By Tony Fernandez:
For those who didn’t know, I was presenting a mixing seminar at the DJ Expo two weeks ago.
I decided to bring in my FULL sound rig because, well, as a working DJ, I wanted to ensure the attendants got a nice full sound experience. The breakout meeting room we were in did have in-house sound, but it was pretty anemic.
So the day of the seminar, I’m moving in my rig. As I unload from my truck, I pick up one of my tops and I hear / feel a rattle that wasn’t there before, nor should be there in the first place…
I move all my gear to the back of the house / service hall area, right behind where I was going to present. I set up a speaker triage center and…
With my Leatherman tool I was able to remove the horn lens and discovered that the driver attached to the horn snapped off. So after I cleaned my under ware (no pun intended, but yeah, I was a little stressed), I had to come up with a plan….
So: I married the driver back onto the lens and broke out the Gaff Tape. After I applied a very creative and judicious amount, I was able to attach, but not secure, the driver to the horn lens once I took the assembly go horizontal. There was too much weight and not enough support…
I look in the speaker box cavity where the horn assembly should go and I noticed that there were some foam blocks in there for dampening and support. However there wasn’t enough…
So: I go into the bathroom to splash some water on my face and gather my thoughts and decide to use some paper towels to build up the cavity and add support. Except, there ae NO paper towels because the paper towels dispensers are empty; just a litany of air dryers. I just start to pace in the men’s room… (Thank goodness no one was in there….) and a stall is open.
I see the TP. I take a roll. I wasn’t a beast; I did leave one as there was an extra roll.
So: I go back to my triage area and start stuffing the speaker cavity with TP. I was able to fill the cavity with enough to support the weight of the driver and re-install the driver to the speaker box.
Seminar started and sound was on point. Even had people asking what system I was using.
Moral of the story: Keep calm and rely on the experience that got you there. And yeah, always have Gaff Tape.
Thanks to my VA peeps for helping me set up and load out. Couldn’t have done it without their help.
It takes a village to do a seminar. And Gaff Tape with TP.
Based out of Richmond, VA, DJ Tony Fernandez has been a DJ, Remixer, Producer, Musical Soothsayer and Audio Gear Oracle since 1980. Find him on facebook. Email djtonytf@gmail.com