If you missed the details about the upcoming gearhead session on December 13, find them at https://mailchi.mp/e1611b0ee88a/change-of-plans-stage-33-live-121318

(We're temporarily switching to first-person from the royal we for this one. Not entirely sure why.)I'd given up thinking that there'd be any response, but Guitar Center sent this yesterday:

That said, with huge thanks to an unanticipated local donation, there are some fundamentally vital tools headed in anyway. (I still don't know if the donor prefers anonymity; I keep meaning to ask, and keep forgetting to ask.)

One main piece of equipment that's coming not only replaces the dearly departed mixer, but also gives parallel redundant audio capture (and more). I was editing the

Hobbs/Stowell

stuff the other day, and there was a three-quarter-second glitch in the audio during the first song... it was just seamlessly not there, across all the tracks. No silence, no gap, just gone. (The unusably distorted camera audio was uninterrupted on all the cameras.) Without a side-by-side copy taken of the mic'd audio, whatever happens is what happens. I covered as best I could with editing trickery. Parallel redundant audio capture... I'm so in.

The other main imminent giant step forward is two Panasonic 4K video cameras with sensors and glass that will blow the current cameras out of the water. That said, those existing cameras will stay in service. I've never been against artistically using low-quality (and even terrible-quality) footage, but if absolutely none of the video achieves the technical standard reasonably expected by viewers, most of them won't considered it artistic... just hack. (Performances compiled with lower quality video can still absolutely be used in "from the vault" segments that will make it seem like Stage 33 Live's been at it for years.)

I think the timing of this is perfect. There's a stride being hit in the room, and the project continues to gain traction.

People have traveled in from RI, CT, MA, and NY to attend certain shows (particularly the Willa Mamet / Dayna Kurtz pairing), but audience attendance from session to session is a mixed bag. Sometimes it's terrible. That was totally expected from the start though. Good, consistent general attendance (especially by locals) will grow over time, and in particular will grow with increased visibility of the documentation. It's all meant to work together as a multi-pronged, cohesive, ambitious whole. And the plan is continuing to come together.

One area where it's not doing as well as I'd hoped is humanities, science, and general spoken word. Part of the problem is that the "cattle-call" approach is best understood by musicians. (Love the musicians, don't get me wrong!) As inside core procedures and processes from setup to delivery continue to gel and begin to require a bit less time and effort, energy should open up for more focused participant outreach. Plus when the broadcast variety programs start rippling out and visibility grows, I suspect this sector will open up more.

In the meantime, is it just me or have the local libraries and historical societies really upped their humanities and sciences presentations game over the last year or so? There suddenly seems to be a lot more being offered. (Which is great!) And it feels like Village Square Books is hosting a lot more writer readings in these last months. (Which is great!) Not to mention the new music open mics that have popped up in this and nearby villages. (Which is great!) These overlapping things should help cultivate a thriving scene in the area. (Say it with me: Which is great!)

What Stage 33 Live is doing ain't what the rest are doing. Probably the most closely related upstart is Hanover Strings' occasional performance webcasts.

Anyway. Tech.

Other necessary bits and bobs in support of the new backbone gear are also coming, including a minimum threshold of memory cards, a big external drive (4K files are ginormous), stands and mounts for the cameras, some cords and cables and miscellany.

There's still a wishlist and probably always will be, but it's so much less urgent. It includes things like:

OK, so maybe a little promo after all. This just in... Stage 33 Live is on the official poster: