We played an afternoon assembly for about 300 K – 8th graders at a summer arts camp at a middle school in central NJ. We got there and loaded in with plenty of time when I found out that the PA wasn’t working. We had some problems before but our standard correction wasn’t working. We scrambled to use the sophisticated PA in the school for the vocals, and I used the small amp I’ve been using for my mando and guitar. Amazingly, we started on time.
It was a hard gig, especially with our vocals out in the room with no monitors. Though it probably sounded fine in the hall, I felt like I was overcompensating, almost yelling into the mike. As is often with the case with a strange wrinkle in the process, we were a little rough.
But, the kids and teachers had a good time and several kids and teachers thanked us, said they enjoyed it, and gave us thumbs up. That’s the beauty of a well-crafted show – it still works despite the craziness with our sound system.
I figured it out just before we went on, and sure enough, it was a faulty speaker adapter. But we decided to run with the adapted plan. It got us through. At the end, as we packed up, I ran the system again with the extra piece of equipment and it worked. I was only off by one small adapter. Now I know.
A brutally hot day on the road but all is well.