Sound guy here....

I mentioned in another post I made that I am learning ASL. I lost all my sound gigs 4 months ago....had to start at Walmart for$. Met a guy named /not saying. He is deaf. Nobody talks to him. He has started teaching me....and holy bolona....we had our first 5 min conversation the other day. He had to correct me a bunch, but still.

But this is not about me really. It is about a sound guy who went figuratively deaf 4 months ago now understands the plight of others....for their whole lives.

Many of us have lost a lot over the last 4 months. Look to those around you. See what you have lost, but they have never had. You may get it back, they may never get it once. If you can, give it to them.

a reply to: theatreboy

My condolences to your friend!!! I too am a location sound/boom op and the union [iatse] gigs have dried up. Now I'm forced to work indy projects for gas money, crafty and points as a sound man; Usually for European production companies.
But now that Netflix has located their corporate office here along with NBCadvantage; there are the occasional SAG day player acting jobs, AD or camera crew in the TV studio. Location shooting has been canceled for the foreseeable future.

I never take for granted the blessings the good Lord, in his mercy has given me.

Good luck my brother!!

a reply to: theatreboy

I am about as good with ASL as I am with Spanish, which means only those that like me, really like me, will be willing to put up with talking to me for more than 2 minutes.

a reply to: theatreboy

"Give it to them"? You mean like...

a reply to: theatreboy

I totally understand where you're coming from. I'm on the other end of your side playing bass and obviously with all of the venues closed I haven't worked in months. My last gig was supposed to be the day after Cuomo closed everything down and I've been barely scraping by while waiting for my disability hearing after a failed spinal surgery last year, so I understand both sides all too well.

I used to run stage sound and engineer in a small format recording studio back in the 80s and 90s. I also played in a few bands over the years, but hadn't in five years. I had plans to get together with a few guys around here right before the pandemic. Well that ain't happening so I built G.E.R.R.W.E.E.S (Group, Electronic, Rack Mounted, Recording, WiFi Enabled, Entertainment System), he's playing in the background as I write this.

Gerrwees holds my music and video collection, creates his own WiFi LAN, plays and records music and plays videos (haven't incorporated a camera yet to record video). He's about 4 ft tall, on wheels, and will operate on 110 AC or 12V DC (when I incorporate the inverter I have). He uses an old Dell desktop with Windows 7, rack mounted stereo power head and some efx, a couple of Kustom speakers, with some sub woofers to put in yet. He also has a MIDI keyboard, out board sequencer, and a small 4ch mixer. I've been thinking about making him respond to voice commands, but for now I have a wireless mouse or my lap top to operate him at a distance.

Kind of sad that I had to create a musician to play with, but it's the "new normal" I guess.

a reply to: olaru12

Unfortunately, thanks to Dictator Cuomo, we have few options even for indy work in my area.

Pigeons Playing Pingpong next weekend at the movie drive in. I will be getting paid way less than my union gigs and club gigs....but it is a gig nonetheless.

May your work pick up soon.

My son works for a large audio provider for venues from hometown festivals to major concerts. They're not looking to be back to work until maybe late next year. He's working at a Target right now. At least he's working.

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
I used to run stage sound and engineer in a small format recording studio back in the 80s and 90s. I also played in a few bands over the years, but hadn't in five years. I had plans to get together with a few guys around here right before the pandemic. Well that ain't happening so I built G.E.R.R.W.E.E.S (Group, Electronic, Rack Mounted, Recording, WiFi Enabled, Entertainment System), he's playing in the background as I write this.

Gerrwees holds my music and video collection, creates his own WiFi LAN, plays and records music and plays videos (haven't incorporated a camera yet to record video). He's about 4 ft tall, on wheels, and will operate on 110 AC or 12V DC (when I incorporate the inverter I have). He uses an old Dell desktop with Windows 7, rack mounted stereo power head and some efx, a couple of Kustom speakers, with some sub woofers to put in yet. He also has a MIDI keyboard, out board sequencer, and a small 4ch mixer. I've been thinking about making him respond to voice commands, but for now I have a wireless mouse or my lap top to operate him at a distance.

Kind of sad that I had to create a musician to play with, but it's the "new normal" I guess.

I'd like to see that.

a reply to: HalWesten

I'll be tearing apart Gerrwees soon to re-wire some things, add the sub woofers and stuff like that. Right now he sits in my closet with a bunch of loose equipment I may add at some time.

After I put him back together I'll take a picture away from all the clutter and either post it here or PM you.

ETA: He was made out of stuff I had gotten for free or 2nd hand, junk I picked up here and there. I hope to make him look a little cooler when I'm done.

OK, here is a pic of GERRWEES. I did some rewiring, but left him in the closet, cleared some of the clutter for the pic.



LINK to PIC

originally posted by: theatreboy
a reply to: olaru12

Unfortunately, thanks to Dictator Cuomo, we have few options even for indy work in my area.

Pigeons Playing Pingpong next weekend at the movie drive in. I will be getting paid way less than my union gigs and club gigs....but it is a gig nonetheless.

May your work pick up soon.

Thanks!!! The state just opened up again for film production, on location union gigs. I just got called for an above the line position as an AD, non union but good $$$. However, I do miss the location sound/boom jobs even though they trashed my back. Thank God for Netflix and NBCAdvantage, projects stacked up now greenlighted.