY OFF

24 DAY OFF

25 DAY OFF

26 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

27 TAMPA, FL - ST. PETE TIMES FORUM (LOAD IN / REHEARSALS)

28 TAMPA, FL - ST. PETE TIMES FORUM (REHEARSALS)

29 TAMPA, FL - ST. PETE TIMES FORUM

30 DAY OFF

31 ORLANDO, FL - AMWAY ARENA

APRIL

1 DAY OFF

2 SUNRISE, FL - BANK ATLANTIC CENTER

3 DAY OFF

4 RALEIGH, NC - RBC CENTER

5 DAY OFF

6 CHARLOTTE, NC - TIME WARNER CABLE ARENA

7 COLUMBIA, SC - COLONIAL LIFE ARENA

8 DAY OFF

9 GREENSBORO, NC - COLISEUM

10 DULUTH, GA - ARENA AT GWINNETT CENTER

11 DAY OFF

12 MEMPHIS, TN - FEDEX FORUM

13 DAY OFF / PARTIAL CREW TRAVEL HOME

14 CLEVELAND, OH - RRHOF INDUCTION

15 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

16 DAY OFF

17 DAY OFF

18 DAY OFF

19 DAY OFF

20 DAY OFF

21 DAY OFF

22 DAY OFF

23 DAY OFF

24 DAY OFF

25 DAY OFF

26 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

27 TORONTO, ON - AIR CANADA CENTER

28 TORONTO, ON - AIR CANADA CENTER

29 DAY OFF

30 OTTAWA - SCOTIABANK PLACE

MAY

1 DAY OFF

2 MONTREAL - BELL CENTRE

3 DAY OFF

4 NEWARK, NJ - PRUDENTIAL CENTER

5 NEWARK, NJ - PRUDENTIAL CENTER

6 DAY OFF

7 BOSTON, MA - TD BANK GARDEN

8 DAY OFF

9 DAY OFF

10 WASHINGTON DC - VERIZON CENTER

11 PHILADELPHIA, PA - WELLS FARGO CENTER

12 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

13 DAY OFF

14 DAY OFF

15 DAY OFF

16 DAY OFF

17 DAY OFF

18 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

19 GULF SHORES, AL - HANGOUT FESTIVAL

20 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

21 DAY OFF

22 DAY OFF

23 DAY OFF

24 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

25 ST. LOUIS, MO - SCOTTRADE ARENA

26 GRAND RAPIDS, MI - VAN ANDEL ARENA

27 DAY OFF

28 ROSEMONT, IL - ALLSTATE ARENA

29 DAY OFF

30 PITTSBURGH, PA - CONSOL ENERGY CENTER

31 DAY OFF

JUNE

1 DETROIT, MI - JOE LOUIS ARENA

2 CLEVELAND, OH - QUICKEN LOANS ARENA

3 DAY OFF

4 COLUMBUS, OH - SCHOTTENSTEIN CENTER

5 DAY OFF

6 CINCINNATI, OH - US BANK ARENA

7 LOUISVILLE, KY - KFC YUM CENTER

8 DAY OFF

9 MANCHESTER, TN - BONNAROO

10 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

11 DAY OFF

12 DAY OFF

13 DAY OFF

14 DAY OFF

15 DAY OFF

16 DAY OFF

17 DAY OFF

18 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

19 ARRIVE / TRAVEL DAY OFF

20 CROSS LOAD

21 KNEBWORTH, UK - LOAD IN / TECH DAY

22 KNEBWORTH, UK - TECH DAY

23 KNEBWORTH, UK - KNEBWORTH HOUSE

24 SUNDERLAND, UK - STADIUM OF LIGHT

25 DAY OFF

26 DUBLIN, IRELAND - CROKE PARK

27 DAY OFF

28 NIJMEGEN, HOLLAND - GOFFERT PARK

29 DAY OFF

30 PARIS, FRANCE - STADE DE FRANCE

JULY

1 WERCHTER, BELGIUM - WERCHTER FESTIVAL

2 DAY OFF

3 BERNE, SWITZERLAND - STADE DE SUISSE

4 DAY OFF

5 MILAN, ITALY - HEINEKEN JAMMIN FESTIVAL

6 DAY OFF

7 MADRID, SPAIN - ROCK IN RIO MADRID

8 TRAVEL to Greece

9 Greece holiday

10 Greece holiday

11 Greece holiday

12 Travel to London

13 SoundGarden Hyde Park

14 Travel to Greece holiday

15 Greece holiday

16 Greece holiday

17 Greece holiday

18 ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

19 LOAD IN

20 ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - SKK ARENA

21 DAY OFF

22 MOSCOW, RUSSIA - LUZNIKY STADIUM

23 DAY OFF

24 DAY OFF

