I'm surprised how many musicians know nothing about microphones at all. For people who depend such equipment, they should learn something about them.

Many musicians have no idea how to mike an acoustic guitar. Many have no idea what the difference is between a dynamic, a condenser and a ribbon mike. Many don't really understand the concept of phantom power or why it's used. I've even met live sound guys who mike the bass or the kick drum with an ordinary mike instead of a dedicated low frequency mike and forget about them having any idea what a mike pad or a roll-off is.

They don't know what omnidiectional, cardioid, bidirectional or supercardioid means or what makes these patterns a help or a hindrance.

First of all, you want to make sure you're getting the best possible sound out of the equipment and you want to know when an engineer is just going through the motions and doesn't really care if he's giving you the best possible sound. Moreover, I went to school to learn how to be an engineer but most guys who do sound--especially live sound--never went to school. They learned by ear, as it were. That's fine, I know great live soundmen who learned as they went but many of them don't know shit and it would help you the musician to know when you're dealing with one of these guys.

I was in a situation once where this lady--terrific singer and pianist--was doing a live show and wanted me to record it. I said ok. So I set up a condenser mike for her vocal and had to use a phantom power unit because the board they supplied didn't have phantom power. The unit needed a new battery so I had to go fish for one. She started getting bitchy because last time we just plugged in a mike and away she went. Well last time it was a dynamic mike and it was strictly a live situation with no soundcheck. You can't record a vocal through a dynamic under most circumstances. You need a condenser and a condenser needs phantom power. She couldn't understand that and was really getting bitchy. That's what I mean. Let the soundman do what he has to do and don't make his job harder for him. He's trying to help you.