It got out of the house

Back in May I said we’d picked up a soundsystem and were putting it to work. Then it sat in the studio for a while, the way gear does. This summer it finally went outside — twice — and both days were the good kind of long.

EMP Radio BBQ, August 15, William B Pond Park. Loose format, show up and play. First time the rig ran in open air, and the first time we found out how far a KS118 carries across a lawn. Turnout was excellent. Civector shot video.

SDJA Annual BBQ, September 13, Discovery Park. The Sacramento DJ Alliance’s yearly one. Tech-Noid Systems ran a stage alongside EMP Radio: open decks from 10am to noon, then sets straight through until the system went off at sunset. Free, all ages, food provided, mf mama turned up and went b2b with bento for a stretch. The kind of day that’s hard to photograph and easy to remember.

The rig

For the gear people: a QSC KS118 sub, two K12.2 tops, one K8.2 for fill. Booth is two CDJ-2000NXS2, two PLX-1000s, and a Xone:92 — CDJs and turntables, so nobody has to pick a side. b10burd3n and I bought the speakers this year, and that was as much about getting Tech-Noid Systems moving again as it was about the boxes.

Why a stream crew bought a PA

Showcasing the system was the obvious reason to point it at a park. The better one: we’re EMP Twitch DJs ourselves, and a lot of that crew around Sacramento has only ever played to a stream. Playing to a lawn full of people is a different thing entirely — you can see the drop land — and the rig is there so they get to do it. Open decks at 10am is not a warm-up slot. It’s the point.

Next is the monthly — evenings, a local venue, still being locked in. Dates hit tech-noid.net/events first, and the Discord before that. More as it firms up.