25 KIEV, UKRAINE - OLYMPISKY STADIUM

26 DAY OFF

27 WARSAW, POLAND - BEMOWO AIRPORT

28 KAUNAS, LITHUANIA - KAUNAS ARENA

29 DAY OFF

30 TALLINN, ESTONIA - SONG GROUNDS

31 DAY OFF

AUGUST

1 TAMPERE, FINLAND - RATINA STADIUM

2 TRAVEL TO CHICAGO

3 DAY OFF

4 CHICAGO, IL - LOLLAPALOOZA

5 TRAVEL TO LOS ANGELES

6 DAY OFF

7 DAY OFF

So right now I am home and working on some stuff at Rat and next I........

8 DAY OFF

9 DAY OFF

10 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

11 LOS ANGELES, CA - STAPLES CENTER

12 LOS ANGELES, CA - STAPLES CENTER

13 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

14 OAKLAND, CA - ORACLE ARENA

15 OAKLAND, CA - ORACLE ARENA

16 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

17 DAY OFF

18 DAY OFF

19 DAY OFF

20 DAY OFF

21 DAY OFF

22 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

23 ARRIVE DUSSELDORF

24 TRAVEL TO GELSENKIRCHEN

25 GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY - ROCK IM SPEKTOR

26 DAY OFF

27 PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC - SLAVIA STADIUM

28 DAY OFF

29 ZAGREB, CROATIA - HIPPODROME

30 DAY OFF

31 BUCHAREST, ROMANIA - NATIONAL STADIUM

SEPTEMBER

1 SOFIA, BULGARIA - GEORGI ASPARUHOV STADIUM

2 DAY OFF

3 DAY OFF

4 ATHENS, GREECE - TERRAVIBE PARK

5 DAY OFF

6 BEIRUT, LEBANON -

7 DAY OFF

8 ISTANBUL, TURKEY - TURK TELEKOM ARENA

9 DAY OFF

10 TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - HAYARKON PARK

11 TRAVEL / DAY OFF

There is plenty more to come as I think we at only 2/3's or so of the way through tour. Ha! I sometimes I wonder why I feel like I have such a hard time staying focused on projects.  Looking at all this in one spot makes me not feel so bad. Anyway, looks like I am going to rock a bunch more seminars on this next trip out, hope to see ya there!

And say hi to the sound crew!

Dave Rat Mic Input Calculator

Mic Input-itus

A common affliction amongst sound engineers typically caused by small pee pee syndrome or Little Ball Syndrome

          * Note, females engineers please appropriate gender specific equivalents to any male oriented terms

Take the # of band members, multiply by 5 and add 2.

If venue sizes are below 1000 capacity, subtract 1 input per band member, to adjust for on stage levels effecting the FOH mix.

If venue size and ticket sales are between 2500 and 5000, add one input per band member as a success bonus.

For venues selling over 5000, add one input for every million albums sold in the first 30 days of the current album. Note; this applies to headline acts only! Support acts do not add album sales bonus inputs and must use the calculation for the largest headline show of the tour.

If any venue on the tour is less than half sold, take a 5 input embarrassment penalty for the remainder of the tour.

Once you have determined the correct amount of inputs including the modifier bonus and penalties that should be used, next compare that total to the actual inputs you or the engineer being analyzed for possible syndrome affliction actually uses.

Engineer's utilizing less than the correct amount are considered exceptional. + or - 1 input from the calculation is considered normal in most cases.

