Shakermaker Promotions
03-05-2010, 11:03 AM
Hi all,
As it's bank holiday monday and it's chill out time, I thought I would 'treat' (haha) you all to another report of mine, this time from a function I did on saturday night.
I was booked to do a surprise 25th Anniversary party along with photo projection by 3 absolute stunners (the daughters, who happened to be triplets!). They did really well keeping everything a surprise and we had kept in touch over the last couple of months going through song requests and photos etc. The venue is a new purpose built hall in my town that has a nice stage etc and capacity for around (at a guess?) 300.
I had tried to visit the venue in advance to check it out but could never actually get to speak to the caretaker as he was always 'unavailable'. I was in the area on friday so popped in on the off chance of catching him and I was lucky that he was there. He was a very nice bloke and showed me around and then I noticed something that I really wasn't happy with. Up there on the wall to the side of the stage was.....a SOUND LIMITER!
I wasn't told this in advance by the girls (I did ask as I always do and I always go through the negatives about them and how they can affect the function....I also say that I won't play in venues that have Sound Limiters. This is because I worry about my equipment being damaged, the guests thinking I don't know what I am doing because the sound keeps going off etc etc)...They said they would check it out and get back to me and they did. When I spoke to the caretaker, he said that they hadn't mentioned it so now I was getting a bit of a strop on. I arranged with the caretaker to set up on saturday morning and away I went.
I decided to contact one of the girls and notify her of my concerns and explain that there was nothing that I could do with reference to the sound limiter so to be prepared. I wouldn't normally do this as I wouldn't want to worry anyone but I did it because as I always say, at every function I am advertising myself. I doubt it if the majority of the guests would know anything about the sound limiter and why should they? Maybe it's paranoia but in my view, all they would see is me mucking up because the sound would keep going off.... I hope that makes sense?
Anyway....(still awake??)....
I set up everything, soundchecked and was surprised even more when I realised that the levels on the sound limiter were set at what I would consider, a very low volume. I thought at the time that 100 guests with background noise plus music was going to set it off regularly....Anyway, everything looked cool. The projection looked great. I took my large white screen but didn't bother using it as I projected from the stage on to the back white wall and it looked huge.
Guests arrived at 7.30pm and I played some background music (the theme was Soul / Motown / 70's Disco) and the couple arrived blindfolded at 8.15pm. The idea was for them to walk into a silent room, the blindfolds would be removed and they would be in the dark...Everyone would shout "SURPRISE" and the Disco lights would come on along with 'Celebration' by Kool and The Gang. Everything was cue'd up and as the blindfolds were taken off I pressed the button to start the track....Everyone shouted "SURPRISE!!!" and the sound limiter went to red and the sound and lights cut off. Everyone stood there in the dark laughing....I felt embarassed. Within seconds the Disco lights came on and the mixer and amp but I had to power up the Denon HD2500 again and select the USB's. It felt like ages but wasn't actually that long but it was still cringeworthy for me.
I wasn't sure whether I should mention it over the mic but I did. I announced to everyone that there were sound limiters in the venue due to it being in a residential area and that the sound going off was not my fault. I also joked that it would be better if they whispered to eachother and mimed the songs rather than sing them. It became a bit of a running joke as they all cheered and laughed and again....everything went off! I got back on the mic and laughed and apologised again and the 3 girls (cor!) came over and told me not to worry about it.
The projection was a surprise to the couple too. I was asked to create a Powerpoint presentation of 10 photos. This would be accompanied by a speech by the 3 girls. It went down really well. Infact, the whole night went down really well apart from the sound going off. Lots of dancing all night. I was allowed to use smoke so the lasers and lights looked awesome in there. The last song of the night was requested by the girls which was 'The Best' by Tina Turner. We got half way through it and then the sound went off again as everyone was singing the chorus. Again, everyone laughed.
I got a huge round of applause and clapping (which set it off again at the end) and then I was approached by the couple who thanked me and asked if they could say a few words. It was a great night.
Now...a couple of other things (if you're still reading this?).
