The Sharpie.
Incredible tool. Nothing else compares.
It's a must-have product for sound and video guys. Combined with some low-tac white tape, you can use the Sharpie to label damn near anything.
Audio guys *need* labels. Which group did I patch to those front fills? These three 1/3 octave EQs in the rack... which one is the drummer's monitor? Ok, he dropped three lines here. Which one is the intercom?
Sharpie to the rescue!
Sharpie use is a privilege though. It is not a right.
A long time ago, one of the riggers wrote "Bad Motor!" on the chain hoist that didn't work. It was a good thing to know which one we needed to fix but... we fixed it. Nobody used that motor for like three years because it still said "bad" on the case. Who would ever knowingly hang a motor that *might* be bad? I mean, look... It says it's bad right there. Having a bad motor on the ground is a bummer but have you ever had a motor that seemed fine going up decide that it doesn't like coming down? Trust me, it's a huge pain in the ass. I finally painted the case and now nobody knows which one it was.
That story is kinda fun to tell but it's a good illustration of why idiots should not be granted the right to use a permanent marker.
I think of Sharpie usage kinda like the Boy Scouts think of using pocket knives. We were instructed in the proper ways to handle knives, and why other ways are dangerous. We were given no quarter. If you were observed not treating the knife with respect (horsing around), you lost your knife. And that was that.
It's a bit more difficult to take a marker away from a so-called grown-up though. That can be socially embarrassing.
If you're in the sound biz, you need to have a Sharpie close by but for God's sake, be careful with that thing!
