Psychometric Vision

April this year gave us hope we were asked to do the chill out room for a big organiser in Liverpool. This would be for Psychometric Vision and their night Soma Sonic a huge dance event with in Liverpool and would be paid quite well for the work.

The organisers sorted out a transit van for us and came to pick up the rig the day before. Me and Rick went with them behind in the car. When we got there it was planned to be in a large and very old factory in the city centre. The room we were using was on the very top floor and was extremely difficult to move the huge cabinets up to the forth floor as the staircases were very narrow.

Once in place we began to set up the sound system and run it in. This was a good idea at the time but the owner of the building came up to see what we were doing and unfortunately dust was coming down from the ceiling. Straight away we stopped the rig and had to re-think the placement of the system. The problem had been that the organiser knew we had a sound system but didn't ask about the size of it. We then had to relocate to the floor beneath where we were. This wasn't a problem but was quite hard work to then move every thing all over again.

Once the rig was in place Rick chose to stay at the venue over night while I went back home for a good nights sleep as i knew from previous experiance that the event would be all night and hard work.

The next day when we arrived we started to help put up the decoration in the room we were using and ran the sound system to warm the drivers. By 9pm when the doors opened to the public every thing was ready and sounding great.

I stayed with the sound system through out the night and we had updates and the amount of people coming in at one point we reached 3,000 and had to stop entry. I also lost some of the DJs slotted to our room and had to go and hunt for other people to play. Due to the type of event that was going on this was quite normal all be it stressful for me. Here is one of the pictures of the decor and rig.

You can see the sound system just in the corner.

The night was a great success we really enjoyed every part of it. The most annoying thing about it was that when we were packed up and ready to leave by 11am our transport was no where to be seen and uncontactable. This was hard we were tired and just wanted to load the van get home unload and go to bed. We were kindly given cups of tea and bacon butties from the organisers and continued our wait.

At 5pm the van finally turned up and Rick came and got me from my car where i'd gone to have a nap. Loaded up and ready to go we journeyed home to bed.

The night was a fantastic experiance but in the future we will organise our own transport so that we dont have to rely on others who may not turn up on time.

Boredom

Over the next couple of weeks we didn't have any more contact from gig nights. Some times over the the winter period the under ground music scene takes a back seat especially in the North West area. During this time me and Rick did small house parties with smaller sections of the sound system mainly the kick bin and the mid-top. These worked well but weren't paid although we had fun and were able to test the sound system. The comments from the new speaker section were good and we enjoyed the feedback and the enjoyment the sound system was creating.

The new speaker

Whilst we were building the new cabinet we chose to put on another night in our local this would give us some savings ready for van hire or if any more equipment broke.

This night went really well and we only put it on with a weeks promotion time. By now we have established a good night that every one seems to enjoy in our local area and we are making a small amount of money in the process.

The new speaker also went down really well giving us the best sound possible.

New speaker

While we were painting we also decided that we needed to change the way the mid and high top speakers were positioned. The comments we had received during the nights we had done were that the high end needed to be louder and clearer.

The driver housed in the kick bin we had found was also very good for mid frequencies and so we ordered another one the same to put into a new cabinets. We then started researching the different boxes that we could make. We also decided that the horn flare and compression driver needed to be updated and included in the midrange cabinet.

We decided to place the speaker in a cabinet with a front baffle and grate over the driver to protect it we then put port holes in the bottom of the speaker and placed the horn at the top. This was made in the the same way as the previous speaker cabinets. We had to make sure that the two speakers were completely sealed from each other and we also placed a filter in the compression driver. The metal grate on the front was bought from B and Q and we went into the local college to have the edges bent to fit round the box.

This is a picture from the next Wheatshef night unfortunately the pictures of the making of the id top cabinet were deleted by accident.

While we were testing the new box the crossover that we have had since the start packed up. Yet another piece to redo. We chose to buy an Alto X40 4 way mono crossover. This again came from Blue Aran.

