Hi Phil and Jacqui! Glad to hear you will be able to reschedule your event for Karl Finger, and there does not appear to be conflicts with the Jun 15 date, though I am not positive that the 50th committee isn’t planning something… nothing is recorded on the FAC Conflict Calendar. We definitely should be able to assist with a sound system, but I have a suggestion that is a slight variation on your plan, that would also help FAC get ready for the summer dance series. 1) Definitely let’s use the new digital SB Marcie believes that Kem has it; I was just in the FAC Office yesterday, and I didn’t see it there. 2) Amp / powered mixer for the digital SB FAC owns several smaller powered mixers that we’ve used in the past for smaller bands (fewer mic inputs). Kem had inspected and tested this equipment last year, so we know that it should work. Since we are only using the powered mixer as an amp, it should work great in combination with the new digital SB. [and if it does, then I think we have solved the summer dance series sound system needs.] 3) Speakers / mics / stands FAC also has a good collection of speakers, mics, and stands for each at the office (we need to verify; especially the # of mic stands). Again, Kem checked this equipment out last Fall, and gave it his seal of approval. 4) Payson Park system / testing on March 29th All else fails, you can definitely get to use the PP system, it’s just not my preference. If steps 1-3 above work for you/us, then we don’t need the PP system, and there is less equipment to haul. Plus, we won’t need access to the PP hall for set-up/testing/ etc 5) Kem’s availability I’ll reach out to Kem, and see if we can at least get the new digital SB from him. I believe that he is really involved in NEFFA planning/running, so he might be busy, but he’s always great when he does respond. How does this approach sound to you? I’m home now, but will be leaving for the weekend tomorrow morning; back on Monday Best Jim > On Mar 19, 2025, at 4:53 PM, Philip Mason <philip.h.mason@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi Jim, > > As you may recall, Jacqui and I were going to borrow FAC sound equipment for Karl Finger’s 85th birthday last Nov. Unfortunately his health deteriorated and we canceled the event. Karl died Jan. 1, 2025. > > We are now planning a memorial for him on June 15 in Monterey, MA and have arranged with Okestar Baritsa to play about an hour of dance music. When I spoke with Joe Blumenthal yesterday, he told me that Okestar Baritsa will be the band for the Mar. 29 FACONE dance. > > When Joe told me OB was coming to Belmont, we brainstormed that we could try out an audio configuration that we could use in Monterey. Neither the Monterey Library nor OB has a set up comparable to using the FAC digital sound board. > > If possible, we’d like to try to set up and use the new digital sound board (SB) for the Mar. 29 dance. Here is what I think we would need to do this: > Get the SB from Marcie or Kem or whoever has it > Have Kem show us how to use it; I would use my laptop to control the digital SB since I don’t have an iPad. > The idea would be: > Have 5 mics connected to the digital SB > Connect the digital SB audio output to the large analog SB which will be connected to the speakers as usual. This would be using the analog SB’s sound amplifier for the speakers. > Connect the digital SB usb output to your MacBook as you have done using Henry’s Sound board. Everything else regarding sound would be the same wrt to Zoom, i.e., input will come from the USB connection. > Set this configuration up starting at 6:30PM and, if it works, use it for the evening. If not, we would quickly reset to the “current standard” audio configuration. > > What do you think? If you want to talk about this, what is a good time to Zoom with you? > > -Phil >