Help on deciding a rig for an outdoor show

[Gutbucket]

Following up, in reply to 'Cooker and Rock', I hear what you're saying.

Part of the art is adapting to whatever the situation might be.  Yet another Goldilocks thing.  Fortunately remains possible to run wide rigs outdoors for things like taper-friendly fests, park concerts, and plenty of other things.  Indoor and big corporate venues can be more challenging. In some cases the only solution may be a small very compact rig, but getting creative with how you do it can open up a lot of options which would otherwise not seem workable.

Granted I've not been taping as frequently as I used to, but fortunately I've not had problems running my high-channel count rig in the venues I frequent.  I do realize part of what eases that for me is how small my rig can get, made possible by a shift to using miniature microphones in all positions along with a DIY mic-bar solution that allows for quickly telescoping from 2' to 6' wide or anywhere in between in a properly deployed arrangement, and can be made even more compact if the arms are angled rather than extending straight out to either side.  Other than running up high on a big light-stand, I can clamp it, put it on a low floor-stand onstage where the entire rig is just 6" tall, strap it to a column using velcro straps.. I've even hung it on the small coat/pocket-book hooks on the underside of a bar where I could extend width out as far as I liked (stage only ~6' away from the bar, enough room to pass between bar and stage but not stand there, everyone watching from the opposite side of the bar).. perched it up in the rafters.. set on top of a bookshelf..

I only implemented that change after proving to myself that I was able to make recordings in that way that compared favorably to using regular size mics, along with their bigger cabling, bigger connectors, larger bars, mounts and everything else (except for the size of the windscreens). The only non-miniature microphone I later added was the Side-channel fig-8, necessary since no miniature fig-8s exist, later swapped out for the standard-sized short stereo shotgun, which features an integrated fig-8 Side channel and uses a single 5-pin standard size XLR.. both imperative features for me in keeping things as compact as possible when introducing that larger microphone.

I realize big stands supporting wide arrays done in standard ways have become more and more difficult to accommodate, and that's why I've put a lot of effort into making my primary rig flexible enough to keep as many options open as I can, in order to take best advantage of whatever opportunities arise.

More power to the tapers that are focused primarily on getting it done efficiently and posted for to folks to listen to. That's ultimately more important than what I have to share. What's possible and how good I can get it are obviously strong motivators for me, but needn't be for everyone.  Its fun for me to analyze and figure this stuff out with the help of others including the contributing members here at TS, to do my best to condense and pass along to others what I've learned about what's possible and outline some possible routes to get there.  That's where my interest lies and is what I can best give back to the community. Do with it what you will. 

Thanks for the bandwidth.  Revising what I posted earlier in this light- 

"The big question becomes not only how much gear and effort you wish to put into it, but how effectively you're able to work within the constraints imposed by the recording situations you encounter."