Category: Video

Amplification tests – how do we mike this thing?

This weekend’s work has been mostly about sound (with a little van tinkering here and there).

How do we amplify two full keyboards of two and a half octaves of keys each, order plus numerous gongs and chimes?

Full-court press – set up a testing environment, bring in some mikes and amps, and sort it out, right?

We picked up a little mixing board at Guitar Center on Saturday night and spent some time bullshitting with the staff about microphones.

The challenge of the project is getting a full, clean mix out of the instrument in the face of these facts:

  • the high keys are very faint compared with the low ones
  • ambient noise will be a challenge, particularly on the playa
  • We want to get enough sound out of the system to reach across the playa without causing feedback through the pickups
  • The instruments will be bolted to the van full-time, so the miking solution must be removable to avoid the worst of the weather …
More

Sound check

We’ve knocked out two octaves worth of keys so far, only a sample of which will fit on the bench for a demo. Obviously they’ll sound much fuller after we figure out how to set up resonators and amplification, but at least they’re correctly tuned.

(videos lost when we quit facebook, but read on)

(more videos)

As for finish, the first three are polished, the rest are still raw, and none have been drilled yet for mounting)

I picked up a new, slimmer metal-cutting disc for the circular saw the other day, and cutting is dramatically easier than it was. Now it takes barely four minutes to slice through the half-inch by 3-inch aluminum bar stock we’re using for keys.

Meanwhile, I’ve also been tinkering with disk gongs – I want people to have a broad array of stuff to bang on beyond the tuned keyboards on either side of the van. Otherwise, they may take to hammering on the mirrors or the coachwork.

These quarter-inch-thick steel disks have a tinny, bell-like quality …

More