Tag Archive - pa speakers

Mothers Day performance at the Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club

May 8, 2011 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

My Honda looks pretty good unloading beside the Porsche's

Arriving at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club

Today I’m up at 7 am to perform solo rumba flamenco guitar for a mothers day brunch at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in beautiful Vancouver, BC.

After the trio gig last night I had to re-pack my car for the solo performance this morning. I’ll be using my small sound system with two small Yamaha PA speakers and a single powered monitor for myself.

I have 2 fifty foot speaker cables that I’ll use to place my PA speakers at either end of the venue to distribute the sound at a nice ambient level throughout the venue.

My solo guitar setup at the golf club

The view of the mothers day buffet from my performance chair

Once I was done assembling my gear it was time to do a quick sound check and begin my performance.

This morning I was to begin playing at 11 am and finish at 1 pm. I took a short 15 minute break at noon.

Most of the time I would play the 2 hours without a break however after a 4 hour performance last night my hands felt as though it would be good to give them a little rest.

That was pretty much the gig!

My gig chair is to the left of this shot

What a beautiful place to sit and watch the golf balls fly by!

No food for me at this one however it sure looked and smelled wonderful.

Once I was done it was again time to hit the road a head home.

Tomorrows gig will be with Gabriel Mark Hasselbach’s Zen Soundscapes at the new Vancouver Convention Centre.

Stay tuned…

What is it like performing Solo Guitar at the Vancouver Club?

April 27, 2011 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

The back door entrance to the Vancouver Club

The back door entrance to the Vancouver Club

Today I’m off to perform solo rumba flamenco guitar for a private corporate event for HUB Insurance at the Vancouver Club on Hastings street in downtown Vancouver.

The entrance to the Grill at the Vancouver Club

The entrance to the Grill at the Vancouver Club

Originally my performance time was to be 7 pm until 10 pm. This morning however, I received an email to play a 4 hour call. So today I’ll begin at 6 pm and play again to 10 pm.

The estimated attendance for this event will be 50. I’ll be there to provide live ambient solo guitar music for the clients reception and dinner.

The main room I was performing in

The main room I was performing in

Being that this is a very small group I’ll provide a smaller sound system

consisting of 2 small PA speakers and a small powered monitor. I also bring 2 fifty foot speaker cables to place the main speakers as far apart as necessary to fill the room at a nice ambient level.

The adjoining room were I could not be seen. Only heard.

The adjoining room were I could not be seen. Only heard.

I’ll be leaving my home in Langley at 3:30pm and plan to arrive at the venue no later than 5 pm to meet my on site contact. Then it will be time to set up and get to work.

So, traffic wasn’t to bad and I arrived at the venue at 4:40 pm. The parkade is right beside the venue so it was an easy load in.

A shoe shinning station in the men's washroom, how cool is that!

A shoe shinning station in the men's washroom, how cool is that!

For this event the client would be in two room so I set up to play in the larger room close to the door of the adjoining room. From there I could put one of my speakers in the other room to fill both.

As a rule I always bring more gear than necessary because you never know what you’ll need until you arrive on site. If I had brought in a single amp as most guitarist, I believe I could not have done a very good job filling the rooms.

My amazing beef dinner at the Vancouver Club

My amazing beef dinner at the Vancouver Club

For this gig the main room I was in was full of people for the reception then for the dinner everyone went to the adjoining room. I performed the rest of the gig to an empty room! Of course everyone could still hear my performance. I guess it’s kind of like playing on live radio. You can’t see anyone however everyone can still hear you.

My performance set up and location in the Vancouver Club

My performance set up and location in the Vancouver Club

One of the great perks to performing can sometimes be an amazing meal. As a rule I never ask for food or a drink other than water. I know musicians that have never been re-hired due to eating the clients food without an invitation.

This gig was one were I was invited to have a meal while on my break. Tonight it was beef and wow! It was amazing!

