GoodBuyGuys Blog

Big Mick Hughes is one of the best known live sound engineers in the concert industry.  He is the long time front-of-house mixer for Metallica, a larger than life personality, and until now, someone whose reputation as a legend was well earned.

The recent trend in print advertising to have technicians endorse audio products is, in general, a good one.  They normally have a useful perspective and their endorsements have value.  Big Mick has put the value of those endorsements at risk.

Here’s what Big Mick says about his microphone of choice, Audio Technica in May’s Pro Sound News.  “I love Audio-Technica mics.  You can definitely tell an Audio Technica gig as soon as you walk into it.”

Now, I’m no “golden ear” but I do know that between a microphone and my (and Big Mick’s) ears there is (at minimum) a mixer, an amplifier, speakers, and cables, all of which color the sound you hear, regardless of their quality.

The idea that you can identify a brand of microphone just by listening to a live sound system is laughable.

Put on your blindfold, Mick, and step into any music club in America.  Even your ears aren’t that good.

I hope Audio-Technica is paying you well.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.   Click here to sign up for our newsletter.  Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

I said I’d get back to you with a report regarding Google “knol”, their new project to build a knowledge base.

I posted two knol articles back at the end of April to see if Google was ready to take on Wikipedia. I’m proud to report that my knol posting about microphone stands has had a total of 42 page views, several of which I am sure were me.

No one has bothered to rate it and no one has made any collaborative contributions.

While it appears that I might be right about Google not being in a position to challenge Wikipedia, I am certainly wrong about Google using knol as another way to display relevant ads.

The google ads on my mic stand knol page are about cell phones.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.   Click here to sign up for our newsletter.  Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

I was helping unpack a large shipment of microphone stands yesterday, when I got a great “blast from the past“.  I am always amazed at the sorts of experiences that will turn back the clock for a few minutes.

I learned a lot of my “hands on” production skills working as a stagehand, first as a student, then as a part time employee at my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill, on the tech crew there.

One of the first acts I had a chance to do sound for was John Sebastian, soon after he had left The Lovin’Spoonful to go out on his own.

In those days, acts never traveled with sound systems and rarely did any sort of advance work.

The day Mr. Sebastian showed up, the took a look at our sound system and said “where are the monitors?“.  Not only did we not know WHERE the monitors were, we also didn’t know WHAT the monitors were.

After having him explain to us what monitors were and what they did, we decided that we could achieve what he wanted by simply setting up two complete sound systems, duplicate mixers, speakers, mics, stands, everything.  One set for the audience.  The other set for the performer.

I’ll never forget the first thing he said when he hit the stage.  Looking at the audience through a forest of four big, shiny chrome microphone stands, he said “I feel like I’m in jail“.

Next time we produced a concert, we had the monitors.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.   Click here to sign up for our newsletter.  Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

It’s outdoor show season, and that means that drought stricken areas all over the country are planning elaborate and expensive outdoor events so they can make it rain.

It’s all but guaranteed that 30 minutes before the event is over, but well after dark, the bottom will drop out of the sky, promising a load out in the rain and a truck full of wet gear.

While the standard hardware store blue tarp is the industry standard for quick cover ups in the rain, they can really cause you some problems when the rain is accompanied by a stiff breeze.

A simple modification in a cheap tarp can make it many times more useful when the raindrops start falling.

Turn the tarp into a plastic bag.

Just take your tarps, fold them in half, and stitch up the edges.  If you’re not handy with a sewing machine, gaffers tape or even a stapler will work almost as well.

Larger tarps can be turned into bags that will cover up your entire PA stacks, and you can make smaller bags for covering up things like monitors.

Since the tarps can be easily cut and normally do not unravel, you can take one large tarp and turn it into a lot of custom covers for things like your consoles and amp racks.  No hemming necessary.

Since the tarps have grommets, you will have some tie down points, but you probably won’t even need them.  Since wind can’t get inside the bag, the harder the wind blows, the firmer the bag stays in place.

Make sure you label each bag with a large label (try using a Sharpie marker directly on the bag) in letters large enough to be seen in the dark.

At the first mention of rough weather, place each bag close to the location where it will be needed and instruct stagehands or volunteers how they are used.

This might well be the best piece of sound equipment you ever buy.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands. Sometimes we have some interesting ideas about web development too!  Click here to sign up for our newsletter.  Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

I spend my entire day online staring at four computer monitors.  It is not exciting as life was when I was a special event producer, but it is a heck of a lot better way to get my childrens’ tuition bills paid.

That’s the idea that led to the launching of goodbuyguys.com.

After almost thirty years in the special events production business, it just made sense to develop a web business that could take advantage of what I had learned from three decades of “hands on” experience.

A good part of my time is spent monitoring forums about audio visual and stagecraft discussions,  looking for info about how the products we sell are being discussed and used in the field.

Unfortunately, most of the moderators of forums that cater to those in the sound and lighting business take exception with the idea that you can combine a production career with supplying products that you used successfully when you actually used what you sell now.

It seems that if those who control these forums think that you make a living selling something, then you are automatically disqualified from posting useful information to their forum.

It is difficult to understand how bringing practical knowledge to the marketplace somehow disqualifies the seller from being able to answer questions and comment on forum user postings.  Would you rather buy your gaffers tape from someone who has taped down enough cable to go to the moon and back, or someone who has spent their entire life in a sales office.  The sense that selling a product discounts the value of the sellers experience means that the real loser is the person who posts a forum question.  They are denied access to what may be a lifetime of experience just because the email address of the person answering their questions points to a domain that sells the product.

As the web continues to build a larger and larger database of links back to the sellers domain, it becomes even more likely that the forum administrator will disallow postings from an experienced seller with real world experience.

