FAO Ball Conveners and Social Reps

[DrAlex]

Please, please, please, avoid "Sound-UK" when planning your AV technical staff. My band and I played the Uni Hall Ball last night, and though the crowd were epic sports about it, the lack of professionalism and - at the risk of being rude - competence shown by the Sound-UK staff was just appalling.

I can give examples if you really want them, but for now suffice it to say: we'll all be better off if these guys don't get any more work in St Andrews.

[hr]

The Sinner: Where no one ever learned "if you haven't got any thing nice to say, don't say anything at all."

[white_wolf]

Alex,

You couldn't elaborate on what went wrong, it would be nice to get an idea of the problems experienced and so forth so that If i'm ever asked to recommend a supplier I can inform them who to avoid. I've never heard of Sound-UK, where are they based mate?

Kris

[schmod]

I was at the Uni Hall ball as well, and was pretty pissed off at just how bad the sound guys were.

People were leaving to go to the Bop.

For what it's worth, I heard that the organizers had another sound company lined up that cancelled out at the last minute, although I'm also not too impressed with the organizers for not even attempting to remain sober during the event.

(Shameless plug: Most of the Ents make themselves available for hire to do balls and the like, and they can arrange to hire equipment straight from the Union. Your money goes to a slightly more worthwhile cause!)

Oh, and great performance! Everyone I talked to over lunch today said that you guys were by far the highlight of the night.

[white_wolf]

Quoting schmod from 13:42, 23rd Feb 2008

For what it's worth, I heard that the organizers had another sound company lined up that cancelled out at the last minute

Surely that is what contracts are for? I know hall balls are generally low budget events, but you really do get what you pay for, and for not a lot extra a professional team could have been brought in to ensure the night ran smoothly.

Shame it sounded a bit of a disaster, but hope it didn't affect everyone's night.

And the organisers getting drunk really isn't acceptable, who would have been the first point of contact if something went wrong and the police showed up? They just would refuse to deal with a drunk person in charge.

[What?]

I was also at the Uni Hall Ball as a New Haller invited by his (much) better half, and I just hope our sound guys are far better.

Soul Food Cafe were really good and got the crowd going but when they came to play 'You Can Leave Your Hat On' the poor singer's mike was on but barely audible leaving us with backing vocals for the whole song.

For the ceilidh part the dances were announced and the accordionist taught the steps so quickly nobody could actually hear what was going on. I'm Scottish so was teaching those who hadn't done it before, but it was quite a mess.

The DJ was the worst. Playing a third of a song and then going into a mix with an entirely unrelated song in a different key, beat and genre is not the way to keep a crowd going. I got pretty pissed off at one stage because it was becoming frustrating.

I assume the drunk folk on the stage were the Uni Hall committee and their changing of the songs spoiled things for a good few folk.

Don't get me wrong, it was a good night. It was spoiled by the sound guys and by the DJ somewhat but Janetta's made up for it!

[DrAlex]

I would really like to thank everyone who was at the ball supporting Soul Food Café last night (if anyone of them actually read The Sinner) for being such a good crowd in spite of all our technical difficulties. It meant a lot to us.

[Shameless plug of my own] Catch us at Aikmans on March 6th (search for the event on facebook) and/or at the New Hall Ball on March 7 (who are using a better sound company).

Quoting schmod from 13:42, 23rd Feb 2008
For what it's worth, I heard that the organizers had another sound company lined up that cancelled out at the last minute

We were told that Sound-UK would be running tech as early as Feb 13, so I don't know if that is true or not, but there was a very "last minute and under-planned" feel to it, so this might make sense (though it still wouldn't be an excuse).

Quoting white_wolf from 13:15, 23rd Feb 2008
Alex,

You couldn't elaborate on what went wrong, it would be nice to get an idea of the problems experienced and so forth so that If i'm ever asked to recommend a supplier I can inform them who to avoid. I've never heard of Sound-UK, where are they based mate?

Kris

Sound-UK (more accurately "Sound-UK.com" if you are looking for more info) look like they might be a small, Kirkaldy-based sound and lights company.

To start with, when the band arrived for our (already postponed) sound check time, there was one man from the company just beginning to set up the stage. He declined our help, even though most of us have at least a basic knowledge of tech set-up. Three more men would later come to help him at around 6:45 (bear in mind that the ball was scheduled to start at 7:30).

Despite emailing Sound-UK directly with out technical requirements, they showed up completely ignorant of our needs. For example, they brought a 16 channel sound board for a 10 strong band, were only able to give us one monitor channel, so every monitor had the same mix, and instead of working with us to hurry our check along, they often got distracted setting up their own (cheap and tacky) lighting system.

Given that they were so late, there was no time for a proper sound check, and because of they were playing with our levels throughout the night, which led to some simply shocking outcomes. One of our keyboard players joked last night about an exchange with one of the techs where he asked him to come help him during the performance and the tech responded "yeah, two minutes."


So, Kris, if you ever get the opportunity to advise someone against these guys, please take it.



[hr]

The Sinner: Where no one ever learned "if you haven't got any thing nice to say, don't say anything at all."

[schmod]

I assume the drunk folk on the stage were the Uni Hall committee and their changing of the songs spoiled things for a good few folk.

Nope. Not the committee. The Ball Reps were there, and I presume the people with them were their friends, but that was most certainly NOT the committee. I believe that one of the two reps is also a member of that dance team, which would explain their rather bizarre inclusion in the event.

Sigh. I don't want to sound like a Negative Nancy, because all in all, it wasn't appallingly bad. However, the organizers *really* dropped the ball on several aspects of the event.

[white_wolf]

Cheers Alex for the info,

I will certainly not be advising anyone to use this company from the reports you've told me.

It sounds and looks from their website that they are a cheap and tacky wedding DJ type company and not really suited to do production lighting and sound for a hall ball and a large band set-up with only one way of monitoring is bit of a joke.

But hey all credit to you guys for making up for Sound-UK lack of professionalism by playing through it and by what I have heard doing an excellent set as usual.

Kris

[Bonnie]

Isn't Sound-UK the one that Bruce's ears bleed just by their name being mentioned? I think so.

If your ever looking for sound guys, Bruce has the phone numbers of companies that are reputable. Why go on one's own?