New gig settup

Remember that Roland Mobile Cube I got a few weeks ago, well i used it last night at a solo violin gig for the first time. It was a cocktail function, new office opening, and they wanted some easy listening background music and also a PA to use for the speeches. Well my roland worked a treat. Above you can see it mounted on a mike stand, electric viola resting on the side and a line with a mike running to the podium.

Note the excessive use of velcro on the back of the unit. I used my pedal juice for power, (the unit itself runs on 6 AA batteries, but I treat those as emergency backup) so no mains plug required (less wires and looks neat) and played some backing tracks I made last year using Band In A Box, jazz standards mainly with the odd novelty tune thrown in for fun, (flintstones, batman and a few others, nobody even batted an eyelid when I played a jazz version the doors 'light my fire') and just crooned along for an hour, then a break for the speeches, then more jazz crooning in the keys of D and G, it was great. Also, i used my phone to play the backing music, which for every track change, would bluetooth the song name to my watch, so I would know what is playing next without having to refer to a playlist or anything like that. It really made for seamless music and effortless crooning.


And here is the most important item of all, the beer holder. It took a while to set it up as it was my first time doing it, but next time I reckon I can get it all down to about 5 mins settup and soundcheck. Also, due to the compact nature of the whole thing, this was a gig I could cycle to and enjoy a few beers without worrying about driving or parking. I have another gig exactly like this in a few weeks so I'll be well practiced by then.