Just got in from this event. It was a wedding reception for an old musical buddy and his wife the booking agent. So it was pretty much an excuse for the happy couple and a couple hundred of their close friends (all musicians) to get together and party.

I had asked for a set list with a quick description of the acts and numbers of players. The maximum number of folks expected for any particular act was 6 or 7. So I called in some favours and got 6 Systems on the stage.

The main space was about 50x50 and through the French doors it opened onto covered space the same size. We were set up on the wall facing the French doors. Amazingly you could hear the music at the far end of the space... beatifully.

The plan was - as one act finished and cleared the gear, the new act would stand just in front of the stage area roughly where they would be performing. This would give me a chance to ask what they would be doing and what they needed.

We had enough Systems. Except for one act, each performer was able to perform directly in front of the L1™ through which s/he was being amplified.

We had a few problems:

The keyboard turned out to be a well used upright that was pressed up tight against and facing the wall (leaving the Pianist facing the wall not the band). In my 'just in case' bag I had a Mackie 1202 and a couple of tiny diaphram condenser mics (AKG something smaller than at typical clip on). So I looked up mic techniques for upright pianos. We didn't have room or time to move the Piano out from the wall so I slipped the mics in behind and duct taped the wires to the frame. This left the mics dangling an inch or two from the soundboard. I put them approximately 1/3 along the way from each side.

I had some trouble with low end feedback but I'm sure this is because the B1 was too close. So I rolled back the lows and the piano seemed just a little strident and bright. But when things got going - it was pretty good with lots of presence in the mix.

Overall it went very well and I'll write a little more about this after a few zzzzzs.

If you ever have to do sound on a rotating stage (lots of different acts), if you can get one System per person (for largest act). It will be relatively simple to make it work.

Some of the highlights:
Steel Drum Band
Eastern European Gypsy/Jazz Band
Traditional Jazz Quintet (used the Piano)
Bagpipes
Acoustic Groove / Electric Jazz
Traditional Folk Flute (it was about 5 feet long).
Drum Circle
Disco/Funk Band
Unplugged Folk/ R&B Band

Oh - and I heard a Ned Steinberger "Stick".

~ST September 25, 2006~

Full thread here