Engineer's implementing an excess of inputs beyond the calculation are typically suffering from small pee pee syndrome where in they have unnecessarily over bloated the sound setup much to everyone's chagrin and often to the detriment of show sound quality, purely to pump their own ego and pretend they are doing something more complex than it really is. Alternately, lack of control over the # of input channels is also caused by another form of sound engineer ailment wherein the sound of the show is sacrificed to chaos due to the artist adding more things on stage and the Little Ball Syndrome affliction prevents the engineer from suggesting better ways of accomplishing the same result in a less complex manner. The engineer, so willing to ass kiss and excited about the delusional thought that somehow over-complication equals job security, adds inputs like they are seeding a lawn.

Dave Rat Blog Ukraine

Hanging out in Kiev before a plane trip to Warsaw and some free time pondering.







Hey, check this out, it was my first MP3 player.  I was out with Rage Against the Machine and soon to start back up on Chili Peppers' Californication tour.  A full two years before Apple grabbed and packed them for the mass consumer market there was the Hango PJB! I remember how excited I was to not carry the huge foldout of CD's for playback music, that I inevitably and crushingly so often left behind when doing one-offs.  How nice it was to not get the radio calls from production that house music stopped while I was eating dinner? How nice was it to not have a constantly dwindling music collection! At the time it was revolutionary, now it is just the predecessor to another thing we take take for granted.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Jukebox

So on to more modern times, the gig in Kiev saw sunshine and it was refreshing to actually start a show after nightfall for the time this run.  Daylight really takes the edge off of the impact of show start and subdues the excitement. It was actually quite a nice modern stadium.

http://content.yudu.com/A1wqhb/IEMay2012/resources/38.htm

Though maybe a bit too modern. Once we fired up the sound system, a high pitched warble sound shows up everywhere in the sound signal chain.  Yikes. We have touring stage gear and FOH on a giant transformer, Euro vendor Highlight sound gear on their own distro, a euro powered recording rig and a pretty much an audio ground cluster-fuck that can usually be sorted.  So some unplugging and wandering slowly leads me back to the amp racks under the stage and eventually to the main distro room. Holly shit! a whole room that the exact sound is blasting audible loud and what? The entire sound and light systems are run off of batter backup units? Wow!





And that s when I met the Galaxy 7000's. Up to 500 KVA battery backup units and there was at least 2, maybe 3 or more in there.  The entire rock show was run on battery backup UPS units. 

Maybe that is good for power drops but casing out the inverter noise was a like herding cats. Turns out the units were running run full time charging the batteries, full time the entire audio rig was running off the AC inverters and in itself, that is manageable as long as the inverter noise is not pumping down the ground lines.  At that point I stepped away and attended other adventures.  I was informed a bit later that they made some changes to how audio was grounded to solve it.  I would try and know more but even without the language barriers, getting a solid explanation of multiple people resolved it would be tough. It worked, noise gone, move on. 

 http://www.apc.com/site/press_center/index.cfm/apc-introduces-mge-galaxy-7000c2ae-offering-compact-and-high-efficiency-ups-for-assured-business-continuity2/

I promised a pic of the sub fan setups so:



and the booty shot:



Ya know it is just so sketchy to see riggers climbing without safety clips. Makes me nervous to watch, but hey, I used to do stuff like that all the time and be fearless.  Now I reserve my risks for adventures that have the potential for more thrill when successful. Oh and check out this Russian tin drum, kind of cool.  May go and try and buy it if I can remember where I saw it.

Mid wander dinner

And out and about I head.  Next stop Warsaw.

Competition and Cooperation

I am sitting in my make shift production office at the Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev Ukraine, 12:35pm, eight and a half hours till show time.  Fending off the seemingly endless stream of emails mixed with curiosity Google searches and drop a word into the  word with friends games I have rolling with my daughters.

And as select between responding, delegating, deleting, marking as spam and procrastinating on the literally hundreds backed up in my inbox, I stop to ponder one in particular that I am CC'ed on wherein to get enough speaker boxes to cover the gig, we would need to either rely on two competing vendors to work together or use one brand for the main system and another brand for the delay clusters.

While not optimum, getting a fairly consistent sound when mixing brands of high quality systems is achievable. What I found most curious about the email was the absolute reluctance of one vendor to consider working together with the other and it really got me thinking about both sides of that equation.

