‘Strock’ (literally String Rock) is a new genre that we are pioneering which fuses traditional (or classical) music with a rhythmic edge. We are an all-acoustic act (apart from the practical necessity of using an electric stage piano) and we do not use a drum kit. At this stage the genre refers more to the overall sound of the music as the style of the songwriting varies enormously.
We have been very lucky in being able to use Bose L1 systems from the very start (back in August 2009) and whenever we are supplying our own sound.
Virgin Soldiers consists of:
James: Acoustic Guitar and Lead male vox
Gina: Piano and Lead female vox
Mike: Violin, Cajon and Backing vox
John: Violin, Viola
Rhiannon: Cello
James: Bass Guitar
We use two L1 model II’s, each with a T1 Tonematch mixer and one B1 sub attached. Our live stage volume is effectively an acoustic rehearsal level with good balance and so we don’t usually need monitoring. Thus we position the two L1’s at the front of the stage, in line with the electric piano and use them as FOH speakers.
We have also found that using two jack-jack cables crossing over from one Tonematch’s analogue master out to the other Power Stand’s analogue input (and vice-versa) we can link the towers and have the same full-band mix coming out of both. I know that this removes the official core benefits of the L1 system but we have found that their sound quality and the way the line-array technology improves the acoustics of the room make them an excellent PA system.
In the future we are looking to improve our system further by replacing the (brilliant) T1’s with a single 12-16 channel mixer (if only BOSE made such a digital mixer… along the lines of a larger T1!) and investing in a third T1 (possibly model 1 or compact) to place at the back of the stage with a foldback mix.
Typically we play venues such as pubs and function rooms and halls with capacity of up to 250 with our system though it has never been used above volume 5 of 10 and so could handle far more. The only time we have had trouble hearing ourselves was when we played a 350-capacity concrete box with terrible acoustics… In this case we should’ve positioned the towers behind us.
As illustrated below we recently used our L1’s as foldback when we played a set at a football stadium. This worked very well and as a testament to the brilliance of the systems bystanders noted that the sound was heard with good volume and clarity on the other side of the ground before the house sound system had been turned on and, from our position, it was difficult to tell when the house system (circa 15k watts) was turned on or off!
Our Sketcher image shows that, at the moment we are forced to use both sides of the 4/5 stereo line inputs on the T1s for different sources. This is why we are aiming to use a larger mixer to combine and simplify our mixing.
Strock on, good soldiers!
Hello ronnijoe,
Please see this new discussion for you comment.
Five Piece Band with Two L1® Model IIs - ronnijoe.
Thank you.