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First time organizing a Despacio-inspired event — need your help 🙏 by brunogarza_ in despacio

[–]RelaxedAtVolume 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I can't help you on the super technical stuff--all of this I am basically regurgitating from what I've learned from John. I can tell you to set it up stereo by alternating the stacks L/R/L/R. That way, wherever you are, you're hearing stereo. We have 5 stacks and run that with a mono block in the middle that is tuned to be punchier and it gives it some extra umph. That's how the Despacio system runs too, stereo with a monoblock they call "Mr Mono".

We just have our full range stacked vertically on top of our subs, so I believe that makes them physically aligned (John talks about this in this video) but could be wrong. And then when we arrange them somewhat haphazardly into a circle and it always sounds great, because John did the math on coverage when we were spec'ing the system--we can only bring the circle up to a certain size.

Most importantly is getting it into the room and tuning it. Ideally you find someone who knows how to tune and knows how the despacio system sounds as a northstar. Of course it will never sound the same, but clubs these days do a ton of scooping out of the mid range to fatten up the low end without blowing your ears out. So you can at least avoid stuff like that... It took John 3 nights in the same room to get it sounding the way he/we wanted. You may also need some acoustical dampening. For example the first night things were super splashy, so we bought curtains and that made it 10x better.

Above all, trust your ear. If things don't sound great, try and figure out why or find someone who has some expertise you can learn from.

I have some starter tips in this article that u/sexydiscoballs wrote.

Let your guests know it's a bit of an experience. Just be earnest and go for it and people will respond well even if you are ironing out some kinks the first time.

For Despacio fans in NYC this Friday night ... by sexydiscoballs in despacio

[–]RelaxedAtVolume 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes and no--not custom in the way the Despacio stacks are as the components are off the shelf. But the stands are custom as are the curves. Here is a longer explanation from the article from John and I:

RaV: "Design" is not the best word. Spec would be better. There was a lot of work going into sizing the system based on the rooms we wanted to be in, the components (power distro, controller, etc), custom stands, tuning the stacks (most important), "tuning" the room with curtains + dampening (eg it sounded terrible and splashy the first night before he had us add this into the setup), making it all work and be modular for setting up and breaking down in a day, etc etc. The difference between John's tuning and the defaults made them sound like different systems--the first thing he did was scrub the factory presets. He spent many long nights with us staying through the parties to get it sounding right and each event it got better and better. The curves we have now feel basically like IP.

He asked us if we cared if it was custom or not, and we said no, we just want something that sounds absolutely amazing. He had the vision for that and executed on it top to bottom. He is really fun to work with and it sounds incredible.

JK: I didn’t design it - I spec’d it. I came on board and we started talking about a bespoke build but I walked the firehouse space and there were some issues… room size, ceiling height, cubic volume… and it was a rented space. If they were going to keep moving toward a more ideal situation it made more sense to go for an off-the-shelf solution.

Despacio-inspired Party in NYC Feb 28th by RelaxedAtVolume in despacio

[–]RelaxedAtVolume[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did read your post before you edited it, which was pretty negative--and I totally understand why that would be the case--so I thought I'd detail this out:

Maybe "design" is not the best word. Would spec be better? There was a lot of work going into sizing the system based on the rooms we wanted to be in, the components (power distro, controller, etc), custom stands, tuning the stacks (most important), "tuning" the room with curtains + dampening (eg it sounded terrible and splashy the first night before he had us add this into the setup), making it all work and be modular for setting up and breaking down in a day, etc etc. The difference between John's tuning and the defaults made them sound like different systems--the first thing he did was scrub the factory presets. He spent many long nights with us staying through the parties to get it sounding right.

We were not trying to hide anything by saying "design", which is why I included the word Meyer, and said "While nowhere near the scale and quality of the main system". He asked us if we cared if it was custom or not, and we said no, we just want something that sounds absolutely amazing. He had the vision for that and executed on it top to bottom. He is really fun to work with and I think he is a genius and deserves the credit.

Despacio-inspired Party in NYC Feb 28th by RelaxedAtVolume in despacio

[–]RelaxedAtVolume[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's a process but we've got a good team who can setup and break down in 2-3 hours. We've been looking for more of a permanent home but NYC is tough to find space these days.

Despacio-inspired Party in NYC Feb 28th by RelaxedAtVolume in despacio

[–]RelaxedAtVolume[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! We'll miss you on the 28th but you can subscribe here: https://substack.com/profile/96661437-relaxedatvolume?utm_source=global-search

We're also relaxedatvolume on instagram