Sound Reflection: CDNY

May 15th, 2012
contra, sound
The Free Raisins recently played for CDNY. We had a really good time, and I think we played well, but I'm glad I don't have to run sound for that hall.

The hall is half of a gym, with some kind of hanging fabric barrier separating the dancers from the people using the other half. [1] Like most gyms, all the surfaces are highly reflective. There are six speakers in the front and back of the hall mounted near the ceiling with only a slight downward tilt. Like this:

+-----------------------------------+
|  s              s .            s  |
|  |              | .            |  |
|                   .               |
|                   .               |
|      dancers      .    sports     |
|                   .               |
|                   .               |
|  |              | .            |  |
|  s     band     s .            s  |
+-----------------------------------+

Not a sound system designed for contra dancing.


[1] We were lucky to have badmintoning neighbors; when Simmerville played Amy says they were competing with basketball.

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