FDIC and the JEMS Games
I had a great time working the Fire Department Instructors Conference and the Journal of Emergency Medical Services Conference in Indianapolis Spring of 22. I’ll go into FDIC first then into the JEMS games, since thats how it went at the convention.
FDIC was a pretty straight forward corporate show, mainly talking heads with some intro stingers and video cues. There were no issues. The PA rig was a bit strange due to having to close an air-wall on either side of the room after the opening ceremony. It was a S1MG Custom PA he made forever ago and I had not seen in years. So instead of having one like of PA to cover the whole room, we had the main left and right hang, with a center fill, and then 2 out-fills. So when the air walls close, I can just turn down the out-fills and be good. No need to tear down half the PA at lunch.
The JEMS Games were wild! Basically they set up a fake disaster zone on stage, in this case it was a collapsed building, and a team of EMS first responders would have to make their way through the course and compete for the best score. I have the team on DPA headset mics and some location mics discreetly hidden around the set to pic up the injured actors. This course also had an electric arc sound cue that had to be timed with the lights to show that someone just gotten hit with a big blast of electricity.
I was warned that it was going to be a chaotic mess and that my audio instincts would try to make me try to make everything intelligible so every line can be heard. And they were absolutely right. My first rehearsal I was trying to make sure each person was to be heard but everyone was yelling and talking at the same time, it was a really jarring at first. But thats exactly what they wanted, my only notes was to turn down the actors and the background sound effects so the Team’s responses to the crises actors would heard the most. Since the crises actors answers never changed and the judges already knew what was wrong with them. I got nothing but compliments and even was invited back to do the show next year.