The end result of this sort of thinking means that the forum subscribers are denied access to a lot of valuable information.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment ONe extension cords, OnStage Stand mic stands.  Look here for good information about web development too!

Anybody who has tried to us a web service called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to subscribe to online news, podcasts, blogs, etc. knows that the first “S” in RSS stands for anything but “simple“.

In theory, by subscribing to a RSS “feed”, updated information is pushed at you by the website hosting the new information so that you don’t have to go looking for it.  Setting up this service has been really confusing and a lot of people don’t take advantage of it.

A version of Google called iGoogle has finally made the “simple” part of RSS really simple.

If you haven’t tried iGoogle, you ought to take a look.  iGoogle lets you set up a personalized version of Google which can is customized for each user.

In addition to things like local weather and links to favorite web sites, you can also use iGoogle to subscribe to as many RSS feeds as you want.  When information is updated in the feeds you have subscribed to, this information shows up on your iGoogle page.

We have RSS feeds generated by GoodBuyGuys.com which sends out new product information, and a feed from this blog that is distributed to anyone who wants to subscribe to it.

I include these RSS feeds in those I can see on my iGoogle page, and when we update something, it shows up on iGoogle within minutes.

Already got an iGoogle page?  Here’s a link to very easy instructions for adding RSS feeds.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and “value added” customer service.

Sometime back, I speculated that perhaps we were approaching the point where the sound man would no longer be necessary. I was only half kidding-pointing out that quickly developing digital technology would let the sound system compare what it was “hearing” with digitized reference material that it could attempt to duplicate.

We’ll, at least in the realm of portable live sound, there is still at least one area where the sound person’s ability to problem solve still makes him/her valuable.

I’m talking about the use of microphone signal multicables (snakes as they are known) that delivery signal back and forth between the stage and the mix position.

There are so many different standards in use for the digital “snake” that making these links in the signal chain work with the equipment they meet up with on both ends guarantees the sound man will have a job for years to come.

There is a great push to digitize this signal path, because one of the greatest costs affiliated with touring productions is that of moving case after case filled with heavy copper and steel wire.  If the signal moving along these cables can be digitized and then carried along fewer and smaller conductors or along fiber optic cables, the weight and cost savings is significant.

At this point, there is no standardization among manufacturers who make this equipment, and it doesn’t look like either the connectors or the transmission protocol are anywhere close to being agreed-on.

Many years ago, the makers of pro audio equipment agreed on the XLR standard for equipment, and it has made it easy to use equipment manufactured by lots of companies together in the same sound system.

More recently, the Neutrik Speakon connector system has been adopted by lots of speaker and amplifier makers, and this connector appears to be well on its way to becoming an industry standard.

Until this lack of standards issue is settled among most of the major pro audio players there will be no rush to adopt the digital mic snake.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and “value added” customer service.

I recently came across an interesting article in Stage Directions magazine and it leads to a discussion that we need to be a part of.

The article, by Mike Lawler, features Gideon Banner of the Green Theatre Initiative .  It is one that anybody involved in using or selling expendables to the theatre industry needs to pay attention to.

To date, the green theatre movement has primarily focused on infrastructure and on conservation.  Its great that new theatre facilities building is taking into consideration concepts like solar lighting, water conversation, and environmentally sustainable construction techniques.  Unfortunately, it takes generations for these sorts of changes to work their way through the system.  Theatre buildings last for decades, and quite often they are not able to easily be upgraded in an environmentally responsible way, even if funding is available.

More immediate results can be realized from simple conservation techniques.  Upgrading lighting fixtures to LED technology, using more efficient sound system components and addressing wasteful uses of energy and water are something that every theatre facility can address every day.

My concern, honestly, is how this green movement will impact our own business.  It is regrettable that the nature of expendables means that a lot of what we sell will end up in the landfill at the end of the show.  You can’t reuse tape, and rechargeable battery technology has not reached the point where sound techs are willing to trust them in wireless microphones.

We are always on the lookout for reusable solutions for cable management and we are working with Sanyo on their Eneloop rechargeable battery line in hopes of offering this product to our customers who buy batteries for wireless mics.

We are anxious to be part of the dialog and I welcome your comments.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Enterainment 1 extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

We know that Edward R. Murrow never filed a podcast, but if he had, this is what he would have used.

The Sony Retro Wireless USB  has a great classic mic look, but is designed to be used with a USB interface on your computer.  Not only is it designed to be used with a USB port, its wireless!

You can use this mic anywhere within a 10 foot radius of your computer without any cables to trip over.  It uses RFI technology and is designed to work with all current Windows and Mac operating systems.  Best of all no special drivers are needed for use with Windows computers.  It even has an on/off switch.

If your podcasting has advanced to the point where your computer’s onboard mic no longer gets the job done, or you just love the idea of “walking the walk while you talk the talk” then this mic is just what you need.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Enterainment 1 extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.  We’ve also got cables for “Wired” microphones!

I watch way too much video on the internet.  Between catching up on The Daily Show reruns and watching my daughters short films on Facebook, it seems like I’ve got something streaming all the time.

A new site which hosts documentary films is making this web video addiction a lot more of a problem.

The site is SnagFilms.com, which hosts hundreds of documentaries and does it in a way that allows you to embed them in a blog, attach them to an email, or use them as content in your own web site.  The site is free, and you are only shown a few very short advertisments during the film.

SnagFilms is free and you are only shown a few short ads during the screening of the film.  You can even view it a full screen mode.

This is a great way for a documentary maker to get lots of exposure and even make a little money, since you can buy a DVD of the film right from the site.

I just finished watching a film about life in the New York City Fire Department called “Brotherhood”.  Here’s a link: