Tech Work at Fremont Abbey Arts Center, part 2

A Tuning the Air Journal

Thursday February 25, 2010 – Tech Work at Fremont Abbey Arts Center, part 2

Taking the testing of sound reinforcement in the Great Hall to the next stage. The full team was involved in this one though only the performance team strapped on guitars.

I arrived at Travis’ place a little before 6pm to load out the gear. I brought the mixer from home, as well as spare xlr cables and electrical extension cords, and of course my guitar and personal gear. Travis already had his car loaded, so we made quick work of getting 2 speakers and the stands into mine and headed to Fremont Abbey. We decided not to use the risers for this week’s work, in part to keep things as simple as possible, as well as to give ourselves maximum flexibility in terms of where we sat.

Interestingly, when we arrived the director of the arts center was in the Great Hall with several others discussing possibilities for sound damping panels they are planning to install. So, a lot of attention to the sound in the Great Hall today. We set the stands where we thought the speakers would work best – two on the north wall and two on the south wall, but not quite buried in the corners. Others began arriving around 6:30, and the cables were laid out. The length of the available speaker cables determined where the mixer could be set up, which wound up being more or less in the circle with us, like a 10th player.

Everyone was present and accounted for by 7:30, including two new potential company members who would take on running sound if we go that way.

Joel plugged his computer into the sound system and ran recordings of some of his ambient looping ala the preshow. Every face in the room immediately lit up – it sounded just the way we imagined it could sound. With the stereo it was a joy – he has always been in stereo, but only through a pair of small practice amps. Through the sound system in a surround format there was a huge qualitative change.

We sound-checked, with the new sound guys getting accustomed to this set up and the challenges of working with 9 guitars. Greg, Igor and Joel were our resident ears, taking up various positions in the room, inside and outside the circle, and giving feedback on the sound. We took the volume way down. We took the volume way up. We played loud and boisterous pieces. We played quiet and subtle pieces. We circulated. We A-B-ed the same pieces with and without amplification. We expanded the radius of circle several feet, and we moved in a bit closer. For the most part we played standing up, so that our heads would be at roughly the same elevations they would be were we sitting up on risers. On the sound guy’s urging, we moved the speakers 45º so that there was one in the middle of each of the 4 walls. This made the most noticeably improvement (and, naturally, it complicates things in terms of the movement of the audience).

Before tearing down and loading out we came together without guitars to discuss our sense of this experiment. I asked for an initial thumbs up/down, just to see where our inclinations were, without regard for the practical implications – is this a direction we wish to pursue? The only thumbs down actually came from someone who had needed to leave early, and so was not there to articulate their thoughts, but had given Jaxie some very definite feedback before they left and she summarized it as best she could. Interesting.

More discussion. An assortment of pros and cons identified, but no cons that shook anyone from their initial thumbs-up. The next step will be to invest in a couple more speakers with stands so that we are working with a matched set, as well as cables of an appropriate length and a snake. Next Thursday we will do it again. In principle, of course, this is an experiment we can pull the plug on at any time, but there is a clear and strong feeling that we need to move forward with this.