I seeked for pryers as this is the 1st time HRC is holding this Praise Festival combining with another Xtian Band, and I was stress over the setting of the sound board as our band was the 2nd band to be leading. We had an hr sound checked and everyone were happy with the sound check. I jot down every single knob on the individual channels and my confident level was as high as everyone in the band too. Then after that the other band did their sound check and I left the place to get a quick bite as i was hungry.
The entire hall was jam packed. A hall that caters to 700 people, we even filled the steps with 2-3 rows of ppl. We estimated about 900++people came and there were some standing up too.
When the dancers kicked in then the other band led the everyone to a time of worship, it was beautiful.
But as i listened carefully, i realized it was not coming out from the housespeakers but only from the stage monitors and amplifiers. (those of u whose ears are trained to hear, u get what i mean even though i may be standing way up away from the stage...) I gave my feedback to the sound crew of the other band and i didn't want to interfere and i stepped back.
Their band used up a full 32channel board and they have 20plus ppl in the band, so even when the housespeakers actually failed, their band didnt sound that obvious that something was wrong unless u stand in front of the speakers or your ears are trained to hear and i am serious about ears trained to hear.
Then came HRC. Our band is made up of only 13ppl on stage. I came on to the sound board and i had 10mins to get all the knobs adjusted back to the position i had for sound checked. And when the 1st song played, the sound which initially didn't come out from the housespeakers became very very obvious for our band due to the size. And i re-checked all my settings-nothing wrong with the sound board. I panicked and tried to troubleshoot the problem. I sent the sound crew (sound company guys) to check the speakers and so on and so forth....
The entire band was horrified and panicked too... ahhhhhh..... nightmare for me....
To cut the story short, we troubleshoot the problem only at the 4th song... someone, turned down the compressor for the entire system of which there was an agreement between the sound technicians of both bands and the sound company that we will not touch their equalizers nor their compressors after sound has been checked - only the sound board.
For the past 3events i worked with this sound company, nothing went wrong and really enjoyed the working relationship and i trust them and they trust me...
We did an investigation with the sound company, we can't exactly point our fingers at anyone, but our band and the sound company know that neither myself nor the sound company guys touched that....
Anyway, after yesterday's event, i literally felt like i was dropped down from Mount Everest. I was in total shocked, felt embarrass, couldn't worship, i just teared as i was packing up... Many nice brothers and sisters -in-Christ, came and encouraged me and Thank me for the good job, but i don't feel that i even deserved those praises...
My band members all encouraged me and i couldn't say a single word out but tears just kept running down my cheeks... and even today's briefing, all of them assured me again and acknowledges my capability and said they all had a good sound check and for the next praise festival, if we are combining, there should only be 1 sound engineer and they all said, i should be the sound engineer.... I'm so touched by all of them... and I'm very very thankful to God for giving me such a sweet group of band members whom i can be serving together with...
Though the entire event seem to be a failure, all of us may be discouraged but we all agreed that we are all on the right track and also this brings greater unity among all of us.
I will have to feel proud of this, my band members were so encouraging, they encouraged me with touch, hugs and words even though it was horrible feeling for me... the other band's sound crew was been accused and blaming him for the faults by the band members... i felt bad for him but on the other hand I'm proud to present to all of you reading this blog -
My Band - H.R.C - Himalayan Rock for Christ!!
(Ps Erick-Acoustic Guitarist, Shanti-Vocal manager, Puii-Worship leader, Kim-Worship Leader, Asheley- Vocalist, Vesh- Worship Leader, Binod- Worship Leader, Michael- Worship Leader, Chuba- Worship Leader, Moa- Lead E.Guitarist, Te-ja- Rhythm E.Guitarist, Ah-to- Bassist, James-Keyboardist and Gloria-Sound Engineer)
All Glory be to God Who Sits Upon the Throne
