Another busy week

concluded today... err yesterday... Sunday. It was tech week for "Godspell" which means pretty much being a slave to the theater from about 6:30 on each night until we got it right. I have mentioned to pretty much everyone how much I love my drum kit, and how a digital kit like mine really helps when performining in theater. Most of the time, the balance between the music and vocals becomes very tough as the volume of acoustic drums becomes the baseline against which everyone else has to be set. With the electric kit, I simply can adjust my volume to suit any required needs.

That said, electric drums don't come without their own challenges. I ran into a big... HUGE one Saturday night -- yep, Opening night.

All the pre-show tests (my regular routine) worked perfectly and I was pumped and ready to go when the lights went down at 8pm. After the opening lines of the show, the rock band kicks with a loud overture, setting the tone for the show. As the band director gave the cue I brought my sticks down in perfect time, when to my dismay my drums started to "cut out", sputtering on and off in various volumes I couldn't control. My mind racing, I spent every available second troubleshooting the problem and had it narrowed down to a short whenever I hit the crash cymbal HARD. Scrambling, I tried changing instrument cables between songs, first between the crash cymbal and the "brain", then between the brain and the direct box (for the non-music person, a direct box allows me to safely and quietly split the signal for the musical instrument to go both into the house (theater) soundboard and my amplifier. No success. I struggled through the first act, changing my playing tactics to minimize whatever was going on. I made it to intermission where the problem was finally analyzed and corrected. It all came down to... really.. bad wiring decisions.

As the tech crew and the band were working on ensuring each musician had the proper lighting for his needs, the power configuration where my brain was plugged in was changed. Someone plugged in the cord (which is actually one of the big "wall wart" type of plugs) into the end
of the power strip, with the result being the wall wart was covering the actual on/off portion off the power strip it was plugged into. When I struck the drums hard the platform the band is on was vibrating, effectively power-cycling the brain with each heavy vibrate. Luckily the problem was solved and the 2nd act went very smoothly.

More later...