Some Quick Com/Mixing Etiquette Thoughts

(Argh. Somebody hacked the site, buried spam links in lots of posts, and (inadvertently, I think) moved some of the posts to draft status. Trying to clean up the mess, and will do a security upgrade that was long overdue as soon as I have a chance…here’s this post again.)

A couple quick thoughts that I was indirectly reminded of this weekend, whilst doing an emergency cover of a show I used to mix while the regular guy was awaiting surgery…

1) If you’re mixing a show, remember that just because the cue light is flashing rapidly, and we’re conditioned to associate flashing light with “emergency, must respond immediately!” you DON’T need to respond immediately. Your PSM understands that you’re busy mixing, so wait until you’ve got a stretch you can manage with half attention before you answer. Answering com, even an emergency, isn’t an excuse for missing a pickup.

2) If you’re the A2, and the A1 calls you on com, answer ASAP. He’s probably only got a few seconds to let you know what he needs from you before he has to put the handset down and get back to mixing. And, more than anything else, as the A2, you’re the A1’s barback. Your biggest job is to make sure that he never finds out about problems, so when a problem pops up faster/in a situation where you can’t shield him from it, make sure you’re there to fix it as soon as you can :-)

–Andy

(And, to reiterate, these posts were indirectly inspired by my weekend, and are in no way a commentary on anybody I worked with recently…in fact, this gig didn’t even have an A2!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 10:58 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

One From The Road

Some Quick Com/Mixing Etiquette Thoughts

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