Michael's Meanderings...
"First Baptist Church: Ocala, Florida"
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Tonight, our concert was for First Baptist's senior group of approximately 300-400. That was the number of audience members, by the way- not the age requirement :) There are concert days that from beginning to end go exactly as planned without a hitch of any kind. There are also days like today when obstacles pop up everywhere. The sound setup appeared to be going well, but when it began time to finalize preparations for the show... well, we still don't know exactly what happened.
Before every concert, we run an analysis of the hall we are singing in with a machine called a drive rack. It analyzes all of the frequencies built into the room, giving you an ideal EQ to make you sound the best you can wherever you go. It also completely eliminates feedback. Sounds pretty nifty, eh? Usually it is, but tonight we couldn't get it working no matter how hard we tried. The big problem is that the machine makes an incredibly loud and sustained noise that sounds kind of like what you would hear if you stuck your head out the window of an airplane. This typically goes on for about 2 minutes and then it's over. We must have run the thing for about 20 minutes with no luck.
I would like to take this time to thank those of you who were there early for sound check for your patience and understanding. Well, to make a long blog less long... Say THAT five times fast. Sorry- I'm almost done, I promise. As things turned out, the sound ended up being pretty good and the concert was error free. We performed well and were (hopefully) pardoned for the sound chaos :) Also; the people there were very friendly and gracious and did a tremendous job of decorating the hall. We've been singing for 15 years and it was as nice a setup as I've ever seen. The volunteers afterwards were wonderful too. Usually there will be five or six people struggling to clean up after an event like that, but they went all out and the place was back to normal in less than an hour.
One last thing- To top it all off, their vending machines had Mello Yello. It was like a small dream come true. Mello Yello is my favorite soft drink and in the last year, they have completely cancelled all distributions to Sarasota. I don't know why- I only know it's tragic. You can't get it anywhere... except First Baptist Church in Ocala!!!
I'm done. Until next time, stay happy and healthy
Michael