Just doing some early moring noddlin and, wow that little rhythm sounds nice! So I quickly setup to record my guitar and mic through the Looper Function of the TCHelicon VLT to capture some quick inspiration. Everything set, mic levels, mixer levels, monitor levels, the input cables on mixer and VLT plugged in correct ports, configuration of the VLT, and the 3-Switch pedal all checked and double checked - but no guitar sound. After 20 miutes of head scratching, I noticed there was no cable plugged into the guitar...
hehe. Now, inspiration gone, what was I trying to lay down??
At least, you weren't on stage! Now that IS embarrassing. I speak from experience.
ROG.
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I noticed there was no cable plugged into the guitar...
FIRE THAT ROADIE!!!!!
Reminds me of when I was cursing at my vocoder for an hour before noticing I had the MIDI cable on the keyboard side of things plugged into IN instead of OUT. Um, IN to IN won't work....
The "roadie" part of that comment brings up a story from 1980. I was married then, and one morning I got up and my guitars were all laid on the 2 couches. My wife said "Oh, so I'm fired, am I?" I looked at her with that look lilke "what are you talking about - and how did my guitars get taken off their stands and laid on the couches?"
Seems I was sleepwalking that night and took my guitars into the living room. She came out to see what the nioise was and I went into a rage, screaming at her "ALL you have to do is keep 4 guitars tuned. That is your ONLY job. If you can't do that, tell me and I'll find someone who can." And then I went back to bed.
I forgot to take my meds before a rehearsal the other night--anyway, that's my excuse. Brought in my guitar and Roland VG-88 emulator (takes the place of amp and effects), which I took out of the box and set on the floor. Went back to the box and saw that there was no emulator. Spent a moment calculating how long it would take me to go back and get it . . . looked at the floor and there it was. Which wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't loudly announced, "*$%@! I forgot the emulator!" At least there was only one other musician there. I looked at him and said, "Don't worry, my brain will arrive any minute."
Ok, seeing that we're "owning up"
I unplugged, packed all my stuff for a spring clean exercise and then assembled my setup again.
For 2 nights i battled as my recording sounded as if i'm in the next room. Compenstated by pushing the level in the reverb plugin. Tore my hair out..
Then
Last night i breathed deep and calmly rechecked everything...
Turned out i had my new all singing and dancing Rhode NT2A mic back to front! So technically i was singing next door....
too embarresed to even share with the wife ....
My female vocalist once did a complete set with toilet paper streaming up and over her pantyhose. She became curious when she heard inappropriate giggling during her most serious numbers. Stuff happens! You can quote me on'at!
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Turned out i had my new all singing and dancing Rhode NT2A mic back to front! So technically i was singing next door....
WHAT??? There's a back and a front????
The most embarrassing thing I saw on stage was when we had both male and female lead singers. We were in a nice room seating 200 or so and the guy was doing the old Tom Jones tune It's Not Unusual and was trying to get fancy with the mic and started swinging it around. He let out too much cord, the mic hit the stage with a loud bang through the PA, bounced and went right up the girl singers skirt. I mean a perfect shot, right there baby. The band, the audience, the waitresses, everybody was laughing so hard we had to stop the song and we recovered after a few comments and then started up again with something else. Needless to say he never tried that mic trick again.
Bob
This is a fun thread as we make fun of ourselves.
I was playing in Canada and we did Summer of 69 back then. In the middle of that song is a small break where I was supposed to play 8 bars on the synth while the band held out sustained chords, cymbals, etc.... I totally spaced on it. Stood right there, did nothing, reached for my water..... all 5 sets of eyes turned toward me as I woke up and realized I was supposed to be playing.
Without missing a beat or the slightest hint of a smile, I said "Why'd everybody stop playing?"
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The most embarrassing thing I saw on stage was .... bounced and went right up the girl singers skirt. I mean a perfect shot, right there baby. Bob
The old disappearing mic trick. Sounds wonderful.
Played with a Jazz Band, trumpet, sax, trombone, keys, drums, and guitar. Our Trombone player wanted to intro a song with a 4 - 8 bar solo and then on the beat have th band join in. However, we had pre-agreed we were going to leave him hanging (...rascals we were). Like when Dick Smothers called out to his brother Tommy and said "..Take it", and Tommy said no!. So play he did and it was a wonderful intro, cause this cat could blow, then silence 
! Unfortunately, he failed to see the humor in it, later he said he felt naked on the stage. But his band mates all had a good laugh at the time.
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At least, you weren't on stage! Now that IS embarrassing. I speak from experience.
ROG.
... that's probably where the unplugged sessions came from ...
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Ok, seeing that we're "owning up"
I unplugged, packed all my stuff for a spring clean exercise and then assembled my setup again.
For 2 nights i battled as my recording sounded as if i'm in the next room. Compenstated by pushing the level in the reverb plugin. Tore my hair out..
Then
Last night i breathed deep and calmly rechecked everything...
Turned out i had my new all singing and dancing Rhode NT2A mic back to front! So technically i was singing next door....
too embarresed to even share with the wife ....
Been there and done this - some LDCs do a terrible job labeling which side is the front and which side is the back of the capsule.
Ya think they should stamp 'front' and 'back' on them?
I'll admit, I've had singers not know which side to sing into, but I've never had a mic fool me yet
/now I'm jinxed
... "um, Chad, did you see which side of the mic Michelle stood on when we recorded her part? Stand on that side please. The side with the pop filter in front of it."
I admit to cabling blunders though, I hate when that happens.
MIDI seems to be involved a lot of the time.
