Gig log March 2010

0:01 Room, system, outside

Hi guys, another gig log for you and today I'm doing a gig in a marquee for about 450 people. Now, a bit of advice here. If you're doing, and I've said this a couple of times before but, you know, say it again. If you're doing any functions in marquees or outside, what you have to contend with is the fact that your PA system that sounds fantastic in a room, all of a sudden the sound will disappear. Now this is one reason why when you go to big outside events they have huge mounds of PA system. Admittedly because logically they want it to be loud, but what happens is when you're in a room the sound will leave your speakers, it will hit a back wall and bounce... I'll tell you what, everything's bouncing around all over the place which is not a good idea, bouncing around in the back, but I did secure everything.

I can't do anything, I'll explain in a second. So what you need to do is you need to make sure that you have sufficient sound. Now again, when you're in a room the sound bounces around so 1,000 watts in a room for like 300 or 400 people will be fantastic. But you put 1,000 watts outside in a marquee and it will just vanish, it'll go nowhere. Now a lot of people seem to think, right, so I've got like four mid and top cabs and I'm doing a marquee, let's take loads of bass. Now, to a certain degree that's fine, but you're better off taking more mid and top. The reason being is because bass is omnidirectional and will travel no matter what. The high frequencies will tend to disappear more. I mean, you try this. When you're next in a marquee, you put your system straight up, turn it up, stand by the speakers, it'll be really loud. You move away 50 or 60 metres and it's like, it's there, you can hear it, but it's...

2:28 You know, I've got to rush around like a stupid idiot now, which is

Thank you for watching. You know, I've got to rush around like a stupid idiot now, which is... Like I said, my life is crazy and surreal. Maybe one day I'll explain what's going on, and a lot of people are going to go, what the... This is the but, and this is what I'm about. If I can do this, you can too. Alright? And it's about being strong. So, alright. Right, I suppose what I need to explain is... What is explain? I suppose explain myself where the speakers are concerned. Now, I have got these, and Google them, they're fantastic cabs, they're RCF Event 6000, two 15s, eight and a one inch, and you can do what's called bi-amp them, whereby you can use just one amplifier to run them full range or two amplifiers, bass, mid and top. Now, they're fantastic. What I have got, I'm running those off a StudioMaster 1100 watt side RMS, important RMS.

1100 watt side studio master, and then I've also got the Cam Vortex 15s, but I've got four of those. I'm going to put two of those each side. So in essence you're going to have three speakers each side running off two of the same amplifiers. Again sometimes that's important to have the same amps. When you start going from your mixer into one amp of a certain make, then out of that into another amp of a certain make, another amp, another amp, and then into different speakers of all shapes and sizes, it's all over the place. Again, slightly contradicting myself because I'm using Cam Vortex and RCF. But I am using the same amplifier so everything there is perfectly matched. And what I will have to do prior to sort of turning things up is just sort out the levels on the amps to make sure that the speakers are working. Working A in tandem but B they're sort of singing as opposed to squawking. The last thing you want is... Doesn't sound very good.

4:29 There it is guys, that's a rather large marquee

There it is guys, that's a rather large marquee. That's a huge marquee. Right, I'm going to do a tiny bit of filming now but we are very, very busy. Now, the only problem we face is we're on uneven ground which is an absolute pain in the arse. Plus the fact, in this part of the marquee, don't know if you can see, blurry bits, there's the marquee and then we're in the dark area. So it's pitch black in there and it's very difficult to see what you're doing. In fact, it's exceedingly difficult to see what you're doing. A lot of people here today, 450 in total. Right, here we are. We're slowly setting up and it's looking really cool. One thing I really do enjoy, I thoroughly enjoy this, is when you go to a new place and you set stuff up, basically what you're doing is you're almost in a sense, you're setting up a nightclub and every single place is different. It will always be different. Now check this out, Scrim King.

Alright, now look what I've done. Normally you put those guys on tripods. I've got framework around the DJ console and there you go. That's where the DJ is, just in there. Now to me that looks pretty good. Also there is Black Scrim King and that's covering the tripod for the screen itself. That laser's pointing in the wrong direction. That guy over there doesn't know what the hell he's doing. And I'm knackered.

6:55 They're American DJ pin spots and I've got those behind the Scrim King

Here we go, we're nearly done. I've got some pin spots I've got on the Scrim Kings either side to light those up. I need to centralise that guy because I don't know if you can see it's sort of bigger at the top and smaller at the bottom which just means that I've got to level the projector at the back but of course the whole bloody ground is wonky all over the place so what I do suggest is if you're coming and working in the likes of a marquee where you're on They're American DJ pin spots and I've got those behind the Scrim King. What I've done though is I've taken the lenses out so the angle of light is a lot broader. When you've got the lens in it, it's more of a pin spot. Now that just basically shines up a greater area. Again with reference to the video screen, I mean the irony is there's quite a few lights here but of course...

