If you are a dad, you've heard it before. That bellowing cry out from your kid when they need something...

So tonight, just 6 days away from my oldest getting married, I am working through my long list of last minute "dad items" thanks to a procrastinating future bride and groom...

I am working on the slideshow for during the reception using ProShow Producer, and I hear it... "Hey Daaaaaaad?????!!!!!" from upstairs...

Maybe if I sit quietly, she will go away and I can get started (over from scratch thanks to a last minute change just today) on the slide show. Nope. She bellows again "Daaaaad????!!!!!"

OK. "What's up?" I holler back (in as nice of a tone as possible since I am about 4 hours in to this slide show and just starting over).

"We need to record us singing a song for the slideshow, but need a bluetooth speaker or something to playback the audio."

"pppsssthhhhaaaa" Bluetooth my butt. No crappy little bluetooth speaker here. So I jump into full "Dad Mode" and find the music, put it on USB, go into the theater, and start playing the song thinking, "Ha. Sooooooo simple."

They hear the music and my daughter comes into the theater. "That's cool, but we want to have a nice background. We also set up the camcorder and everything in your bedroom against the red curtains."

Ok... Hmmm....

I tell her fiance to come into the room, and I say, "Take these upstairs..."

I take down two of my on-wall M3s and hand one to each of them.

I grab my old Onkyo 709 receiver out of the box that I put it in to when I got my new Anthem 1120, picked up two 2-foot pieces of speaker wire from the storage room and a wire stripper.

Went upstairs, hooked everything up, and within about 10 minutes had sound coming out (only took that long because I needed to go grab some allen wrenches to loosen a bolt on each of the metal clips on the back of each speaker to allow me to wrap speaker wire around them.

I start playing the music, and adjust the audio a bit, and stand there feeling proud of my accomplishment.

Then I notice as I listen closer... "Hmmmm.... I hear a little acoustical ringing in the room."

I run downstairs, grab all 6 acoustical wall panels, take them upstairs and start propping them up around the room. 1 on the dresser, 2 on the wall opposite of them, 1 above the bed, and then 1 on each side of them (perpendicular), but out of camera view.

I stand back, and it sounds good.

They come into the room, and are all "Woah, what is this?" with a chuckle in their voice, thinking that "Dad has lost it."

And then I play the music, and they both said something along the lines of "Wow. That sounds REALLY good."

So I guess I just made a make-shift recording studio of sorts in our bedroom.

Too bad that my daughter didn't want to set up her professional microphone and recording mixer that she has as that would have been pretty sweet. Oh well, a dad can only do so much. cool

(This whole thing would have been even faster if I had an AxiomAir.)


Farewell - June 4, 2020