I've worked with many of the 'big names' during my time in the British folk scene, both as sound engineer and as support artiste - sometimes both at the same time!

It's obviously a little crass to name names, but I'll make an exception for reasons that will become obvious.

The first time I was due to work with Martin Simpson I'd been warned in advance that he could be a bit of a prima donna, and tended to eat sound engineers for breakfast. Not a good start...!

However, my experience with him on every occasion I have worked with him has been that he knew what he wanted and how to ask for it - as long as you knew your job, listened to him and did what was required there would be no problem.

In short, I've found him (and many others including Tom Paxton) to be the epitome of politeness and professionalism - perhaps 'mutual respect' sums it up.

As others have commented, these people depend upon the gigs for their livelihood, and in my experience the awkwards sods tend to be those who do have a day job as well. That's not to say all of them are, of course.

My day job just happens to be Sound Engineer, so when I'm doing it for free at the folk club I'm not too pleased when an upstart is trying to tell me my job, and doing it badly.

Our club is fairly small, usually audiences of around fifty, so I try to dissuade people from using a sound reinforcement system unless it's a band using some 'electric' instruments, where they need microphones for balance.

Unless a band has given me a rider in advance with specific requirements, they cannot realistically expect me to provide exactly what they want. More to the point, they should really have their own basic kit!

I'm often puzzled when performers don't have/bring their own specialist microphones for 'difficult' instruments - surely it should be a priority?

It's much tidier, especially for festival stages (again, I've seen this from both sides), if performers have their own microphone systems to plug into the multi - for example, Mary Humphreys and Anahata have a preference to use headworn radio mics, so they bring their own. End of problem!

Guitarists really should have their own DI and leads... not all DIs suit all guitar pickups. I've found that passive transformer DIs in particular can put a loading on a piezo resulting in some very strange noises!

People like Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson and Tom Paxton bring their own system for their guitars which simply need an XLR to plug into the sound system - it saves a lot of setup time, and avoids so many problems.

My own array of instruments on a gig isn't practical to plug up individually, so I use a strategically placed pair of AKG C1000s and a vocal microphone - quick and easy for both me and the sound tech. Three guitars (12 string and two differently tuned 6 strings), banjo, mandolin, piano accordion, English and Anglo concertinas...

I'm also surprised that some so-called professionals haven't developed a good microphone technique. The way you address the microphone is crucial to a good sound.

The ubiquitous Shure SM58 is a close-vocal microphone that will 'pop' quite badly unless either your lips are in contact with the top basket, or you're over five inches (approx!) away. Certainly if you're two inches away, as some tend to prefer, you will get very serious popping that is difficult to EQ out.

I think that's a topic for a different thread, though!