Client trashes equipment

[joelpatterson]

Eh... just a run of bad luck? Why do you ask?

[cgarges]

So, who pays for what and how do you approach the studio owner about it?

Chris

[joelpatterson]

This sounds delicate... you initiate a discussion about these things with the studio owner and wonder aloud why these things broke. Oh God, I feel for you Chris, it's the worst dealing with people who are just idiots. Balls naked morons, the woods are THICK with them.

[pk]

I had a woman come over and I put a mic up and during warm up she was practically eating the thing. Then she's all worked up, grabbing onto the mic itself, screaming into it with her lips on the pop filter pulling the mic stand up to it. Anyway, I was concerned for my mic so I told her it wasn't right for her voice and threw up a 57 and suggested ways she could "work the mic."

Damn, I hope she was hot at least? Do you have a phone number?

[kronosonic]

I had a woman come over and I put a mic up and during warm up she was practically eating the thing. Then she's all worked up, grabbing onto the mic itself, screaming into it with her lips on the pop filter pulling the mic stand up to it. Anyway, I was concerned for my mic so I told her it wasn't right for her voice and threw up a 57 and suggested ways she could "work the mic."

Damn, I hope she was hot at least? Do you have a phone number?

Actually, she was the antithesis of hot.

And she scared me.

She asked about coming back and tracking her bass guitar. I had no excuse why she couldn't so I'm sitting there thinking "what the hell am I going to tell her without coming right out and saying 'it's a waste of your time and mine...and you scare me...' so I just blurt out the following bit of nonsense thinking she doesn't know shit from shineola: 'I don't have any mics with the right sampling rates for bass.'" She seemed to know exactly what I was talking about

[matthewbarnhart]

I've lost numerous 57's to drummers with bad aim.

You know, people mention this all the time, but I've had drummers hit mics maybe four times in 8 years of making records. Every single time, I moved the mic out of his way and we went on with the session.

I hate when clients crank my headphones and blow the drivers.
Then I don't notice until later when they're long gone.

Same here. We bought headphones that either won't blow up (for drummers and bass players) or are cheap enough to replace (for everybody else).

I tell drummers "if you hit a mic and break it, you buy it".
I probably wouldn't hold them to it, but hopefully it makes them more aware.
I've let 57's go a couple times without charging.

That seems just wrong and counter-productive to me. If nothing else, I can't see how a band wouldn't be a little sore at me if I did something so nit-picky.

If the drummer is hitting the mic, then it's in his way and interfering with the performance. Move it out of his way so he can do his job. Threatening them can't be positive for the session.

I would only ever charge people for malicicious acts, which hasn't happened yet. A broken 57 is cheap and is an occupational hazard I would never dream of charging someone extra for. The same goes for headphones, ribbons in ribbon mics, tubes, speakers, cables, etc.

But that's just me.

mb

[ctmsound]

I had a customer call up the store I work in to ask if it was possible to clean a condenser mic. After a few minutes, I finally got him to admit (he sounded very depressed) that a guy was singing into his Neumann microphone and threw up all over the thing, covering it in BARF.

I'm guessing from the conversation, he didn't have the singer pay for the mic.

[soundguy]

oh hey, dont worry about trashing that mic, it was an old antique anyway. Do you guys need any help loading out? Oh I dont mind carrying your plexi.

Woops! did I just drop that down the stairs?

sorry man.

dave

[radiationroom]

I had problems with punk bands being destructive when I still ran the Femix Club. The thing that was the last straw for me was when one week a band destroyed several of my microphones and the following week another band destroyed the microphones that I RENTED to cover for the microphones that were destroyed the previous week.

Here is an excerpt from an article I wrote describing one of the incidents: - http://www.radiationroom.com/rrsn/career/soyou.htm -

One horror story (I have many) from my career in producing shows at the Fenix Club was having stage equipment destroyed by a teenaged punk band who insisted that they had the right to be destructive because "other bands do it". They smashed microphones, stands, and stage lights, and during the mayhem, one of the band members urinated on a speaker box in front of the audience. Word got around quickly about these bozos and other venue owners would not book them. Not only did these kids end their careers prematurely by behaving maliciously, they may have also impacted other punk acts as well. A large percentage of venue owners that I've talked to will no longer book punk and "hard & heavy" acts because of the destructive and disrespectful behavior that some of these bands exhibit. The abuses of a few can ruin it for everyone else in short order, so... ...DON'T BECOME PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!

73's - Carli

[joel hamilton]

I've lost numerous 57's to drummers with bad aim.

You know, people mention this all the time, but I've had drummers hit mics maybe four times in 8 years of making records. Every single time, I moved the mic out of his way and we went on with the session.

I hate when clients crank my headphones and blow the drivers.
Then I don't notice until later when they're long gone.

Same here. We bought headphones that either won't blow up (for drummers and bass players) or are cheap enough to replace (for everybody else).

I tell drummers "if you hit a mic and break it, you buy it".
I probably wouldn't hold them to it, but hopefully it makes them more aware.
I've let 57's go a couple times without charging.

That seems just wrong and counter-productive to me. If nothing else, I can't see how a band wouldn't be a little sore at me if I did something so nit-picky.

If the drummer is hitting the mic, then it's in his way and interfering with the performance. Move it out of his way so he can do his job. Threatening them can't be positive for the session.

I would only ever charge people for malicicious acts, which hasn't happened yet. A broken 57 is cheap and is an occupational hazard I would never dream of charging someone extra for. The same goes for headphones, ribbons in ribbon mics, tubes, speakers, cables, etc.

But that's just me.

mb

I agree 100%.

Occupational hazards abound. Your studio should be able to withstand an ape attack, if not, things will get broken. You can guarantee that someone will knock over the delicate thing you put on a sketchy shelf or out in the open. If everything gets put away in a secure spot, things dont get broken. If a drummer hits something, it is usually your fault for putting it there: he/she is just playing drums! You put up the mic. Watch them play for a minute before you put U47's on the toms.....

[Nathan Eldred]

How about these fake names:

"We got ProTools Studios"

"Fix it in the Mix Studios"

"Mixing Box Studios"

[dubold]

How about these fake names:

"We got ProTools Studios"

"Fix it in the Mix Studios"

"Mixing Box Studios"

yes, how about those fake names?

[kronosonic]

How about these fake names:

"We got ProTools Studios"

"Fix it in the Mix Studios"

"Mixing Box Studios"

yes, how about those fake names?

Once all of your equipment gets trashed you it's a good idea to rename your studio to something totally different.

[dubold]

Okay, so what if a studio owner accidentally ... but doesn't say anything to anyone because he doesn't know he's done it? it comes down to about a $200 repair. What if a week later, something at the same studio blows up for some unforseen reason while you're on a session and it's about a $400 repair?

Chris: are you saying that he unknowingly caused $200 of damage, wasn't told or charged for it; now more damage has occurred while you were on a session and potentially you're being blamed for it?

if that's the case:
1. that sucks.
2. In my experience, it's really much harder to get someone to accept responsibility for damage after the fact. Even if you don't plan to have them pay, it's always a good idea to mention that they broke something right up front, so they can't claim they're being unfairly blamed later.

depending on your relationship with this person, they may be willing to subtract $200 from the "damages".

Hard to see anyone being willing to just call it even...

-d

[Nathan Eldred]

Very weird, I posted that on the "things not to name your studios" thread. ...sorry for the non sequitur.