In less then two weeks were going to put the L1 to the ultimate test. I will be placing the Classic and Model 1 as FOH in the AL. Ringling Theatre, Baraboo, WI.

Here is the show link,
http://www.libertybluegrassban...luegrassCaravan.html

I will place the L1s as FOH, snake them to a board. Use one wide condenser mic for vocals,use three instrument mics and plug in the basses. We will have three bluegrass bands playing. One band uses IEM, one uses themselves as monitor and Liberty (my band) will use a light amount of floor monitor.

We are going to rotate bands out in 25 min sets with no change over time. Almost in time, when one band finishes another starts. We will come in from the shadows of light, then start the next band. The mic set up is the critical element of the show. All three bands just walk up and play their part. After the three bands play we have a short intermission and do it all over again. I can't remember any bluegrass show ever being done this way.

The primary venue is the 700-seat AL Ringling Theatre built in 1915. It has beautiful boxes that hold 6 each. We will be using a acoustic engineer use to mixing bluegrass. I know the two L1s and two B1s each can do the job because the PAs at the time this venue was built had no way the power of the L1s.

The show starts in Milwaukee at the legendary Shank Hall. If you ever watched the Spinal Tap movie and remember those 18" columns. They are still on the wall at Shank Hall. And yes they are 18". They gave him exactly what he demanded. We have played their once before and it's a great room.
The Bluegrass Caravan then moves onto Baraboo.

Please consider yourselves invited.
Thanks, James

This message has been edited. Last edited by: paxflyer,

What a beautiful place. When was it built? Had PA's even been invented then? OK, I did a google search. Looks like 1915 was the start date, and it was built for movies. Silent??? Hope you have a great experience. I can't help but envy just a little, anyone who gets to play in a venue like this.

It looks like the very front seats and the Box seats might be just out of the magic cylindrical wave. (hard to tell about the front couple of rows from the picture)

Might have to do a bit of walking around while music plays, and tinker some with the positioning of the L1s in an effort to get the best coverage for the most seats.

The highest and lowest seats will likely miss some of the higher frequencies, thus the presence. It will still sound good, just not the same as those directly in front of the wave.

The very front rows might get enough of the direct sound to be OK.

Based on my past experiences in this type of venue, using L1s with raked seating and balconies, only those who move around will know the difference, and many of those (if there are any moving) will not notice.

O..

I may daisy chain some 15" powered mains to supplement the sound. We'll have plenty to time to add more gear. Only problem is we will be two hours from home and will need to bring everything with us.

The theater is normally used for movies and in the winter they do some shows. The manager said for weddings and light music tracks they use 15" JBL EON powered speakers and get good results.

Incredible place.

I hope you can get some pictures of the gig.

Can't wait for the report.

Ken

Oh MY, what a beautiful room. Wow :O

One more teaser.
BTW, we'll be promoting the Bluegrass Caravan tomorrow on Milwaukee's TV FOX 6. Go to http://www.fox6now.com/news/wakeup/performances/ to watch live.

We had a fantastic evening. Sound was incredible. We sound checked the three bands and it took some time getting the eq. right due to the dispersion of the L1s. In fact we had to turn them down the L1s a little and turn up the JBLs because the L1s were so wide in their pattern. We used a C414 for vocals and three Shure 57 for instruments. All three basses were plugged in with DIs. The bands moved in and out and the audience loved the concept.

We also recorded the show via the board. We have excellent recordings that really captured the audience and the room. Hopefully we'll put together a live CD very soon.

We drew around 400 in a room that holds 700. My guess with the way it all went and we didn't finish until 11:30PM we could have a sold out show in three years. Just about everyone stayed! Our Friday night show in Milwaukee drew pretty well also. I don't have all the pictures yet but will post them soon.

Excellent !