The caretaker said to me on the friday that he was prepared to turn off the sound limiter. I said that I didn't want to get him into trouble but it would be appreciated. When I got there on the saturday evening and turned everything on, he appeared and said "Right, let's turn it off then". As he pressed the switch on the front panel of it, everything went off so we worked out that there was no way around it as it was linked to the sockets I was using. He also said that he couldn't get into it to change the settings as they were locked and set by the council.
I didn't see him for most of the night but around 20 minutes before the end, he appeared and asked how everything had been going. I explained that I was lucky to have such a good crowd that understood and luckily, my equipment wasn't affected by any of it....it wasn't damaged.
It was then that he said something that just made me laugh and shake my head. He said "Between me and you, I think the socket down there at the front of the stage isn't linked up to the sound limiter as we have had Discos in here before and they have used that socket and the sound has stayed on all night...why don't you try that one?"... I couldn't believe he had told me this so late on. I couldn't swap everything over there and then as I had a full dancefloor but said that at the end when I was packing up, I would switch over to that socket and see. When we stopped halfway through 'The Best' because of the sound limiter, I got on the mic and explained that I would play one more song aftewards as I wanted to test it again. The main lights were on now aswell as the function was over.
I switched the extension for the Denon/Mixer and Amp to the one at the front of the stage and whacked the volume right up. I played 'Don't stop me now' and watched the sound limiter go straight into the red. The big orange alert light flashed too but everything stayed ON!...Typical eh!! :Censored:
I thanked everyone, said goodnight and it was allover. I actually had a steaming headache from worrying all night but I did learn a few things from this whole experience. Firstly, my confidence in my equipment has increased. I was worried that the Denon HD2500 wouldn't be too impressed with me. I thought that it wouldn't appreciate being shut down in the middle of playing a track and seek it's revenge by corrupting files or even worse...wiping the HD but it didn't (thanks!). I was also worried that the mixer and amp wouldn't appreciate it either but they were both fine. The only thing I don't like is that the Denon HD2500 takes a while to load up again.
Anyway, yesterday I received a call from one of the girls who wanted to thank me for a great night and to also book me for the triplets joint 21st birthday in a few months time......AT THE SAME VENUE!! I took the booking. Now I know how to get round it, everything should be fine.
Thanks for listening :beer1:
As it's bank holiday monday and it's chill out time, I thought I would 'treat' (haha) you all to another report of mine, this time from a function I did on saturday night.
I was booked to do a surprise 25th Anniversary party along with photo projection by 3 absolute stunners (the daughters, who happened to be triplets!). They did really well keeping everything a surprise and we had kept in touch over the last couple of months going through song requests and photos etc. The venue is a new purpose built hall in my town that has a nice stage etc and capacity for around (at a guess?) 300.
I had tried to visit the venue in advance to check it out but could never actually get to speak to the caretaker as he was always 'unavailable'. I was in the area on friday so popped in on the off chance of catching him and I was lucky that he was there. He was a very nice bloke and showed me around and then I noticed something that I really wasn't happy with. Up there on the wall to the side of the stage was.....a SOUND LIMITER!
I wasn't told this in advance by the girls (I did ask as I always do and I always go through the negatives about them and how they can affect the function....I also say that I won't play in venues that have Sound Limiters. This is because I worry about my equipment being damaged, the guests thinking I don't know what I am doing because the sound keeps going off etc etc)...They said they would check it out and get back to me and they did. When I spoke to the caretaker, he said that they hadn't mentioned it so now I was getting a bit of a strop on. I arranged with the caretaker to set up on saturday morning and away I went.
I decided to contact one of the girls and notify her of my concerns and explain that there was nothing that I could do with reference to the sound limiter so to be prepared. I wouldn't normally do this as I wouldn't want to worry anyone but I did it because as I always say, at every function I am advertising myself. I doubt it if the majority of the guests would know anything about the sound limiter and why should they? Maybe it's paranoia but in my view, all they would see is me mucking up because the sound would keep going off.... I hope that makes sense?
Anyway....(still awake??)....
I set up everything, soundchecked and was surprised even more when I realised that the levels on the sound limiter were set at what I would consider, a very low volume. I thought at the time that 100 guests with background noise plus music was going to set it off regularly....Anyway, everything looked cool. The projection looked great. I took my large white screen but didn't bother using it as I projected from the stage on to the back white wall and it looked huge.
