It’s hard for me to say. Running the ampitheater PA, main events PA and “panel room” PA kept me busy. So many events! There is quite literally always something going on.
Friday, on top of everything else, the Main Events PA, was also where the concert was held, with 3 bands I like: Akai Sky, The Slants and Eyeshine. After the concert Friday night, the FOH equipment was struck and moved to the ampitheater and set-up. A smaller mix position was already in place at Main Events(also my gear) for the rest of the convention. After the Friday concerts, I had to swing things over so the smaller mix position could handle the rave. Just a few cables to swap, no big deal.
Saturday, all day events, including Cosplay Masquerade, which I missed entirely because I was setting for Eyeshine and The Slants. After the Cosplay event, my lighting trees had to move to the ampitheater. After the concert, they had to move back to the Main Events for the rave on Saturday night. After the concert, the entire ampitheater was cleared and loaded back into my truck. The MC for the rave chose to use my wireless mics for Saturday night’s rave, but he and I are cool and I always encourage him to use my mics. I’m not into the rave stuff, but he is, but we are both of the same mind of best quality for the guests, so we work together really nice.
Sunday is more mellow as far as things are concerned. 2 PA’s to run.
From one perspective: I am not into anime, so this is work. I gotta slog through a lot of stuff that is of no interest to me because I’m not into anime, because I want to work with the bands. I will say they do these “character panels” which are always “dorky”. However, the main events room gets the primo panels, and the anime voice over actors always have good and funny stories, so if you’re into anime or not, it’s good stuff. However, there’s this one group that is doing their own anime and voice over, and they do HORRIBLE advise on their panels consistently. They are more into mic modelling, and let me tell you, that stuff doesn’t work. But hey, I’m a sound guy, I know my crap. That group knows nothing of mic and pre-amp combinations to find what is right for an individual. But it shows the sad state the industry is heading in with the next generation.
There is always a cosplay panel, in addition to the big cosplay event. Autographs, pictures, artists, a big vendor room(which I haven’t had time to go into for the last 3 conventions), karaoke, meet and greets, they loaded the convention. Although I’m not into anime, I live for the concerts. Even so, if you aren’t having a good time, then you’re simply looking to not have a good time, and if that’s the case, why do you even go?. They worked me like a dog, but that’s fun to me, despite not seeing much of anything except sound check and concerts since I have to run those.
The event promoter/organizer puts me up in a room from Thursday through Saturday night so I can stay on property. This helps me a lot by not having to worry about driving and traffic, it lets me focus on keeping the fans happy. The programming director and I get along fantastic. The cosplay organizer is amazing and keeps stepping up what she does each year, not only for her own cosplay, but what she handles for the event. Security, while may appear to be a bunch of big, dumb guys, are NOT dumb. These guys and gals work their butts off and really help ensure a smooth event year after year with incidences being minor and very few. Without security maintaining their high profile and mostly being passive, it maintains a calm and friendlyt environment the whole time. My crew, while they did make some mistakes, was amazing in what they did handle considering their overall newness. One of the other guys, not sure his exact role, but he definitely liasons with the talents, once again, did a fantastic job. The rave MC and his DJ team keeps the rave flowing and pumping, reads the crowds and changes to meet the mood of the show. The bands were great and I have CD’s from all of them this time.
I think, as per typical, another fantastic SacAnime. Yes, there’s going to be some issues, some things that can be done better, but that’s always the case. The organization learns, grows, responds and improves.
