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Indy Fest 2009 - The official site thread


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On a more personal note...

...Some years later I was reading some old newsletters from a company I worked for in my early 20's. In it someone had interviewed employees about their aspirations for the future. My statement was something about 'have a huge PA system and working with lots of musicians'. A couple years after that I did get to work for a local sound company, Calliope Sound (now Indy Pro Audio), but the dream was lost after that. My careers turned from building supply delivery to accounting, carpentry to photography, eventually leading me back to Klipsch Audio. I always dreamed about that 'roadie' life and never had the guts to really go for it.

Next Saturday, playing music at Broad Ripple Park through my PA system is kinda one item on my bucket list. I've collected and built up a pretty substantial sound system over the past few years. I've lovingly restored most of the Klipsch speakers that you'll hear. For me, next weekend is returning back to music which always was my first love and never left my side during all my trials of the past decade. My life has always wanted to be about music. I'm happy to have the chance to do this little volunteer concert and to have great friends to share the adventure with.

So you see, for me, this is much more than just a show.

Today I'm a greatful man.

Peace my brothers,

Michael

Michael,

I am touched man. For me it is a similar moment...

Almost 20 years ago I sold my large EV PA that I had been using for live sound and DJ work. I sold the PA so I could go to night school and get my bachelors degree to support my family. I loved that PA. I miss my woofers. The sub bins were crafted by my hands with the help of Keith Walker. I miss all that stuff but what I miss the most is that sound, that attack, that thunder when the toms were tuned in to the proper EQ and reverb. That is why I called that system Midnight Thunder. Mmmmmmm.... long live the thunder.

So this will be a nice little treat for me also. A little iceing on the cake of life. Let's hope we can find 11...because it is one more!

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Let me know if you need some help Thursday night I might be able to meander on down that way then rather than Friday hopefully well before noon....

Maybe one or more he wish he hadn't.... (about to crash and burn ... much needed crash and burn)
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My oldest daughter and her boyfriend are planning on coming.... being 19 and 21 they'll probably sleep in until noon and won't roll in until about 2 PM... Alea probably won't come but she's got severe hearing loss in her left ear for the past few weeks, not low frequencies at all, so is probably extremely frustrated.... especially learning to play the baritone....

[:'(] I think she finally got this whole audio music loving thing sometime during / after the Pilgrimage last year... and wants a set of Cornwalls to put in her sister's room when she moves out... but she's back home and mostly "lives" in the front room using the sofa as a bed, her room, well if you ever seen the Zits cartoon...

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So you see, for me, this is much more than just a show.

Today I'm a greatful man.

Make's being able to help even more special for all of us... and I've always thought it'd be cool to not necessarily be a roadie / sound man (grueling night after night or was that morning, are we in Topeka or Fargo tonight?... We're in Canada? ) but to get a chance to better understand how to do it and even pretend to do it just sounds like a blast.

I had thought about putting together a DJ rig in college but wasn't quite that up to the risk of making no money. The hassle of licensing fees, etec...

Probably should have with some of the CRAPPY sound people paid for. I did a few small dances abusing friends own crappy stereos for fun that sounded a lot better. Even got a small Shure PA ( 2 good sized 2 way horn loaded cabs [:D]) one time that sounded pretty dang sweet fed by a small Rat Shack DJ mixer I still have and use.... especially compared to the DJ same groups joint effort used next time. Shure rig sweet with lots of punch no cost mebbe 20 people. Some DJ who tried to rap or sing - couldn't tell which with the overdriven distorted Rat Shack toy PA in use had > 200 people. And that was c1984 when quite a few college kids were into hifi. Sad. The Shure rig you could tell who/what was playing. The toy rig with DJ pretending to be I'm not sure who sounded worse than a close to toss it in the trash boombox.

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Michael, thank you for the reminder email. Unfortunately, it is looking unlikely like I will be able to make it. My schedule is still very much up in the air for the weekend and I haven't recruited a fellow Chicagoan (with a vehicle) to travel with me. There's still hope, I'll be in touch if any good news comes thru.

Thanks,

Seth

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Sorry to hear Seth.

Work day planned for today with the good Professor. The shop is cleaned up and the mountain of gear to be loaded next weekend is beginning to take shape. Just the cables for this setup take up a large road case and three milk crates. Amp racks, monitors, stands, tool box... lotta work, but even more FUN!

M

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I was thinking what we might do during a set break or slow set would be to give a 'tour' of the system and how it all works together. The speaker stack details, how the duties are split up in the amp rack, processing gear and the house mixer. There probably won't be time to talk about it much during setup other than- 'this goes here'.

Sound check should be an interesting time too so be sure to be around for that- either back stage or by the sound board. There will be a lot going on.

Michael

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Michael I can come by Thursday eve and help load up the gear on the trailer.

Friday I am good for the afternoon fun and the Klipsch HQ event and the hanging out at Rodgers (indyklipschfans) place.

