[Dixielandjazz] Another PA system nightmare

[jazzfact]

Hi Elazar

My 2 bobs worth..
Get your own gear, About 3/4 of our gigs are large enough to warrant PA
particularly for vocals (3 of our band sing). We run a small 150 watt
system, the whole 5 piece band, pa, speakers stands foldback, mikes and
instruments all in the back of a station wagon. It takes 10 minutes to =
set
up, same mike goes to each player same settings on the head each time. =
Then
there is the volume only to worry about, it really tics off the "Sound
Engineer so we tell him/her to take a DI from our gear they want more. =
In
the end they never bother. =20

regards,
Richard Stevens
www.thejazzfactory.net

-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Elazar =
Brandt
Sent: Thursday, 2 October 2003 11:21 AM
To: Dixie Jazz Mail List
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Another PA system nightmare

Another rant from Dr. Jazz. Kindly disregard, unless it's also against =
your
religion to mix electricity and jazz. If this happens to
me one more time, I'm going to get a letter from my rabbi forbidding me =
from
using electricity at gigs.

Same wedding as my other post. We arrived 1 1/2 hours before the guests. =
The
DJ is already setting up, and has placed 3 microphones
for us. We were told we'd be playing background music, minimal vocals, =
and
that we would not need amplification, which is my
preferred way to go anyway. I raised the boom mike at my spot up to horn
level, tightened it, and watched it sink back down to my
waist, and I said to the guys, let's get these things out of here before
anyone turns them on. But my guys -- young Israeli
20-somethings, who also still have trouble conceiving of music without
amplification, and cannot grasp the concept that a brass band
does not need microphones -- convince me to wait and let the DJ fix us =
up,
just in case we need them. I'm easy, so I acquiesce. But
I take a stroll around the perimeter to see what the banjo and drums =
sound
like without the amp, and while the banjo was slightly on
the weak side, it was still easily heard all the way across the garden. =
I
was confident my horns would fill the space, and we sing
on the street all the time, I figured the vocals would be audible, and =
not
too loud, which is what the bride asked for anyway.

Then the fun began. No electricity at the bandstand. The outlet was =
dead. We
set up, we warmed up, we waited. No sound check. The
banjo player trips over one of the mike cords, and once again I start
ranting to get the *&%^ things off our bandstand. And once
again I let the guys calm me down. Finally we see guests starting to =
arrive.
Our cue to start playing, so we do. THEN the
electricity goes on, so the DJ crew is all over the bandstand setting up
their stuff for the wedding ceremony and party afterwards,
and we are an afterthought. The DJ puts on a CD -- WHILE WE'RE PLAYING =
--
and walks away, and is nowhere to be found. This time, my
banjo player gets ticked off and starts taking the mikes off the =
bandstand,
while I'm looking for a power cord to strangle the DJ
with when he comes back.

Several minutes later the DJ comes back to do our sound check, and he =
can't
figure out which controls on the mixing board go with
our mikes. So we have to count into the mikes and tap on them until he =
gets
it set up, and there are of course no monitors, so we
don't get to hear what the audience is hearing. I plead with him to put =
the
mikes out in front of us, as we are used to balancing
ourselves acoustically, and they could just pick up our natural sound =
and
make it louder. But nooooooooooo. The mikes must be no
more than a couple millimeters from each instrument, making us 1000%
dependent on him (and G-d) for balancing and mixing the sound.
And did I mention that we don't get monitors?

Somehow good music came out of this. But I'm curious. I have yet to
experience an amplified gig where the sound system worked, where
the sound check was done on time before the audience arrived, where
everything worked for the duration of the show, where the
audience was not assaulted with horrible feedback noises and deafening =
pops
and crackles from plugging and unplugging bad mikes and
wires during the performance, etc., etc., etc. Has anybody else ever had =
a
sound system actually work at a gig? 'Cause I say, play
for the people that can see you, and if they can see you, they'll be =
able to
hear you, and let another band play for the ones who
are farther away.

My 2 shekels' worth.

Elazar
Doctor Jazz Band -- Israel's unplugged, mobile Dixieland Jazz Band
Jerusalem, Israel
<www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
Tel: +972-2-679-2537
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