pile of junk
At times I like the challenge of assembling a working (or semi-working) PA from a "cobbled-together" pile of junk.
(when it's not my gig)This past fall I started playing sax with a start up band. They are a bunch of kids in their late 20's (I am old enough to be their father) that are passionate about what they do and actually sound decent at times...
For the past 20 years I have been playing mostly symphony music so it's fun to play some Steely Dan again...
back on point:
We rehearse in a small basement studio....
well....
We have our first gig coming up this Friday.
The leader has told us all along that he has a PA from a former band...
Last night (at my suggestion/insistence), we rehearsed at the hall where the gig is to take place.
I show up and there is a "cobbled-together" pile of gear (?)...
The bandleader doesn't know how to wire it up... (What a surprise).
Amongst the pile were a pair of Berhinger 8212XL speakers, one Berhinger Europower PMP 1680S, several no-name mics, plus a tangle of cords/cables...
There was a DJ there (he's on the gig Friday for break tunes) that brought an active Mackie rig (two 15/2 tops and one sub), I do not know the model #'s.
Ok, we are under a time constraint as the hall has a specific close time.
I decide to drive to my storage unit (15 mins away) and get a mixer. Since the fiance of the chick singer will be running the board (I don't know his experience) I dug out my Mixwizard.
First: The gal singer had brought an active 12/2 Peavey speaker for her keyboard. I DI'd her keyboard and used her wedge as a vocal/keys monitor (Aux 1). I then patched Aux 2 to a channel on the Ber mixer and used the Ber speakers as monitors (the EQ on the Ber channels were all at 3:00...I set them to noon).
I slowly got the band mic'd up...the gal singer's monitor (mix 1) sounded pretty good, mix 2 (the Ber stuff) sounded like someone talking into an empty can...
Once I got the gal singer/keyboardist up and running I told the band to just run the sets (without me in the horn section) but they had to wait...(why?).
We got through the sets and the PA limped through it ok... When I tech a band I always make sure that channels aren't clipping but I could not monitor things as the mixer was off-stage....
A couple of times I went off stage to listen to the mix and really noticed the difference in mic quality. The singer brought a Shure beta 58.
The other mics were a collection (nothing matched) of RadioShack quality mics...
Th gal singer was crystal clear but the other two other mics used for vocals were stuffy to say the least (all vocal mics were set at the same level).
Well....
The event on Friday is a sold-out (275 tix) dinner/concert fundraiser. The dinner is a Portuguese buffet (yum!). I am sure that the wine will be flowing... (The attendees will hopefully 'drink up" - lol)
btw: I don't know how everyone will fit in the hall....
At the end of rehearsal we powered everything down and left the band set up.
This should be interesting...