In the music business, you will have (and keep) many more friends if you have an awareness of what you should do – and what you shouldn’t do.
For example, don’t fawn all over a famous musician by asking for his autograph. This will give the impression that you are some kind of giddy fan and not a real professional. If you treat them with respect and just do your job, you will be treated back with respect. (most of the time…)
If you encounter a bad mic cable, don’t just put it back in the case while you grab another. The cable is bad, and it will remain bad for the next use. Be sure to tie the ends and mark it as bad, and put it in another location where you put equipment needing repair. This sounds obvious, but often times a bad cable is simply thrown back in the case for the next guy to use. This is professional suicide.
Leave enough slack at the end of the mic cable so that if the musician decides to move 5 or 10 feet, that you will have enough spare cable to move the mic with him without having to go back to get a longer cable and then make the run a second time. Leave a few extra spaces in the sub-snake for those extra inputs that you’ll always need at the last second.
We’ll take a look at several scenarios in the studio, and in live situations where the constant last-minute changes can be an easy adjustment, or a huge problem depending on whether you anticipated the possibility in advance.