A few weeks back, on Saturday, Aug. 16, I had the opportunity to help with the sound at a benefit music festival, SongSisters Festival. See this link also for the list of all the performers.

The event was held at the Providence Friends Meeting House in Media, PA, and featured women or women-fronted groups.

Three stage areas were set up: two indoors and one outdoors under an awning. The outdoor 'stage' used conventional (and rather under-powered) equipment.

I brought 3 L1 systems (two Classics, one Model II) and those were set up for the two indoor venues.

The music was all really good, and almost all of the music was written by the performers -- very few 'covers' ... and even those few were uniquely arranged & performed.

As probably the most experienced "audio person" around, I ended up helping out with all three stage areas. The most telling reflection I have is this:

Once I introduced each performer using the Bose to the setup, showed them the Remotes, and they did about a 2-4 minute sound check, I never once was called back to either indoor 'stage' to "fix" the sound.

Not so with the outdoor setup. It was a lot more work, with more 'tweaking', to keep the outdoor sound reasonable and adequate.

Anyway, ... here are some photos of the setup and of 8 of the performers who had the good fortune to be indoors with the Bose L1's.

This first picture is of the smaller room, but it had the biggest "stage" and was thus used by the larger groups (3-4 people) -- as well as others. By using two Classics in this room, there were enough inputs for the largest setup. (More details with individual performers.)

This is the larger room (Stage "A"). Make note of the very small "stage" ... it's really just a raised step.

I used the Model II in this room, along with a T1. I decided to position the L1 off to the side, pointing toward the middle of the performing area. (I'm facing directly head-on to the column as I took this picture.) That allowed the L1 and two B1's to be rather unobtrusive and still very effective.

The room was very "live", and I wasn't too concerned about not having adequate coverage. Since most of the 'acts' were essentially "acoustic", overall volume was not an issue -- the main reason for pushing any kind of volume at all was to overcome the sound of the fans blowing air around!! (The temperature outside was in the low 80's, so it wasn't too hot ... but warm enough to want a bit of a "breeze".)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dan Cornett,

This picture, also from the larger room, shows how it is adjacent to the smaller room; the doors between were closed once groups started performing their 45 minute sets.

One of the first groups to perform was SKooBER, a trio from upstate NY. They've recently signed with a recording company.

The guitarist was in the Left L1; he had a "Pod", so no "presets" were needed for his connection.

The vocalist and the bassist were connected to the Right L1; I've forgotten which preset it was, but his bass was listed, and he was plugged in direct.

Next up, over in Stage A, was Caitlin Jane.

You can tell she was enjoying the music ... as we all were!

Back in Stage B, Laura Brino used a couple of guitars and gave a great, engaging performance.

As I recall, both guitars used preset 49, and she was happy with the sound. (I use 49 with my Seagull ... which is just like the one she's using in this photo.)

Both guitars were connected to the Left L1, while the mic was connected to the Right L1. It did not sound at all 'odd', thanks to the wide "spread" of the L1's.

This group, the Griffiths-Washington Trio, actually had 4 performers (Trio + backup vocalist), and were by far the LOUDEST of the performers that afternoon; they were also the only group which had a drummer.

They really "rocked the house" ... and did it with balance and style.

It was really nice to just be able to listen and to let the musicians balance their own sound.

You can see how Monica Griffiths is gettin' into the music ...

Blair Bodine was a last-minute addition to the line-up (she's not listed in the originally posted list of performers noted in the first post on this topic).

A quick search online shows that this young singer/songwriter has been involved in several projects. One of the songs she performed was written in response to learning about children being used as soldiers: it was recorded on this project.

During the ten years I lived in Wallingford, twenty years ago, nothing this cool EVER happened.

I had heard Joy Ike perform prior to this event, and one of her CD's turned my daughter into a fan of Joy's!

It was nice this time to be able to hear her voice with clarity -- I thought the balance of vocal & keyboard was even better than most of the CD's tracks.

Again, the keyboard was in the Left L1 while the mic was connected to the Right L1.

Almost Awake was a fun group to listen to; some of the songs during their set featured a trio, while others were just this duo.

Keyboard and his mic were in the Left L1; the other two mics were in the right-hand L1.

The organizers of this SongSisters Festival, Ange & Ris (pronounced 'Angeee' and 'Reece') had one of the most sophisticated (read: complicated!) setups of the afternoon. If you listen to any of their recorded tracks ... they really do create that same sound "live", thanks to the pedal board with bunch of stuff, the computer assistance, along with the two keyboards, three mics, and a flute.

They only needed 4 inputs to the L1, despite all that equipment, two mic and two "line". The T1 handled it nicely; I used the 'Keyboard' preset on the larger keyboard (direct); the other line input was 'flat' (connection from the pedalboard/mic/computer/synth setup). The other two mics used the SM58 preset.

Angela is the reason I ended up helping with this event ... she teaches at the same school as my wife.

I've labeled a few of the perhaps less obvious items in this photo. The iPod was initially connected to the T1 to be used for 'break' music, but once things got "rolling", there was always music happening somewhere around the site, and so it really only got used early in the day during the setup and while folks were arriving. The T1 and the iPod were attached to a separate "mic stand" (without the mic holder); I used the Bose mic-stand adapter for the T1. It was fine ... once I got the adapter clamped on properly (which took some patience...).

Ange & Ris actually own an L1 -- I gave them some grief about not bringing it so we could have used it outside. It turns out they haven't taken the time to "figure it out" for their own performances, yet (I'll have to see if I can't help them 'fix' that!), so they didn't think it would be sufficient for the outdoor area. (Oh well, next time...)

I also took some short "movie clips" of all the groups with my camera ... not sure about if or where they may get posted.

It was interesting, though, with the outdoor (non-Bose L1) system to note how much the sound would change by moving a few steps to one side or the other.

Hi Dan!
Those are some nice pics of the performers and your configuration of L1® Systems! From the looks of things, it appears you might have been pretty busy that day, moving around and checking on each venue and the performers! It's nice to see some photos of events like these that owners of L1®s support, plus for me, imaging how the "live" performance must have sounded. Those in attendance were recipients of all your hard work, the output of the Bose L1®s, and the talent of the performers. I'm sure it was a great festival!
John

Great Dan - thanks for posting!