Academic Rally 2/20 (pics)

Hey guys, heres my gig report for today's academic rally at my school. It was a long, eventful day that made me learn some things! I got to use my new QSCs for the first time in conjunction with the rest of my show, as well as break out VDJ.

What Worked:
I was able to get the stage set up my way and smaller so that my system was centered and looked really good. I was also very pleased with the look of my stands w/ the eons on them and how well the use of zip ties and vertical wiring kept things very clean. I think this is the way I will wrap wires from now on. I also was able to save a performer who came un-prepared. The school hired a magician, who we assumed was gonna do roving hand magic, but nope he had a stage show and needed to be mic-ed up and everything. Luckily i had a little Gemini headset in the box which i hooked up, threw in a few mysterious sounds and we had a kickass magic show. I also did a confetti shoot inside the school before students were released. I'll be getting some pictures of that tomorrow and i'll post em cuz the confetti cannon was a BIG hit. The new QSCs rocked and were crystal clear! There were about 850 kids and i had a packed dance area for most of the show. They were also blown away by the clean mixes and beatmatches that VDJ allowed me to do.

What Didn't:
Luckily this time, I only had one catastophe. No rain, no breaker overloads. However, I always have issues with this school and power. PPL unplugging things, power going out etc. Well today, our lovely custodial staff decided to rewire my entire system so they could use the riding sweeper on the outdoor sidewalks. I ran 12G black cables to 4 separate outlets and at the end of each I put an industrial (metal) power strip with breakers (good stuff, from Lowes). Well from there I plugged in or ran short cables (less than 10') to the item to be powered. The janitor decided to unplug 3 of the 12Gs and plugged them into a single short cable running to a speaker. This caused the line to overload significantly and blew the cable up. Didn't burn it, BLEW IT UP. Luckily nothing was damaged except my cable and i'll know next time to use red duct tape over the plugs. I also had a little issue with seeing through my skirting. I'm working on a facade now. Its about time anyhow.

Gear List:

Rack:
Denon DNX-500 Mixer
AA DCD Pro-1000 Dual CD
AA DCD Pro-240 Dual CD
Shure PGX-24 (SM58 mic)
Audio Technica backup
Acer Laptop Running VDJ 5.4
Seagate 360G External HD

Sound:
2 JBL EON15 G2 Powered Speakers
2 QSC HPR122i Powered Speakers
2 Mackie SWA1501z Powered Subwoofers
2 Gemini GX-250 Monitors (behind rack)

I want comments and sugguestions!

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s188/djcarolina16/DSCN0713.jpg
Inside of the doorway where students exited the building and where the confetti streamers were fired over their heads.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s188/djcarolina16/DSCN0714.jpg
More Inside
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s188/djcarolina16/DSCN0707.jpg
Complete Setup
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s188/djcarolina16/DSCN0708.jpg
Close up of one side
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s188/djcarolina16/DSCN0710.jpg
Crowd shot

Nice job and nice report! Good clean setup, but i'd consider one of those portable gazebos over your equipment, thats a must for any outdoor gig I do.

I had one over my gear when it was "moist" outside in Nov. but today there was a 0% chance of rain and nothing but a nice cool breeze.

some say spreading the subs that far will cause them to disappear. You have the QSC's on top of Mackie 1501's right? Atleast the logos match color wise. I wish manufacturers didnt feel the need to advert on equipment that is facing the client. that Stage is way too big but the only thing other than the subs I might have done different would have set the QSC/Mackies at either end of your table but on the ground and the QSC's on the ground at the end of the stage.

I think you lost me...put the qscs and mackies where? and the stage wasn't very big at all. It played home to a magic show, a dj booth and an awards stage and it was only 9 pieces. I assure you those subs didn't dissappear, they rattled the stage the whole time.