I remember the Steve Wozniak's US Festival back in 1983 when Rat was hired to provide sound for a tiny air filled dome that had a laser show inside in the new technology area called "Wozi-Land." From my early eyes in the sound industry, back in those days North America had two huge sound powerhouses, Clair Bros and Showco, that seemed to do all of the major tours and events. From the underside looking up they appeared to be fierce competitors and with strong employee loyalties and  both with an "our gear is best, everyone else sucks" mindset  In fact that was the general mindset of all the sound vendors and cross rentals were nearly non-existent not only for ego reasons but the complete lack of any kind of similarity or compatibility. In those days nearly all large scale tours carried proprietary systems that were independently designed and built by the sound vendors themselves and the few large scale off the shelf systems available were heavily associating with or an offshoot of one of their systems.

Bring up the US Festival as I distinctly remember my amazement, Clair and Showco, arch rivals, are going to work together to provide the sound?

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/print/us_festival

Wow, it just seemed so impossible that they would set their competitive differences aside to work for a common goal. I remember not only I was taken aback the the tech themselves that worked for the two vendors each were more than will to share the highlights of why their system was better and the politics of which band wanted which system and how the sheer magnitude  gig left no single vendor able to cover it solo. It was almost like a real version of  Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheep Dog in a way


"Ralph and Sam have become a sort of American cultural shorthand for "the usual suspects" or "the loyal opposition," describing two adversaries who have opposed each other for so long and become so familiar with each other that they've come full circle and are now nearly friendly."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Wolf_and_Sam_Sheepdog

Fast forward to now and I look back on that solo project mentality "us or them" mentality as archaic and short sighted. Rat has  worked toward is positioning to network with a wide range of competitive sound companies. We may bid against a company and then subhire gear to or from the company we bid against, depending on who won the bid. We work with other companies to increase compatibility between our systems so that we (and they) have the advantages of access to a larger pool of gear. A larger pool of gear that we have access to but do not have to own all of in the entirety of, the ability to offer clients more consistency and full systems of identical boxes rather than mixing and matching system types , struggling to purchase more or just plain not having enough to cover the gig properly.


And in a perfect world, each tour bid would be like playing table tennis at a backyard party, "try and win and then return to amicable cooperation. 


Yet I also am keenly aware that there are some critical factors that must exist for cooperation between vendors to exist:


 Dependability, compatibility, and trust to name a few.  Will the gear be available as promised? Will it work properly? Will the sub vendor attempt to undermine our relationship with the client? There are companies we do not work with purely because they do not have gear we need or visa versa.  There are vendors that have sub standard gear maintenance and also companies that follow lines of greed and domination rather than a balance of growth while maintaining honest and ethical business practices. 


Anyway, I do not know the details of why the two vendors cant or won't work out their differences but when I think about all the reasons that would prevent cooperation, it seems pretty clear that those would be good things to clean up anyway. Hey, if being a reliable company with quality gear and a trustworthy ethical stance positions you to work together, seems like something to strive for. That said, who knows

Peppers Euro Stadium Tour Leg 2

Kiev, Ukraine and show 3 will be the day after tomorrow.

Oh the joy of being on a big cumbersome tour where we stand in lines comprised of clusters of our own 50+ humans standing behind each other in airports and hotel check-in lines.

A meterless cab ride from the airport as Scott, Leif and I traded out a 20 hour bus ride from Moscow over roads so rough that people were getting airborne in their bunks. Instead, a 90 minute plane flight and relaxing day in an interesting city.

Gigs 1 and 2 were St Petersburg and Moscow. Russia was a fascinating mix of curiosity, beauty and an uneasy sensation that the overly decorated roaming authority figures play by loose rules with a heavy hand.

So far the shows have been solid and fun, I have two system techs, Jim and Ulf who do a great job of setting up consistent systems in adverse environments…

I started off thinking I would be ok with standard sub arrays with endfire edges to increase coverage but that was not good enough. We have switched to a sub fan setup like I did for soundgarden and peppers arena tours and it is a night and day improvement. Clean, clear distinct sources and we moved them way ouitward to reduce sub on stage and it just sounds so good.

I will take and post pics soon. Ok, off to check out more Kiev and I recommended an trip out this way to all the adventurous and curious humans who enjoy finding fun things to remember.

Dave Rat

daverat.com