Music & Arts:Take A Listen at the Mayville Bluegrass Festival
By Nick Corsi

ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR

Nothing much in the world is more soothing then sitting in a field and listening to acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, stand up basses, sweet vocals and all the other sounds come along with Bluegrass.

THE ATMOSPHERE

The Mayville Bluegrass Festival is one of the most memorable staples of the Raven Sound summer. The view overlooking Chautauqua Lake, the hospitality of the people, and pure sounds of Bluegrass makes this festival a must see.

THE SWEET SOUNDS…

On our end of things, we received more comments this year then ever before, System Engineer Matt Hrinko designed a rig with 5 flown A-Line Acoustics AL-10s, 2 AL-10 side fills, and two EAW 850 Subs per side. Two words…High Fidelity… This high gain, low SPL application allowed for maximum equalization and the nicest of condensor mics on stage. The CAD E100 and the 2 Pro-37s were the stars of the show, whether used as spot or crowd mics. The sound through the PA was like listening to the instrument acoustically from a few feet away. Transparency is everything in an event like this, we aren’t going for anything more than reproducing the original sound of the instrument being played…

RUNNING A BLUEGRASS STAGE

Bluegrass festivals have a much quicker pace on the set changes then that of any other festival. We left six Shure SM-57s and six Shure SM-58s(some betas) on the foot of the stage, and let the 3 condensors float. Set changes are under five minutes between acts; performers approach the front line and all you have to do is look at their instrument and ask if they need a vocal. Mandolins, acoustics guitars, and fiddles got the Pro-37s or the CAD E100, and banjos, and other acoustic guitars got SM-57s. We also had a Direct line for the Bass that floated up-stage, every stand up base we saw this weekend had a pickup… Plug in the Bass…Mic the instruments… and let the Bluegrass begin!

THE PERFORMERS

Josh Williams Band
Chuck Pyle
Sierra Hull with Clay Hess
Will Callery
Creaking Tree String Quartet
Foggy Hogtown Boys
The Doerfels
Angelica Grim
Hard Ryde
Kate Lee with No Strings Attached
Cory and Jerrod Walker
Digger Davis and Tombstone
Straight Drive
Kati Penn Band
Doug Yeomans and Mountain Run
Dirty Mountain Band
Winde River
The Roe Family Band
Old Dawg Bluegrass
Amanda Barton and Bill Ward

There are no words to describe our 9-year experience with Raven Sound. Artists continually come and tell us they had the best sound on their tours. To a man, the Raven folks are friendly, helpful and extremely courteous to our artists and us and their acoustic sound reproduction and lightning-fast band turnaround times are absolutely amazing. I never consider other offers or suggestions – they are that good. Thanks, Phil and gang!
– Bill Ward, Mayville Bluegrass Festival

Nick has beenback on the trail with Raven Sound, pushing gear and turning knobs…blog posts are coming slowly but surely… Follow Raven Sound’s summer action on Twitter – @RavenSound and on our Facebook page “Raven Sound”