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let's talk about soundsystems...
ok. tonight has been enough. tonight was the third night my friend get together here to throw a private party, invite people (3:1 female to male ratio), abusive amounts of drinks, the venue was my poolhouse, which is kind of unkempt, which gives it this kind of defunct warehouse vibe, excellent music, decent setup....
BUT THE M***ERFU**ING SOUNDSYSTEM F*CKS UP.
ill go into detail just to vent, but if you just want to help me out picking a soundsystem, please skip ahead to the end of the post.
first attempt:
oldschool Marantz reciever + oldschool beaten to death speakers
venue was my terrace
result:
one of the speakers didnt work, and the other was pretty shit. after about 20mins of spinning, the bass died on it (as in the mids and the highs could be heard, but not the bass, and yes, we're sure it was the speaker, as the mixer still functions correctly). wasn't so disastrous as there were only like 13 people to begin with.
second attempt:
for my birthday, venue was the poolhouse. i got some lent speakers and an amp. the amp was a bit shot, but it did the job.
result:
we did a small soundcheck during the afternoon. although the soundcheck was at the terrace, and we were only using the cd players. later we got the vinyl decks, and another mixer. we did about 25mins of spinning, and all was beautiful. we move to the poolhouse. that night, when we hook everything up to the other mixer (Stanton SK6) the decks worked perfectly, of course, but the cd players would go in the red automatically. we even turned the gains ALL the way down, and it was still in the red. so we had to use the other mixer, which was just plain shitty. we then noticed that for some reason, when we played with EQs, adding a lil extra punch to the bass, it would (apparently) overpower the system, and the amp would shut down, probably to prevent problems. so we basically had a night of not that many people (was during exams, people left at 2am) and problematic sound.
third attempt:
tonight. venue is poolhouse. no soundcheck (no time). some speakers (homemade pretty much) and a radio console as amp.
result:
beautiful attendace. large groups of hot women. even though there was no soundcheckh, the DJ's got here early, and started to fawk around, and all was good for about 1 to 1 and a half hours. then the amp we had just went off. it wouldnt go to volume 15 and hold its own, it would go sensitive with the EQs like mentioned above. which is completely unrecognized, as the exact same setup worked perfectly at my friends house. people got bored and bored when the sound would cut, or was being played (very low to keep it from dying). they left. us organizers felt more and more helpless, and finally, after everyone left, we got a bottle of whisky and sat down to talk shit and laugh at our own pittifulness till 5am.
the console seems to have burned out, as the ventilation fan goes on only sometimes, and it was getting uber hot. we then took the top off and put a huge fan next to it, and let it cool for a while. even when running cold, would still do the same.
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so now, i can basically never throw a party here, ever. who would come? after those 3 experiences.
so, soundsystem. i want something good. we want something good. but we're not the sons of donald trump. basically, give me a best bang for the buck type of thing. if preamplified speakers are possible, thatd own, because after three gay experiences, not having to rely on one amp to power everything would be great, rather have everything have its own seperate problem. at least that way i have less chances of everything going out at once.
so, what are we talking about here? my friends are thinking of putting their cash together, so give me ideas. be as explicit as possible. we will probably end up buying used gear, but give us pointers.
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check out my guest mix for OndaSonora Podcast (aug.2009)
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