With not much smoke, you can't really see much of the effect, can you? But once you've got the smoke out, it's a lot better. But then again, of course, the emphasis is on the video as opposed to loads of lights. So what do you think of the show so far then, Dave? It looks alright, doesn't it? It looks good. Guests are arriving, a bit of champagne and chilling out. Okay, we've got the RCFs next to the Cam Vortex. I've put them all together because they'll all work in tandem so you get a better sound. Bearing in mind we've got eight 15s, six 1-inch compression drivers and two 8-inch mid-range. So, and I tell you what, it sounds sweet. Well, no, you can say what you want, but you can just say hello and hi if you want to. So, I must say your attire looks wonderful. Thank you very much. So do you think there'll be quite a few people there like this, yeah? Let's hope so. Excellent. Bit of a dance later on then, do you think? Right, you're in then. You're in. Okay, thanks.

Right, this part of the video goes out to Tim. I'm not going to say anything else. David is. Right then, Tim. This here is not Foster's. I don't know what it is, but I'm telling you what, I've had two sips and I'm on the verge of being grumpy. It is seriously strong stuff. It tastes beautiful though, doesn't it? It absolutely does. It's proper real stuff. Proper beer. Beautiful. What's your name sir? Pete Thorpe. And what's your website? It's www.petethorpe.co.uk Excellent. You're absolutely knackered.

13:25 It was fun tonight, wasn't it?

They think I'm joking. Ah! It's a sock. Brilliant. So, um... it was fun tonight, wasn't it? Interesting, yeah. Would you like to explain what happened? Do you really want to know? Well, it basically kicked off a little bit, so we decided to call it a night, basically. Yeah, tell me about it. Well, I mean, is there a dip there? Yeah, there's a dip. Well, what happened was...

It got a bit silly, didn't it? I think there was far too many people drinking Coca-Cola and ice pops and stuff, wasn't there? Far too many. And what happened was where the screen is, there was a guy who was helping out, partially sort of running the joint as it were, and I did notice... Well no, first of all, I beg your pardon, there was a couple of lads who knocked into the screen and it... Didn't go flying, it just went fluh, didn't it? Yeah. It just went fluh, right? Just bear that in mind. And then this guy turns up and stands near sort of the screen and whatnot and just moves people out of the way. And then about, bearing in mind I finish at 3 o'clock, 20 to 3, everything went flying. And I mean literally flying. Screen, wash, where I had the projector, like that.

15:36 A couple of pointers here

And there was a fight and the idiots. Now, under normal circumstances, what you tend to do is if people are with your gear and there's one or two acting a prat, you push them out of the way and tell them to fuck, go away. But there was half a dozen of them, well there was four or five I think, they were just completely pissed out their heads. And to be quite honest, the way it looked, it's like just don't get involved, just don't do it, you know? Now, a couple of pointers here. One is that maybe, I don't know, maybe some people do this and if you do, it's a bloody good idea. Get some sort of, not necessarily a contract, what do you think Dave? Something that stipulates that if there is any damage, it should be paid for. In other words, you're there to give a service, your equipment is exceedingly expensive and you are not under any circumstance

Going to go to a particular event, have some piss head break something and then think, hey I'll pay for it, I don't mind. So good idea, get some sort of a contract. Now luckily because it was quite, it was a good event, that's all I'm going to say, a very good event, and the organisers were exceedingly apologetic and have basically said any breakages let us know and it will be paid for. I mean my first concern when everything went flying was like projector. It's like 500, 600 quids worth you know. Damage I can see is one of the T-bars for the stand that housed the screen has gone a bit numpty. It's looking a bit icky wicky sick. Leaning into the wind a bit. Like Dave said, it's leaning into the wind.

I think a couple of lights went as well, but I don't know. To be quite honest, I don't think there's much damage. I would say the major damage is the fact that the night was stopped not necessarily too early, but early enough for people to go we don't want idiots there again. So hopefully if they find out the idiots who started the fight they may say to them very politely Don't bother coming again, otherwise we'll shove a rather large object up your backside. Sideways! Hey! Sideways! So, all I can say... Oh dear, you've got to laugh. You have to though, don't you? If you didn't laugh, you bloody cry. So what I will say is that... Oh dear, camera's going forward a bit. What I will say is it's always a good idea to make sure...

Not necessarily, well alright logically you need public liability insurance, that's very important because if someone falls over a cable of yours then you are in the shtook. But maybe what you should do and what I'm going to do from now on is go up to the management or the person who's organising it and say with a grace of respect if there are any problems and any of your guests break any of the appliances that I brought then it has to be paid for. So word of warning. And in Dave's final words, breakfast and enjoy. Thank you. Where's the button? There it is.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.