Sound Reinforcement

Since the January report we've added one more to the committee, making the complete roster the following (alphabetic order):

Mike Agranoff

Larry Flannigan

Greg More

Bob Safranek

Mike Del Vecchio, chair

This is a solid team to fill the sound spots at The Minstrel and to work with newcomers. The five of us will be kept up to date with current events and committee activities. I hope to produce a newsletter for the soundies, a copy to the president. Others outside of the committee can run the sound board, of course.

Current events

All has been going smoothly. There was a concern with Dave Kleiner's vocals were cutting in and out at the end of his Minstrel set. We checked cables and the power amp and found them to function as intended, so we're not sure what the cause had been. For the next two weeks we watched it closely, during the RUNA show and at MUF's Christine Lavin show. It's been trouble free.

Meanwhile, our substitute amplifier that we thought was in the basement is actually at the home of Kevin Redden, along with a signal processor. With a new promotion Kevin hasn't been able to return it so Greg More offered to pick it up at Kevin's Westfield home in the near future, likely before a Minstrel night.

The new mixing console is not in place yet. The new digital console at The Sanctuary is entering service this weekend. After a teething period the old Sanctuary board will be brought to Dave's Sound for a general tune-up. Later in the spring may be a realistic time line.

MUF improvements to the Sanctuary

We'll keep the MUF improvements as a separate head each month as the story evolves. Since the last meeting, at MUF request, I brought some stage lighting for them to play with. In the next couple of weeks the MUF people are going to meet the music director Adam Waite at the Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township for a demonstration of PCCT's new digital line-array speaker system and console and permanent snake. A date with Stirling Audio Services to look at installing speakers at MUF and acoustic curtains will likely occur later in February.

While it seems the ball is rolling forward, in reality all of this is purely exploratory and non-binding. It's important that the Folk Project Board members understand that all we are doing at this point is research, and that it be discussed that way with any MUF people who ask about it.

The Board at MUF has not yet met to discuss the project, although some have been included in various parts of the e-mail conversations. There has been no formal concensus at MUF, and it turns out that Pastor Allison only recently found out about these discussions. All understand that MUF contacted us for advice. MUF's number one goal is to improve the audio / visual aspects of MUF services.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Del Vecchio