Towards the end of the event I had a lot of people thanking me for my performance. That’s always nice to hear at a corporate event that’s really all about networking and not listening to a live performance.

My performance location at the Vancouver Club

My performance location at the Vancouver Club

At 10 pm the last of the clients had left and it was time to pack up. Another bonus on this gig was that parking only cost me $14 instead on $18. The parking attendant had closed the till for the evening and couldn’t accept my credit card so she accepted the $14 cash I had on hand.

Stay tuned as Friday I’ll be performing another corporate event out in North Vancouver

Solo rumba flamenco guitar performance at a birthday!

March 5, 2011 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

It’s been a nice relaxing day after a very busy week! I managed to upload a bunch of new youtube video’s. Rehearsed a little guitar, walked the dogs and now it’s time to get ready for this evenings gig.

Tonight I’ll be performing solo rumba flamenco guitar for a clients birthday party at a private residence in Vancouver.
I’ll arrive at the venue at 6:30pm to set up as guests will be arriving at 7:30pm. My performance will begin at 8pmish and end around 10pmish. Basically a 2 hour call time from the time I begin.

I arrived at 6:30pm, what a nice place and really great people. I was set up by 7pm then relaxed for awhile. I began playing at 8pm as everyone had arrived.

I finished my performance at 10pm and had a bite to eat. The food was fantastic!

(btw… as a rule I never eat unless I’m invited. I’m hired to work and not paid to join the party. I think too many musicians overlook this and it can lead to a bad reputation as a corporate, guitarist for hire, working musician.)

Once I finished my break I then played for an extra half hour before packing up at 11.

For this performance I used my bose T1 mixer and 2 yamaha small pa speakers with my fender pa7500 power amp. I was the perfect sized sound system for the event.

Once again I used my Fishman Aura 16 for my guitar sound. I really love the way it’s working out with my bose t1 acting as a guitar preamp. With med compression and eq my guitar sounds fantastic! No problems with feedback.

Next up it’s time to prepare for Saturday’s big concert March 12th at the Chief Sepass Theatre with Ben Woods and the band!

Playing guitar at the Terminal City Club for Read Jones Christoffersen

February 25, 2011 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

Last night I performed with my rumba flamenco guitar trio for Read Jones Christoffersen at the Vancouver Terminal City Club. With me on the gig was bass guitarist Brent Gubbels and percussionist Lyndon dewitt.

Setting up the stage in the ballroom at the Terminal City Club

Setting up the stage in the ballroom at the Terminal City Club

Unfortunately I haven’t been using my RC50 lately so this was the perfect gig to bring it back. I’ve also really improved on my guitar sound. I’m now plugging into my fishman aura 16 and then into my bose T1 digital mixer to use as my guitar preamp. Within the mixer I apply a compression, reverb, eq and a slight doubling with delay. I’ll create a detailed post soon with all the details. I’m now happier than ever with my guitar sound.

Also, we now have a band member (Lyndon tonight), walk the room while I’m performing to adjust the bands volume once the room fills up. The toughest part of this gig in getting the bands volume right. We have to be heard at a nice quiet ambient volume were the guest can enjoy us and still easily talk with each other.

It's a full house!

It's a full house!

This was a very loud room! I’ve done this gig many times before and thought it would be interesting to check the volume of the room with it full of people networking. I used a db meter for this and to my surprise the chatter was 82db! That’s louder than your alarm clock.

Packing up at the end of the night

Packing up at the end of the night

In order for us to be heard at a nice ambient level I use my larger sound system with 4 pa speakers across the longest wall in the room. We also use monitors on stage to fill the stage area.

The gig for us began at 5pm and we performed until 9pm. We had a great time playing especially because we all use in ear monitors in one ear to hear our instruments above all the chatter. We also had a lot of great feedback from our client.

Today it’s off to the Rocky Mountaineer Station for a gig with TM Events. Stay tuned…

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