Experiments

During the next couple of weeks we decided that the sound system needed to be painted in a different typer of paint. The colour would stay the same but we needed to find a different type of paint to use. The primer that we had originally painted the cabinets with had become scuffed and marked and so began researching different paint types.
The vinyl  paint that many people use on speaker cabinets is far too expensive for us to use until a brain wave came to Rick and he suggest vinyl floor paint. We bought four litres over the internet from a large vinyl company and when it arrived the massive task of re-painting began.

Because the paint is rather thick and potent we needed to paint each one outside. The mammoth task of unloading each driver removing the black bolts and commencing painting began. This in total took us three weeks to complete. Each speaker needed two thick coats and couldn't be moved or touched until the layers were dry. There were some mornings where my dad would get up to go to work and id be sat inside one of the cabinets painting. This was again another long task of 4-6 hours a day.

Liverpool

So the day started at 11. Me Rick and Mark our driver went to pick up the van and load the sound system.  We were expected to be in Liverpool by 8pm ready to start the night at 10 so we had some time to relax before driving there at 6pm.

I wasn't in the van on the way but we went in convoy with me leading down the motorway. Reaching the venue just on time even though we did get lost a couple of times. The first snag that we did have was that the venue was in the city centre of Liverpool making parking slightly difficult. We had to pull up on the curb and while one person stayed with the van and equipment the guys took up the speakers as quick as possible. After 8pm we would be able to leave the van across the road down a side street until the morning. This was the same as the car.

We moved the rig into place and began connecting up the cables. The normal nights that we have run the DJs we have used have been able to work with out a monitor speaker. Due to being in a bigger venue the acts that were playing weren't are DJs and wanted a monitor speaker which was quite understandable. Luckily we were able to borrow a small speaker and amplifier and hook this up to our crossover.

 

The venue we were working at was a big warehouse about a car park. Inside the venue the organisers had created a massive tent structure which looked amazing.

The night began just on time due to some of the DJs being slightly late and was to continue until 8am. This for us wasn't a problem but was incredibly had to stay awake and with the sound system though out the night. Every one was having a great time and the door had taken a lot of money. By 2am the doors were officially closed and we could relax a little bit.

The night was a success and every one enjoyed it but i gave up at 4am and went to sleep in the back of the car.

Standard speaker shot.

By 8am we were ready to leave, we asked the DJ to play his final tune and we started packing away the rig and putting it back on the van. We had to drive home unload and drop the van off after no sleep!!

Every thing went smoothly and we got the van back ready to have some food and a well deserved nap. The night had been a great experience for us and also a fantastic earner now we could look at changing some of the speakers and re-paint the cabinets. 

Job well done.

Back to the Wheatshef

The rig set up

Getting the party started

Speaker view

The standard speaker snap shot

Back to the Weatsheaf a night not too dissimilar to the last one but is going to go on for longer. i am going to charge £3 on the door to cover costs last one was a fairly expensive night for me, But O well. Back to the Weatsheaf! DUB / DRUM AND BASS / Jungal / Dubstep Univibe Hifi Dj Tycaine Relentless bro Sci Levels Problem Child Koop A night of friendly vibes And FAT BEATS! Friday 2nd March £3.00 on the door. 8-1.45am TOTUMEL>ICK 4k Sound System Sound m8tys c you there Rick X The flyer above is for the night we were about to commence. We began packing up the sound system ready to go. This time we had the horse box to take every thing there and the van we were using to take up the sound system to Liverpool would be taking it from the pub there the next day. We moved the sound system to another corner of the room we were using once we got to the pub. This was due to using two sets of decks this time instead of one and we needed more room. We had also stated this time that we would be charging £3 on the door and so during the night me and rick would take it in turns to look after the rig and man the door between us. The DJs arrived the rig was set up and so we began our second night that would hopefully make us even cash to cover the room hire and the van costs for the next day. They came they partied, they spent loads of money and they had a fantastic night. No trouble. No problems and we made enough to cover what we set out to do happy days! We packed up ready to move every thing the next and i took the rack unit now housed in its new box home for a well deserved rest before doing it all over again the next day.