Boy was this a learning experience for me, and I learned the hard way. This was my second gig (evar) and first middle school dance. I'll try to keep this as organized as possible.
Set-up: Loading and unloading went much smoother this time around thanks to being more organized about it this time around.
Dance Begins: Instantly bombarded by students requesting songs and just to check out my gear (something I didn't experience at the high school dance). Dance was held immediately after school (2:30) in the gym. Doors were left open at the start letting waaaay too much light in (thankfully all but the furthest from my booth was eventually closed).
Roughly 30min. into event: Oh I'd like to mention here that it was quite toasty in the gym, being on the conservative side it was at least 90 degrees in there (it was still 88 outside when I left at 6:30 and was easily warmer in the gym). This was the first of three times my amp overheated and cut out. I was running it at 4ohm per channel and about 80% (100% being when it starts to clip but still has room up top). Panic sat in at first finally figured out it had overheated. Placed one of those large 48" fans from the gym to blow on my amp and help air circulation (not sure if it helped). After 5 min I was good to go again.
5min Later: Amp faults out again. Knowing it's the heat this time around I decided to cut the load on the amp by dropping from 4 to 2 speakers and turning it down slightly more. Did the trick and I was right back up in another 2 or 3 min. Volume suffered greatly, but I still had an acceptable amount. Barrier was set up around my booth with roughly a 1000 sheet post it note pad for requests. It was nice to have the buffer zone, however the students must have ran through 750 sheets in an hour. There were probably 10 songs that I had around 10 requests for each.
25min until the end: I'd gotten confident that I had plenty of oomph left before I had to worry about faulting out the amp. Turned it up until I faulted again. Yep should have been happy with what I had oh well. I got going quickly again this time.
Other Notable Notes: By the end of the dance I had several students begging me to come back for their next dance. That it was the best dance they'd been too. Generally everyone was happy. I credit it to good interaction with the students more so when they came to request songs than on the mic. Overall I had a great time, survived the unexpected better this time around. I also completely saturated a total of two shirts (one during setup and one during takedown). I stayed cool during the event because I had the nice huge fan blowing solely on me and my equipment. Also snapped some quick pictures, I'll try to get them up as soon as possible (they're pretty rough, basketball tryouts were being held as soon as I could get my gear out).
Anyone have any temperature tips or guidelines? Thanks in advance all
Set-up: Loading and unloading went much smoother this time around thanks to being more organized about it this time around.
Dance Begins: Instantly bombarded by students requesting songs and just to check out my gear (something I didn't experience at the high school dance). Dance was held immediately after school (2:30) in the gym. Doors were left open at the start letting waaaay too much light in (thankfully all but the furthest from my booth was eventually closed).
Roughly 30min. into event: Oh I'd like to mention here that it was quite toasty in the gym, being on the conservative side it was at least 90 degrees in there (it was still 88 outside when I left at 6:30 and was easily warmer in the gym). This was the first of three times my amp overheated and cut out. I was running it at 4ohm per channel and about 80% (100% being when it starts to clip but still has room up top). Panic sat in at first finally figured out it had overheated. Placed one of those large 48" fans from the gym to blow on my amp and help air circulation (not sure if it helped). After 5 min I was good to go again.
5min Later: Amp faults out again. Knowing it's the heat this time around I decided to cut the load on the amp by dropping from 4 to 2 speakers and turning it down slightly more. Did the trick and I was right back up in another 2 or 3 min. Volume suffered greatly, but I still had an acceptable amount. Barrier was set up around my booth with roughly a 1000 sheet post it note pad for requests. It was nice to have the buffer zone, however the students must have ran through 750 sheets in an hour. There were probably 10 songs that I had around 10 requests for each.
25min until the end: I'd gotten confident that I had plenty of oomph left before I had to worry about faulting out the amp. Turned it up until I faulted again. Yep should have been happy with what I had oh well. I got going quickly again this time.
Other Notable Notes: By the end of the dance I had several students begging me to come back for their next dance. That it was the best dance they'd been too. Generally everyone was happy. I credit it to good interaction with the students more so when they came to request songs than on the mic. Overall I had a great time, survived the unexpected better this time around. I also completely saturated a total of two shirts (one during setup and one during takedown). I stayed cool during the event because I had the nice huge fan blowing solely on me and my equipment. Also snapped some quick pictures, I'll try to get them up as soon as possible (they're pretty rough, basketball tryouts were being held as soon as I could get my gear out).
Anyone have any temperature tips or guidelines? Thanks in advance all