"Frank Gilliland" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 09:11:26 -0500, "Chad Wahls"
wrote in :

snip
Sounds like we had similar jobs -- do the daily checks, fill out the
daily reports, then spend the rest of the day making cables, cleaning
cart machines and waiting for something to break?


And spring storms... Arrrgh. Had a ground come loose once and I got the
page "Chad oldie's console is on fire!"

That was the worst electrical storm I have ever seen, My tower got hit 53
times in one day. I went thru an ass load of OpAmps that day! I was
actually second in command, the CE was corporate, so, often in the spring
and summer he was off building stations which put me in charge. It was a
great relationship as the Engineering dept was least hasseled and my
"boss"
the CE and I are best friends.

I'm still over there helping out from time to time. BEs are like farmers,
always willing to help each other out, I like that!


I know what you mean. A couple months ago they asked me if I wanted to
change the bulbs in the tower and I did -- the view is incredible if
you don't mind all the bird ****.


No ****ing way! I get nervous standing on a stool!

One day The tower crew's radios were not working. I had a landline phone in
the shack and it was imparative that I be able to talk to them so I sent
them up with my cell phone. I was talking to the head guy when I heard this
"click, click oh, fuuu... cassssshhhhh" My phone had just fallen 250' I
slammed the battery on the back and powered it up. Aside from having to put
some tape on the battery for reinforcement the phone worked flawlessy for
another year and a half till the dog ate it I will ALWAYS buy Nokia
phones


snip
I use the Extigy -- it's great because you can locate the box some
distance away from the noisy computer and ground it directly to the
mixer.


Yeah, those are great consumer cards! I went with the original audigy
because they were dirt cheap at the time and sound good. My big sound
card
for my mastering system is a MOTU 828mkII. I love it! I recently bought
it
to upgrade an old Echo LAYLA, still nice but I wanted firewire.


The LAYLA? Heck, that's almost as old as my Tropez!


Yeah I know, I run 'em till the wheels fall off


But for complaints to the station, I got them to order a huge box of
4" jumpers that have pigtails to the shield. Just plug them into the
soundcard (or whatever audio equipment is getting the interference),
screw the pigtail to the chassis, and 'presto' -- problem solved. No
invasive surgery, and you're out of the house in a matter of minutes.


Unfortunately I was across the street from the local community college, so
the surrounding apartments had a lot of student housing. The kids would
go
home for the summer and convieninetly loose the jumpers. I had some too
(jumpers) and would use them for the more established residents but for
the
kids I would do the solder in to keep from having to come back. I got
pretty quick with it so I could be in and out fast. Took longer to
explain
what I was going to do than do it


I had a different problem -- half of this town is retired so I usually
got stuck being the geriatric-therapist-du-jour.



Worse than a bartender


Hey, ya use what ya got. Nowdays if the band is mobile it's a lot
easier on the vertebrae to just get a Behringer with all the bells and
whistles. They are a little expensive but a lot easier than lugging
around an effects rack.



Yamaha PM1D for a bunch of shows, I was way over the Behringer league when
in it full swing.

http://www.yamaha.ca/content/proaudi...eyfeatures.jsp

Still quite heavy but really cuts down on gates and comps. The invonics
were money channel comps, I still had to carry a rack for the analog shows.

For smaller scale I like the 02R, and the Innovason compact live. Mackie
(arrgh) just introduced, well just started shipping, the TT24 which looks
cool but there are only a handful out there now, I would like to use one
sometime.

Problem is that your stuck with one brand of effects. I wish digital console
manufacturers would get together and adopt a plug-in or memory card type
standard for effect engines I'm a T.C. Electronic guy myself!

Chad