Topic: Campsite / Festival Playback

[kindms]

I was curious what some of you guys use or if you had suggestions etc

I was looking at some of the ipod/iphone systems they have and thought that something like a T-Amp / low cost speakers would be a better bang for the buck.

Thoughts suggestions etc ? looking to keep it pretty portable and on the less expensive side but all suggestions are welcomed.

[dnsacks]

many satellite/subwoofer computer speaker setups use wall warts to provide 12 volt dc power to the system (and take their input from a 1/8" stereo jack).  I've hacked together an appropriate battery solution (or used a cigarette lighter adapter from my car) and run my cambridge soundworks setup in this manner with great success, using an iphone/mp3 player to feed it.

[Jimna]

^^thats my mobile whip

[kindms]

many satellite/subwoofer computer speaker setups use wall warts to provide 12 volt dc power to the system (and take their input from a 1/8" stereo jack).  I've hacked together an appropriate battery solution (or used a cigarette lighter adapter from my car) and run my cambridge soundworks setup in this manner with great success, using an iphone/mp3 player to feed it.

The dayton t-amp runs on AA's etc. I was thinking about something like that. I found some outdoor speakers for cheap (look like rocks) just not sure how much use it will get etc

[bryonsos]

I use an XMini II (mono), and several friends have them too so we daisy chain them. Awesome sound for the uber portable size and price, plus USB rechargeable. For stereo, the XMini II MAX looks pretty sweet.

http://www.x-mini.com/

[Gutbucket]

Oh, how often I'd like to throw the ubiquitous mini-noisemaking ipod dock systems of surrounding campers in the lake.  I guess there is not enough music going 18+ hours a day at fests and they feel the need to blather all surrounding campers with their crappy sounding, inappropriate timed, horrible taste in music.  Why not some welcome audiatory contrast.. listen to the birds, bugs, laughter of children playing.. and the inescapable bleed of main stage subwoofers turned 20dB too hot over a mile away which conflicts with the tinny buzz of the ipodded noise anyway?

sorry for the rant.. touched a raw nerve.


[edit- that old school blaster is pretty cool, Jim]

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

Danny Brnes would love that boombox Jim.  He's obsessed with them.  He ran one at NWSS stage lip.  Flipped the tape at 45 minutes.  Can't possibly sound good.   

[Jimna]

oh how I miss tape flips at the worst times....

[Gutbucket]

oh how I miss tape flips at the worst times....

Back at the apex of the cassette era in the late 80's, I had a Yamaha auto-reverse deck that I loved (not a portable) with several cool features.  It had a sensor that would detect the upcoming leader at the end of the spool and quickly auto-reverse and continue recording with a gap of only a couple milliseconds.  You could also press a button and it would fast-forward to the end of a tape, reset it's time-based counter to zero, then rewind to the previous position, letting you know exacty down to the second how much time was left on the side, and offering an automatic fade out in the last 5 seconds.  Those features, combined with the CD player I had which would scan the disc at high speed for the highest level peak passage and repeat it until you could tweak the recording level perfectly, made for great mix-tape making.  A near lost artform.

[bryonsos]

oh how I miss tape flips at the worst times....

My favorite part was when I switched to 120 min tapes and got to watch all the patchers panic when I wasn't flipping when they needed to

[KenH]

I used a T-Amp (MUSE, from eBay) to test some nice Klipsch speakers I ended up purchasing from craigslist.    Just used a 12-volt cig lighter adapter to power the T-Amp. Worked great.    Would probably drain the battery pretty quick though.

[T-90]

Oh, how often I'd like to throw the ubiquitous mini-noisemaking ipod dock systems of surrounding campers in the lake.  I guess there is not enough music going 18+ hours a day at fests and they feel the need to blather all surrounding campers with their crappy sounding, inappropriate timed, horrible taste in music.  Why not some welcome audiatory contrast.. listen to the birds, bugs, laughter of children playing.. and the inescapable bleed of main stage subwoofers turned 20dB too hot over a mile away which conflicts with the tinny buzz of the ipodded noise anyway?
sorry for the rant.. touched a raw nerve.

^^^ agreed 100% lee....also, i seem to remember reading a thread here not too long ago that went something like the dude was playing back his recordings, amplified in the camp site at a fest, and it got noticed by some unsavory neighboring campers who then proceeded to steal the guys rig at a later time....i do however listen to my recordings while camping at festivals, at night through my headphones, to kill the background noises of ppl blathering all the surrounding campers with their crappy sounding, inappropriate timed, horrible taste in music    i also remember reading somebody else's statement of "i love camping and i love festivals, however i hate festival camping".....couldn't be more true at the bigger ones

[cybergaloot]

I heard one of these today and it didn't sound bad at all. http://www.soundmatters.com/foxl/technology.html
A bit pricey though.