Saturday I have the car show that I help arrange for my club from 10 to 3ish. I might be able to get home and come back after its over. I am not leaving a 44 year old show car parked in a public lot at the park

Sunday I can help out once again

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Colter,

My plan is leaving my house Wednesday morning and arriving in Indy late afternoon early evening, Google says its 10.5 hours on the scooter, 613 miles. I will try and make my appointment for sometime Thursday with my friend at Rolls. I will try and give you a call tomorrow sometime mid afternoon if thats ok. I gotta mow 10 acres tomorrow. Right now I'm waiting for a flight home form New York but its not till 9:56 so I'm sittin for a spell, but the Custom 3's make it nice and quiet.

Steve

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Yes I love my Images when at airports or travelling. They really made the train ride from Chicago to DC a joy.

I'll be in and out today, make sure to leave your number so I can get back to you. I don't think your email is on, is it?

M

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I played a nice little trick on Michael this morning. He had just bought a mic snake off of eBay for the Saturday Gig. It is a nice 16 x 4 snake that will compliment his board. I emailed him back saying that he had got a good price for a 50 foot snake. It was really 100' but I knew he would panick because he bought it at like 4 AM and he might have thought he made a mistake. He probably broke a finger trying to pull up the ebay link to check.

BTW.... If you have ever used a snake for a big PA. 50' distance is pretty worthless. That puts you right in front of the mains at about 20 '. Can you say earbleed!

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Professor Thump - very funny but a bit cruel man! Now ya gotta watch your back as I'm sure someday Michael will exact his sweet revenge.

BTW.... If you have ever used a snake for a big PA. 50' distance is pretty worthless. That puts you right in front of the mains at about 20 '. Can you say earbleed!

So, if Michael's rig is getting any watts at all, 100' will get you to 70'? So we lose what 6~7, maybe 8 db compared to 20'? Is that enough time to plug in the etyplugs or put on other hearing protection before the bleeding starts?

Can't wait to hear how this sounds! Roadies! When you wanna ROCK!

So I was thinking last night, does Michael have some landscaping staples he could add some padding to to hold said snake in place? Or some hollow rubber ramp to put over it to protect it? If I can find them, I think I have some landscape staples I could rap some sill plate insulation around to avoid cutting into the cable we could borrow.... I'm sure the park wouldn't want us to be digging trenches.... and maybe not a good thing for the snake either but I'm guessing such things are built for pretty severe abuse?

P.Thump - did I read something about you bringing some Klipsch hearing protectors? Or am I just dreaming / hallucinating again?

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double distance is 3 db, right Thump?

Ben, here's a math problem for you.

Let's say speakers on average are 98db at 10 feet with 1 watt input. (that's what the MCM's are rated at)

We're giving them the 200 watts they're rated for (actually more than twice that to avoid clipping)

How loud can it get at board position 75 feet away from front of the stacks?

Hint- break it down to db at 1 meter (3 feet) and work it out from there.

Double wattage is +3 db

double distance is -6 db EDIT

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Ben, here's a math problem for you.

Let's say speakers on average are 98db at 10 feet with 1 watt input. (that's what the MCM's are rated at)

We're giving them the 200 watts they're rated for (actually more than twice that to avoid clipping)

How loud can it get at board position 75 feet away from front of the stacks?

Hint- break it down to db at 1 meter (3 feet) and work it out from there.

Double wattage is +3 db

double distance is -3 db

Quick guestimate using 98 db at 10 ft with 1 watt. Approximately 113 db with approximately 200 watts contiuous? But then adding in the 362s and 682s and the big ole JBL horn with KP69 driver will increase that somewhat but I forget how much. Not sure (anymore at least) how to best convert 10ft to 3 ft or just go find the 1 watt at 1 meter spec.

Fascinating that double the distance loses only 3db, I think I've known that for years, the original 98db at 10 ft is 95 db at 20 ft but still 92 db at 40 ft with 1 lowly watt. I've also know for years that it takes twice the power to increase the output by 3db.

I'm sure it will play plenty loud.

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Sorry Ben, Thump corrected my loss calculation. It's -6 db for every doubling of distance, not -3.

98 db adding 3 db for each doubling of power (1 watt doubled 8 times) or 98 + (3*8) = 98 + 24 = 122 db at source. Pretty durn loud.

122 db at 10 feet less 3 doublings of distance (10-20-40-80) or 122 - (3*6) = 122 - 18 = 104 db at sound board position.

Double the entire sound system in terms of wattage and loudspeakers and that's + another 3 db (yes you have to DOUBLE the size of the entire system to gain an extra 3 db !) so the total maximum output of the system at board position should be around 107 db.

125 db at source is getting to be at the threshold of pain btw. So don't cross in front of the mains while they're playing.

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So I would've been within 3db if I'd have took off 6db for every doubling of the distance? Pretty good for an amateur with only a bit of a clue. -6 db for doubling the distance. Or maybe would've been correct as I didn't add in anything for the other equipment.

So double everything to increase 3db. Whew. That'd be a beast of a PA to get from 104/107 db at 80 feet to something obscene like 120 db.

I'm planning on having some earplugs handy in case I need to work near the mains ....

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