Princess Katie & Racer Steve, my band, just finished a tour of Long Island put on by the town of Hempstead. We played in 2 different parks each day for 5 days straight. The shows were 11am and 1:30pm and we played 45-55 minutes sets.

The town had a rolling stage that they moved from venue to venue and had told us they had a PA for the shows too. Just to be safe I brought our 2 L1M2 systems.

When we got to the first gig I asked about the sound system and engineer and they said, "we have some speakers and a mixer" but there was no engineer. So I quickly decided to use our stuff instead.

We are a four piece band with some sample playback for horn/keyboard parts. I mic 3 vocals, and one small gtr amp. Our drums are acoustic and not mic'd and the bass is also not in the L1's for now, but I would do it if I need to.

We use the system a bit differently than most since we only have 2 systems. It is almost like a normal PA in the way that we distribute the sources. It is amazing to me and everyone else who hears it how great it sounds. In fact, the purchasing department from the town called me after the second day to ask how to get the systems and If I could advise them on it.

Here is a sketch of how we are using the systems. I know this is not the "intended" use and that there may be some problems with this approach in terms of dispersion and cancellation, but it really is working for us so I just wanted to put it out there. I am always open to new ideas though, so if you have any pass them on.

Here is our sketch My Stage Layout

Here was our daily schedule:

10am set up at first venue
11am play
noon tear down, drive to next venue
12:45 set up for second show
1:30 play
2:30 break down
3:30 get band to train station.

We did that every day for 5 days. Of course, we sounded great though the system and everyone loved the shows. The county clerk attended all 10 shows because they were also rolling out a Child Safety ID Program and he was smiling through all of them. And they did ask us to do it again next year.

I can only imagine how impossible this schedule would have been if we were using a traditional PA. The way these systems work is constantly amazing to me.

In college, a long time ago, I had a business class and heard the term "technological advantage" in the context of how to succeed in business. It was so clear to me this week that this is exactly what they were talking about.

This technology allowed us to work faster, easier, and sound better than we ever could have before and it was all in our control.

Another great success for us and these amazing systems.

SBRocket, July 26, 2008

full thread here