Guests arrived at 7.30pm and I played some background music (the theme was Soul / Motown / 70's Disco) and the couple arrived blindfolded at 8.15pm. The idea was for them to walk into a silent room, the blindfolds would be removed and they would be in the dark...Everyone would shout "SURPRISE" and the Disco lights would come on along with 'Celebration' by Kool and The Gang. Everything was cue'd up and as the blindfolds were taken off I pressed the button to start the track....Everyone shouted "SURPRISE!!!" and the sound limiter went to red and the sound and lights cut off. Everyone stood there in the dark laughing....I felt embarassed. Within seconds the Disco lights came on and the mixer and amp but I had to power up the Denon HD2500 again and select the USB's. It felt like ages but wasn't actually that long but it was still cringeworthy for me.
I wasn't sure whether I should mention it over the mic but I did. I announced to everyone that there were sound limiters in the venue due to it being in a residential area and that the sound going off was not my fault. I also joked that it would be better if they whispered to eachother and mimed the songs rather than sing them. It became a bit of a running joke as they all cheered and laughed and again....everything went off! I got back on the mic and laughed and apologised again and the 3 girls (cor!) came over and told me not to worry about it.
The projection was a surprise to the couple too. I was asked to create a Powerpoint presentation of 10 photos. This would be accompanied by a speech by the 3 girls. It went down really well. Infact, the whole night went down really well apart from the sound going off. Lots of dancing all night. I was allowed to use smoke so the lasers and lights looked awesome in there. The last song of the night was requested by the girls which was 'The Best' by Tina Turner. We got half way through it and then the sound went off again as everyone was singing the chorus. Again, everyone laughed.
I got a huge round of applause and clapping (which set it off again at the end) and then I was approached by the couple who thanked me and asked if they could say a few words. It was a great night.
Now...a couple of other things (if you're still reading this?).
The caretaker said to me on the friday that he was prepared to turn off the sound limiter. I said that I didn't want to get him into trouble but it would be appreciated. When I got there on the saturday evening and turned everything on, he appeared and said "Right, let's turn it off then". As he pressed the switch on the front panel of it, everything went off so we worked out that there was no way around it as it was linked to the sockets I was using. He also said that he couldn't get into it to change the settings as they were locked and set by the council.
I didn't see him for most of the night but around 20 minutes before the end, he appeared and asked how everything had been going. I explained that I was lucky to have such a good crowd that understood and luckily, my equipment wasn't affected by any of it....it wasn't damaged.
It was then that he said something that just made me laugh and shake my head. He said "Between me and you, I think the socket down there at the front of the stage isn't linked up to the sound limiter as we have had Discos in here before and they have used that socket and the sound has stayed on all night...why don't you try that one?"... I couldn't believe he had told me this so late on. I couldn't swap everything over there and then as I had a full dancefloor but said that at the end when I was packing up, I would switch over to that socket and see. When we stopped halfway through 'The Best' because of the sound limiter, I got on the mic and explained that I would play one more song aftewards as I wanted to test it again. The main lights were on now aswell as the function was over.
I switched the extension for the Denon/Mixer and Amp to the one at the front of the stage and whacked the volume right up. I played 'Don't stop me now' and watched the sound limiter go straight into the red. The big orange alert light flashed too but everything stayed ON!...Typical eh!! :Censored:
I thanked everyone, said goodnight and it was allover. I actually had a steaming headache from worrying all night but I did learn a few things from this whole experience. Firstly, my confidence in my equipment has increased. I was worried that the Denon HD2500 wouldn't be too impressed with me. I thought that it wouldn't appreciate being shut down in the middle of playing a track and seek it's revenge by corrupting files or even worse...wiping the HD but it didn't (thanks!). I was also worried that the mixer and amp wouldn't appreciate it either but they were both fine. The only thing I don't like is that the Denon HD2500 takes a while to load up again.
Anyway, yesterday I received a call from one of the girls who wanted to thank me for a great night and to also book me for the triplets joint 21st birthday in a few months time......AT THE SAME VENUE!! I took the booking. Now I know how to get round it, everything should be fine.
Thanks for listening :beer1: