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My 2019 show

C

Crispy Pyro

Member
Joined
Apr 2019
Messages
10
Finally getting around to posting it here. I was really happy with how things went (both the prep and the show itself).
Some random stats:
  • Attendees: 1500+
  • Show Length - 15:45 (9 songs + finale)
  • Hardware: 20 18M, 1 36M, 1 18R2, 1 AudioBox
  • 377 cues filled (out of a possible 414)
  • 486 fireworks including: 131 cakes (68 500g, 63 200g), 147 shells, 93 reloadable mines, 35 comets, 42 fan slices, 37 other assorted effects (flame pots, strobes, fountains, cremoras, etc.)
  • Software: Finale Fireworks

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Very nice show. Good use of product with the music. Would be nice to get a camera a little farther back to catch some of those big hits. You have anymore setup pictures.

Chris
 
Thanks! Definitely need to move the camera further back (and angle it up a little more). I've got a few more setup pics. Anything in particular you're interested in seeing?

Rich
 
Crispy Pyro said:
Anything in particular you're interested in seeing?
Click to expand...
I find any setup pictures interesting to see how different people do different things. If you have some pics of the towers, that's something I haven't attempted yet. How are your cakes attached to the platforms (glued/taped)? I also noticed that you seem to foil the tops. Is that just to keep sparks from lighting something or rain proofing. Are you doing that instead of the existing tops or in addition?

Is foil any better/worse to clean up than the paper tops. I usually remove them both. I would think foil is worse since it's not going to decompose like paper.

Chris
 
Towers: I don't think I have any good pictures of the towers but I can talk about them. I have a friend who has a cabinet shop, so they're definitely over-engineered. Each tower is CNC cut out of OSB and is 6" square and 8' tall. He went fancy, so they're notched, dovetailed, and have internal supports every 2 feet or so. They're designed to be stackable (there is an insert that goes between the towers), so I can go as high as I want. Each tower sits on top of a concrete pier block and is kept secure by 3 guy-wires. I either screw things directly to the tower, or secure them to smaller pieces of plywood/OSB and screw that to the tower.

Pallets: All cakes are secured to the pallets using construction adhesive (e.g. Liquid Nails). I removed the bottom paper from some cakes if it wasn't sturdy, and added screws in cases where additional support was needed. For angles, I used a 2x8 down the middle and 2'x4' OSB. This gives me just shy of a 20 degree angle, which is what I was looking for.

Foil: I usually don't use foil, but some of the pallets were more dense than they usually are for me and I didn't want to take chances with cross-fire. Others have commented that it isn't necessary, but it wasn't a huge time impact so I did it. I just put the foil over the existing tops. I'm incredibly lucky in that the neighborhood hires landscapers to do the cleanup. I would imagine that the foil would be more of a pain in the butt to clean.

I'll see if I can find (or take) some pictures of the towers (I haven't put them in storage yet).

Rich
 
Do you have a sound guy to assemble and set up the audio equipment or did you do it yourself? What audio equipment did you use?
 
I rent the PA equipment from Guitar Center. I pick it up the evening before and return it the morning after (it is still considered a single day rental). We do the setup and tear-down ourselves.
Equipment:
  • (6) QSC K12 loudspeakers
  • (2) QSC KW181 subwoofers
  • (1) Mackie PROFX12 mixer
  • (1) wired microphone
We don't have power at the field, so I use a generator. This year I used a Predator 3500 watt inverter generator from Harbor Freight. It worked like a champ and had no issues driving the system.
 
Wow. QSC. Nice. How do you output from the mixer to all 6 12’s and to the subs? And where are the subs relative to the crowd? How are the subs coupled to the ground?
 
You can partially see the speakers in my 2nd picture above. There are 3 speakers + 1 sub on each side (my table is dead center). The subs are on the inner most positions closest to the table. I run power from the generator (which is off to the right about half-way to the fireworks) to my table, and then split it left & right. Each direction is a set of 50' extension cords with splitters on the end of each. I plug the speakers into the splitters. Audio is a similar pattern, with the speakers daisy chained to each other. The speakers are about 15-20 feet in front of the audience. It's definitely loud for the folks in front, but it has to be for the people in the back to hear. I've thought about running additional speakers part way back, but I'm not sure it's worth it.
 
Excellent, thanks. I wondered if the audio was daisy chained. I'm sure the sound is spectacular with that QSC kit.
 
Hi your setup looks very interesting with those towers. The video is blocked on youtube, so I can’t watch it. Hopefully you can repost it somehow
 
There was a challenge over one of the songs. I filed a dispute, so you should be able to see it now (at least until the copyright holder responds).
 
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