Super Troupers
I was hired to provide PA for a show with the ABBA tribute band. It was held on the 12th Floor of the Barclays HQ in Docklands. A missing IEM aerial meant using a floor wedge provided by a singer. Unfortunately during the first half I was told no sound was coming from it. This was fixed in the interval but not before I'd received an instruction from the European Director to turn the sound down or they'd cancel the event which I did. The job included playing backing tracks through the system for the performers to sing to.
June 25 South London Folk Event
The event used a new snake which fell apart as we got to the stage. It has since been repaired with a new nut and thread lock to stop it coming off again. I used the new ZLX 8's as mini floor wedges connected to a new amp Id received. These worked well. Unfortunately rain set in but with the tarpaulin over the gazebo and protecting the two PA amps and with bin bags over the main speakers we survived. The client was again happy with the day!
Oct -24 Weymouth Pier Pavillion
I was asked to provide PA for a show in the Weymouth Pier Pavillion with two days notice. Conversations were centred on the availability of my equipment and whether the client could supplement it with their own. The SQ5 was placed in the FOH position with Sennheiser Radio & IEM Aerials. The venue provided an ethernet cable so I was able to put the stage box on the side of the stage. The band were connected without issue although I learned the benefit of a short snake to connect the drum mics up. Unfortunately the in ear monitors weren't implemented and floor wedges were used instead. This was right before the show and no time to ring them out. The start of the show was problematic as I was fighting feedback but once this was under control the rest of the show went well. Until the compere tried to say something at the end with a switched off radio mic.
Jun 24 South London Folk Event
An outdoor event using my A&H Mixwizzard and the Passive EV speakers. The client provided a gazebo and table for the mixer and ran the multicore to the stage. There were lots of different artists and a stage hand ensured all the singers and musicians were either mic'ed up or di'd as appropriate. The event went very well and I was booked for the following year.
July 23- Swiss Church
In July I provided PA for the Michael Toogood Thanksgiving Service. At the time I only had my SQ5 mixer and ZLX12P speakers so I used my other equipment currently used by Well Street United Church in Buckingham. This included the AB168 digital stage box and a DBX Driverack PA2 speaker management box. The acoustics of the Swiss Church in Endell Street, Covent Garden meant singing was excellent however the spoken word was only intelligible with the PA.
October 23 - Homerton Baptist Church
In early October I provided PA for the Grace Baptist Association Annual Meeting. This was the first opportunity to use the AR2412 24 input and 12 output digital stage box. See the photo on the home page. The Cat 5 reel worked flawlessly and was sufficient to cover the double-sized room we were meeting in. It was also necessary to provide a basic PA system for the hour-long AGM held in a different room downstairs. For this, I used one of the SCM15A's on its end on a table with a small USB-powered mixer. I also provided a newly acquired Pulse short shotgun mic (phantom powered from the mixer) for the meeting chairman and another mic for other speakers. During the lunch break, I took down the system and re-used the SCM15A to provide monitoring for the keyboard player in the main meeting room. I ensured the two lectern mics were in a stereo group which I configured as a mono signal. This ensured the speaker's movements were not replicated by the system. This also meant I learned that stereo groups on the SQ5 are an odd/even pair. The desk was configured with Left and Right on AR2412 Output Channels 1&2, Foldback wedges on 3&4 and the EV EKX15SP Sub Woofer on Channel 5. Channel 6 was connected to the Keyboard's SCM15A foldback. The Bass guitar provided by Les Gridley was configured with the jack connected to a PRO DI, the through connected to a Bass amp and the XLR connected to the mixer via the AR2412 box. The electro-acoustic guitar was connected with the PRO48 DI. Two singers had BETA58 mics provided by the host church. I provided an AKG P4 mic for the violin. The church provided their own PA amp and speakers.
Sept - 23 Victory Services Club - Leadermagazine.eu
I was retained by leadermagazine.eu for their awards evening for leaders. I met with the in house sound and lighting team to talk through the system with them. Unfortunately the meeting was cancelled but no one thought to inform me so I made an unnecessary trip to the club where they told me the bad news.