One time at a audition the other guitarist started a song 1/2 step above the rest of us, naturally I assumed it was me out of tune (before tuners that weren't oscilloscopes). I painfully tuned my guitar while playing lead and the song played on. As soon as I had a close tuning he realized he was in the wrong key and changed back. The bass player never even noticed, but the club owner did. We changed the name of our band the next day.
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Ya think they should stamp 'front' and 'back' on them?
I'll admit, I've had singers not know which side to sing into, but I've never had a mic fool me yet
/now I'm jinxed
... "um, Chad, did you see which side of the mic Michelle stood on when we recorded her part? Stand on that side please. The side with the pop filter in front of it."
I admit to cabling blunders though, I hate when that happens.
MIDI seems to be involved a lot of the time.
Well, I'm pretty sure it was the Behringer B1 that I borrowed, where the 'Front' of the mic, was actually the 'back'. The LDC mics that I've used before, if they have a pad switch or HP filter switch on the body - that's the front of the mic. That's also the side shown as the front in product literature, but I'm 90% certain with the B1, it's the opposite - at least the particular unit that I was using.
If I recall correctly, the polar pattern picture is on the opposite side of the mic - and that was the actual side to address on the mic. I can't even find a picture of the opposite side of the B1 online, all of the stock images show the 'front', but with the particular unit I borrowed, it was WAY hotter addressing from the side that had the picture of the polar pattern.
Now, it was a borrowed mic, and perhaps someone had 'repaired' the mic in the past and somehow had reversed things. I will say it had me very confused until I tried recording to the 'back' side, the side opposite the company logo and HP switch, until I found how much hotter and balanced the signal was.
Anybody here have one that can confirm or reject this? Behringer B1 model.
Scott:
You may remember helping me a couple of years ago. I recorded 15 songs for the FAWM extravaganza, and they mostly had weird hollow, nasal tones, and you and I went back and forth about how best to baffle the reflections from my large monitor, how to build an inexpensive little booth, etc.
Well.... I discovered (after I had done all the mixing and mastering) that I had in fact been singing into the ass end of the Rhode NT-1 mic. This is my first public "confession" of this... now that I see I have some good company. It's always the simple things.
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At least, you weren't on stage! Now that IS embarrassing. I speak from experience.
ROG.
OUCH! 
Been there also.
Besides liking to relax before I start playing, this is one of the main reasons I am always early for a gig.
Later,
Fortunately the mic I just bought has the stand mount in the back, so it's easy to recognize which side is front and which is back.
Now, if you do it with a Shure 58, I can't help you.....
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Scott:
You may remember helping me a couple of years ago. I recorded 15 songs for the FAWM extravaganza, and they mostly had weird hollow, nasal tones, and you and I went back and forth about how best to baffle the reflections from my large monitor, how to build an inexpensive little booth, etc.
Well.... I discovered (after I had done all the mixing and mastering) that I had in fact been singing into the ass end of the Rhode NT-1 mic. This is my first public "confession" of this... now that I see I have some good company. It's always the simple things.
I do remember feeling a bit helpless that you weren't able to get a more 'direct' sound. I remember that you had lots of 'boxiness' in the sound. Now this explains it!
Looking forward to your FAWM output this year with the correct addressing of the mic.
-Scott
Number one reason a guitar string just won't get in tune - turning the wrong tuning peg!
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Number one reason a guitar string just won't get in tune - turning the wrong tuning peg!
I know! Do you think Fender puts them all in the same line just to screw with us?
Later,
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Do you think Fender puts them all in the same line just to screw with us?
I always had more trouble with my Les Paul pegs, what with the left and the right and all.....
Now what you mean, I got a cooker with anti clockwise knobs
If you can't automatically reach for the right tuning machine, you ain't been practicing your instrument enough.
Or at least you haven't been practicing properly...
--Mac
I must admit I haven't been practsing cooking lately too..
What really usta burn my buns and frost me wee Oyrish crumpets was when the drummer would maliciously twist a peg on my bass then refuse to tell me which one.
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If you can't automatically reach for the right tuning machine, you ain't been practicing your instrument enough.
Or at least you haven't been practicing properly...
--Mac
Or your axe stays in tune better than most. My Larrivee acoustic rarely needs an adjust when I'm playing a set. In fact, I can't recall the last time I had to tune mid-set. My Strat, needs it more regularly.
My bass, on the other hand, needs tuning often. I play it at church about 2-4 times a month at church (2 times if I'm scheduled for one Sunday a month, 4 times if I'm scheduled twice) and the HVAC swings in temperature that we have on stage are probably 30 degrees F from early morning to mid-service. The bass doesn't like that and I have to tune at least 3 times during the morning. Once around 7:15 AM when we run through our set. Another time at about 8:55 right before the first service. Another time about 10:45 before the 2nd service. I'll even tune mid service before our final set in the service (which is usually just one song played twice).
When I play my Larrivee acoustic for the same, max number of tunings is 2, once when I arrive and maybe before 2nd service. Much less temp sensitive.
So, I think the 'practice' of tuning depends on the axe.
-Scott
Scott,
My Strat was harder to keep in tune prolly cuza the springs in the tremolo lever and associated mechanism, although I had never pondered it until this minute. Maybe tuned'er once per gig. New strings gave me fits until they stretched out though.
That was a serious problem with Japanese copy-Strats, as I recall.
Whenever I play a clam, I just say, "I don't know what happened, it was in tune when I bought it."
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If you can't automatically reach for the right tuning machine, you ain't been practicing your instrument enough.
Or at least you haven't been practicing properly...
--Mac
Obviously you have you not heard of the "old fart" factor Mac!
Later,
"Copy-Strats", I may have phrased a new coin! Helloooo? I certainly get a kick outa me.