AS LIVE SOUND URGENT UPDATE

Today has been extremely eye opening, but we are on the right track! What I'm about to write will sound worrying to some, but don't worry we are dealing with it and we WILL make it work in one way or another, we just need to get a few things cleared up. 


I had a meeting with Paul ( Our Sound Technician) and spoken to our ONLY hope for a good Sound Engineer, Rory. 


Rory is a mutal friend of mine and Lauren W, he has recently graduated as a sound engineer and has LOTS of equipment. 


In Pauls words, we have "bitten off a lot to chew", but I know if we communicate well, we can make this happen, so no one panic, I like a challenge and I've got my head round everything that needs sorting :)


It looks as though sound is our NUMBER 1 PRIORITY, and we are going to need MONEY to get it to work. It is my view that if we can't get what we need in terms of sound, the show will not be able to work, it simply can't if we can't hear or record the bands properly. We can get by without the right lights or even the right set, but sound HAS to be the one area we cannot compromise on, otherwise a music show CANNOT be achieved.


The main problem is the fact I'm still not sure how much we have to spend on sound. As the main equipment and sound engineer cannot come through the Studios, and so we need a seperate budget...which hasn't been confirmed due to a quote needed from the studios etc. 


So in order to explain better I need to break it down in simple steps.


1. The studio 1 sound gallery only has 20 imputs, this is simply not enough for what we need. ( We need at least 25 to be anywhere near safe, due to the bands we have).


2. We therefore need a LARGE PA and PA DESK, to mix all the sound on the studio floor and then send it through to Paul.


3. Maidstone studios doesn't look like it  has a PA large enough or good enough to help us out,  so we need to hire one in from someone we know (Rory). Without it OUR SHOW WILL NOT WORK!!!


4. So we desperately need Simon or Helen to give us the go ahead to employ Rory and hire his equipment. He has roughly said between £70- £100 a day for his time (heavily discounted) + the hire of equipment which I am waiting on a rough estimate for.


5. In order to get this sorted, we NEED to know the budget, what we have to spend on the studios and other technicians, the lighting and what we have for SOUND. We can't continue with one set price from the studios, we need to have a pot we can use to spend on hiring equipment and Rory as a sound engineer.


6. We need to know if we are allowed to do this from the Studios point of view AND from the universities point of view, but I can't stress enough that the show simply cannot happen if we do not hire in Rory and extra sound equipment, it just isn't available from the studios. 




This is a rough guide to the equipment we need and where we can get it from for sound:


What's available from the Studio:
1 x presenter radio mic (From Studio)
2 x Hand Held mics for interviews
1 x fixed mic for interviews
3 x fixed mics for audience
( That is a minimum of 7 imputs for general sound )


What we need for mainstage (To hire from Rory)
3 x Vocal mics 
3 x Di boxes for 2 guitars and bass 
3 x Percussion Mics (minimum for drum kit) 
1 x Kick mic for Drum Kit
3 x monitors (minimum)
1 x Bass Amp
( That is a minimum total of 11 imputs for the vocals, guitars and percussion on Mainstage)


What we need for Acoustic Stage (To Hire from Rory)
3 x vocal mics
3 x Di boxes for acoustic guitars and bass
1 x mic for Cajon (percussion)
(Total minimum imputs for acoustic stage 7)


That is a Minimum Grand total of 25 imputs requiring 25 channels, but our gallery only has 20 not including channels for back up!!!! So you see how important a 25+ channel PA is :) 


We also need to hire in (From Rory):
The PA
The PA desk with 25+ channels
Fold Back speakers (minimum of two for each stage)
Minimum of 5 monitors for both stages
Possibly a Splitter Box and Digital Track Recorder.


Simon or Helen if you get a chance to read this over the holidays could you let me know whether we can book Rory for his time and hire, because I fear if we lose him, we may not be able to find another person with cheap rates of the large amount of equipment we need. Thank You.