andythemusician

There ain't much to them. They ain't amazing either. Hence the price!

Wagon with a 6x4 fully enclosed box trailer dangling behind. The trailer's pretty much full, and occasionally the boot of the wagon has a few things in it. Once I get new stands they'll do on top of the trailer, and hopefully I'll have some more room again!

And on the smoke thing, if you're serious about it, go for a hazer. A smoke machine is only there to create the visual puff of "smoke", and using it as a hazer (to fill the room in order to see light beams) really doesn't work well. Trust me, I've done it before, and filled an entire theatre with it, and people aren't usually too impressed. When I used a hazer, no one hardly noticed. Couldn't even smell it, and the lights looked still looked like sex. Just sayin'. Extra money, but much better product and investment.

http://www.soundivision.com.au/wheretobuy.asp http://www.martin.com/distributor/distr ... ach=&arch= That's a start for ya. The nearest distributor near me that I can think of is Lighting Lab www.lightinglab.com.au They have prices on their website. They stock the Robe and Martin ranges I think.

Maybe some wash lighting, as so far all you have are effects.

Not without a tweak-able crossover (read: external crossover, not the amps one).

The reason of why this is happening - shitty inbuilt "crossover". A dedicated crossover; that is, seperate rackmount type crossover, will allow you to specifically set the crossover frequencies for your speakers. This means you can find and set the exact point that suits your speakers best. Your problem shouldn't hurt the subs. You run a greater risk of overdriving the amp and hurting the speakers that way, and that, not crossover issues, will be your cause of speaker bye bye if it ever happens.

You can get wireless gear that has wireless receivers. Think of what location camera crews use for the lapel microphones on reporters. Battery powered mixer is also feasible, I have a Behringer one that will take two 9v (one for phantom power). Never tried it though. Battery powered speakers are also around, but I haven't seen them since Primary school. Hell I'd probably consider rigging up a car battery and inverter instead of purchasing a battery powered speaker. Unless you knew you were going to get a decent return on the investment though, I'd rather opt for standard wireless gear and mains powered bins I knew I could rely on during gigs and productions.

Yeah I knew it wouldn't do you or anyone else not in the SE Suburbs of Melbourne much good! But my point was that production hire companies are not that hard to find, if others look hard enough, I'm sure you'll find ones that are close to you.

There are heaps of places that will hire out 3-phase distros. A couple in my area that I have used before (not necessarily for 3-phase distro, but they do have them): www.lxproductions.com.au www.resolutionx.com.au www.lightinglab.com.au www.clearsystems.tv www.clearlight.com.au All within about 1/2 hour or less drive from me. Just look around, production hire companies aren't that hard to source.

Yeah make sure you know what software you are wanting to use first, as some software requires certain dongles, and won't work with others.

That's alright, Rome wasn't built in a day. As long as you understand the steps you need to take in order to get a good sound and setup, you'll get there. Apparently money doesn't grow on trees - I was rather saddened to learn this.

You can retro fit speakers with the holes (they are called top hats, search Jaycar). You can also get stands that have adapters for them - its like a top hat, but it screws on the outside of the speaker. I still recommend stands - you aren't always going to want to have your speakers on your table. For one, it means you limit where you can put them, and different rooms require different needs. Also it means the louder you need them, the more your decks, laptops, drinks, etc rumble around on the table. And number two - like I said before, the best position for subs aren't necessarily under the tops. Centre clustered is good, and sometimes, depending the subs, if you cluster them together properly or even just take in consideration where the walls and corners are in the room, you can instantly get a few more dBs without cranking the volume anymore.

Buy some speaker stands. Without them, you will drive your speakers harder to get the volume you want. Crank them up to average head height, and you will notice the difference. Turns out peoples ears are up on their heads, not their ankles

I don't at the moment, but a venue I'm at is looking at getting a computer for the Enttec dongle and LightJockey software, and I'm personally interested in LSC's Clarity softwar. Work out what software you want first though, as sometimes you require a certain dongle for it to work. No point in wasting money on something you end up not being able to use!

Your best placement for your sub is right in the middle of your speakers, rather than below your speakers. Even if you get two, couple them together in the middle. This may mean in front of your table, under your table, in front of the stage, whatever.

Yeah if the venue doesn't want atmos, you can't do it. Otherwise you are in major trouble with the fireys when the rock up from the smoke alarms going off. If you use smoke as haze, you'll have issues with it being too thick, and people will hate it. If you use haze, you won't have those issues unless someone really wants to get up for your nose. It'll still set off the new fire alarms though. PITA I know - I'm a lighting designer, and without haze half my design goes up in smoke! So to speak. As far as Jaycar goes - adapters, connectors, tools, cabling and the occassional roll of gaffer (yes they stock Nashua!) and sparky tape. Wouldn't trust their audio or lighting equipment!

If you know the distances you want to go, better to go with that distance. Otherwise you'll have joins all along your cable run, which looks like ass, and starts to provide weak points in the run. But yeah, if you're trying to be as flexible as possible, thats the best way to do it. Wireless speakers? Personally I don't see the point, unless you are running remotes. For mains I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole. Wireless microphones give me enough problems without abolishing a tangible connection to my FOH

Haha it's not too hard. Literally two solder joints, and some might even have solderless connections, I'm not sure. I'm sure you'll be able to find someone to do it for you if it comes to that, otherwise... Youtube!

The bridge switch might turn one of the speakon outs into a bridged out - check the manual. Otherwise build yourself an adapter from a short bit of speaker wire and a female speakon - then you attach the two wires of this to the two red poles (the ones labelled bridge).

Personally I can't see how they can put in limiters like that, as it has no control over the threshold. But I suppose you could give it a go. I should add - my advice is based on larger PA systems that can be pretty finely tuned, so if you aren't seeing yourself having anything bigger than a party DJ set in a few years, its probably a bit over your head.

I have 10m lengths for my powered speakers, and so I can add on additional lengths as needed. Depending on your gigs your need would change of course. Do you usually keep your amp rack close to your speakers, or is it closer to your setup? If it were me I would probably have 5m lengths for when the speakers are right next to me, and have some 10 and 15m ones in the case with some speakon joiners in the toolbox. With the correct gauge cable for those lengths naturally

Top is a speakon, the bottom two are as you said 6.5mm jacks. No issues with that, those are standard speaker connections. You can get a limiter from any audio shop - random pick from StoreDJ for you - http://www.storedj.com.au/products/product.php?id=1829

You'll need a limiter for sure. From the dbx Driverack PA manual: This means that even if you turn your amplifier volume knobs down, it doesn't save you from cooking your speakers. If you happened to have a big signal come through from your mixer (you bumped the master way up, a dodgy connection), it could potentially still rush in for signal big enough to cook cones.

Life wouldn't be the same if it weren't for the moustache.