[jlykos]

I use an old Sony boombox that I have.  Tape player, CD player, and RCA aux input for an ipod or anything else.  Cost like $50 at Best Buy for a demo model.  With the rain, dust, dirt, and alcohol present, high fidelity is not my watchword.

[stevetoney]

If I believed in guns and had one, I'd use mine to kill boomboxes in campgrounds.  But since I don't own a gun, I'm going to start a conspiracy to get REALLY talkative girls with REALLY obnoxious voices to stand directly under the mic stands of anyone that responds to this thread.     

Just kidding...sort of...

[kindms]

Who would have thought that a thread i started to see what kind of nifty DIY and other franken-systems people use camping / festivals / outdoor parties would basically become a place for people to bitch about festival behavior of others.

This thread is asking what type of playback you or your buddies might run.

I was looking for the late night chill or Sunday morning coffee / book reading with a nice small playback that a small group of like 3 or 4 people could enjoy w/o annoying others.

I think some of you need to stop going to festivals, you seem to old or too much of a curmudgeon to enjoy yourselves. All of the complaints in here are rendered null by simply using ear plugs. That is what I do and it makes for great neighbors.

[flipp]

Being an old curmudgeon, I do use earplugs. The one thing they don't block out is the !#^)&^@$!$ drum circles.

[T-90]

Who would have thought that a thread i started to see what kind of nifty DIY and other franken-systems people use camping / festivals / outdoor parties would basically become a place for people to bitch about festival behavior of others.

This thread is asking what type of playback you or your buddies might run.

I was looking for the late night chill or Sunday morning coffee / book reading with a nice small playback that a small group of like 3 or 4 people could enjoy w/o annoying others.

I think some of you need to stop going to festivals, you seem to old or too much of a curmudgeon to enjoy yourselves. All of the complaints in here are rendered null by simply using ear plugs. That is what I do and it makes for great neighbors.

Ha! well played sir    well after all my complaining will say that for situations such as you describe above i simply use a Sirius satellite radio that has an 1/8" aux input and just plug in my deck....sounds pretty good, has a bass boost and it didnt cost a fortune....it does run of d batts but i have some adaptors and i just use rechargeable aa's.

i also have some wireless rocketfish gear that is cool because all the decks can stay in the tent/camper and the wireless speaker has volume control on it....it also runs of batts

fwiw, the earplugs dont cut it for me at the bigger fests and i have moved on to a combination of earplugs and gun range earmuffs, that seems to work out pretty well except i cant sleep on my side....a nice hotel room is the best pair of earplugs ive ever used 

[Patrick]

A lot of small computer speakers can run on 9-12v dc, so take an extra DVD battery out with you and you'll have halfway decent playback speakers for the entire weekend.

[Jimna]

I hear some have more spare dvd batts than others....

[Gutbucket]

NEVER forget the earplugs.

I'm all for freedom of enjoyment, yet simple awareness and respect of basic social boundaries can go a long way in keeping everyones freedom from being compromised down to the lowest common denominator.. like the model parents that T-90 likes to camp next to. 

A live and let live attitude becomes harder to maintain when certain audience members haul tamborines and drums into the venue to 'play along' under to your mics.  And a similar dynamic applies here. One man's noise pollution is another's angelic choir I suppose. 


Now get off my lawn!

[T-90]

NEVER forget the earplugs.

I'm all for freedom of enjoyment, yet simple awareness and respect of basic social boundaries can go a long way in keeping everyones freedom from being compromised down to the lowest common denominator.. like the model parents that T-90 likes to camp next to. 

bubba, no bubba no!!!  bubba, get back here bubba!!!  poor bubba doesnt stand a chance in hell

[Gutbucket]

Heh, heh.
Your next band name should be:

Bubba No!

[neumannkid]

I like bringing a radio so I can pick up the main stage broadcast while I'm cooking, chilling in the shade, or to lazy to head down for the morning sets. I can plug an aux into it so occasionally I will play a little music from my ipod but most of the time I listen to the music from the main stage when I'm in the site. I cant tell you how many people stop by and hang out in the shade and listen to a set or two and thank me for doing it. As for listening to my recordings I pull out the head phones and listen occasionally. Its already been said but I'll say it again high fidelity is not a consideration considering the environment, I'm just happy with acceptable sound.

[Jimna]

I have a small PA from my failed bar band that I setup and blast Ace of Base's discography on repeat, and occasionally on shuffle. 

[kindms]

I have a small PA from my failed bar band that I setup and blast Ace of Base's discography on repeat, and occasionally on shuffle.

 

[T-90]

I setup and blast Ace of Base's discography on repeat, and occasionally on shuffle.

That sounds about right....I've camped near distant jay at the wanee and I've witnessed first hand how you guys camp   

jay knows all about bubba....

[Jimna]

Jay wont put on his camping dress until he hears AOB.