WEDDING BAND / ORRCHESTRA NIGHTMARES AND SOLUTIONS

Jul 01, 2010 04:15 PM Back By A. Stan Wiest Music

I am president of A.STAN WIEST MUSIC and I lead the first Band/Orchestra from the office - THE STAN WIEST ORCHESTRA.I am also a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants - I give seminars on wedding planning and problem solving. These are some of the situations I have encountered and how they were solved without the client ever knowing here was a problem.

1) I was playing a wedding on a charter boat in New Jersey. The boat left the dock and was on the way to pick up the bride and groom. Our high end amplifier for our PA system takes AC current. The boat only had DC current. We had no sound system- no keyboards-no vocals-nothing. The amplifier shut down. The boat captain complained that I was brining extra equipment on the boat. Fortunately I always carry 2 back up amplifiers-of different power levels. The amplifier with the lowest power level was able to work with the DC current and the wedding was a success. By the time the boat picked up the bride and groom I had the connections changed-bride and groom never knew how close them came to disaster.

2) I was playing a reception for the actor TONY RANDAL on at a upper end nursery on Long Island's north shore Gold Coast. The power supply was extremely limited-not enough power for our system. The circuit breakers kept cutting out. The typical band would have been stuck. I always bring a high end voltage regulator just in case. I connected the voltage regulator to the power supply and the band plugged into the voltage regulator. The reception was saved -again without the voltage regulator there would have been no band.

3) Wireless microphone systems. I was playing for a high society function in a penthouse in Manhattan near the Empire State Building. Suddenly one of the radio stations from the Empire State Building came on the air playing RAP music -on the same frequency as our wireless system. RAP music with profanity suddenly came through our sound system. Fortunately I have the type of wireless system that I can change the channels. If I had the typical one channel system -we would have had to shut down. How do you explain to a client that you cannot perform because of the radio station?

4) At another wedding I was playing (I lead the band on keyboard/synthesizer/vocals) one of the bus boys -carrying a tray of water pitchers- tripped and the water went right into my keyboard-shorting out the keyboard -10 minutes before the start of the wedding-no keyboard. I always carry a back up keyboard in the truck. The band started without me for the guests entrance while I set up the back up keyboard-just in time for the announcement of the bride and groom and first dance.

5) Another wedding I was playing-I arrived 2 hours early to set up and sound check -everything was perfect. I left to play the cocktail hour in another room on piano. The photographer needed to plug in his power supply - took out my electric plugs (which turned off my system and computers) and never told me. I returned just in time to introduce the bridal party and sing the first song-no keyboards-no sound system. Took 10 seconds to plug in the sound system and had to sing the first song with almost no backing other than guitar and drums. During the break to take dinner orders I was able to re set all the computers (15 minutes) and then continued the wedding. Massive panic at the beginning.

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