I would
like to start off by saying that this has been an amazing year for
us at Rat. It seems that the industry trend toward compact
high density sound systems is bringing more recognition and acceptance
to what we have been doing all along. A stadium rig in a single
truck is the way of the future and we have that capability right
now. It is exciting to know that a relatively small company
can not only survive, but thrive, with proprietary box designs.
I have updated the web page a bit. Mainly in the "equipment
lists" page including the current rigging plot for the current Pearl
Jam US tour.
We have some
new contact #s
Dave cel phone 818 652 2130
Brian cel phone 818 652 2131
Jon cel phone 805 432 3334
You can send
E-mail direct to our phones but keep it brief because we only get
the first 80 characters.
Dave 8186522130page.nextel.com
Brian 8186522131page.nextel.com
Jon 8054323334page.nextel.com
We are very
happy to have a system out with Sonic Youth again. In 1990,
Sonic Youth was the first band to give Rat Sound a shot at a full
production tour since the Black Flag tours of the mid 80's.
The "Goo" tour gave us the credibility and experience we needed to
begin the transformation to a "touring" sound company, from a "regional"
sound company. Smitty is out as our PA tech, Luc is Sonic's
monitor engineer and Deanne is mixing house. They have a 28 box system
and are out from early May to mid June.
Ben Harper had FOH
drive and monitor augment for another US leg and will take some
outboard gear for the upcoming Horde Tour.
Stabbing Westward
is taking out a 16 box system on their co headline tour with God
Lives Under Water.
Foo Fighters had
a Rat dual 18" sub and 2 triamped wedges to form a 4000 watt triamped
4 way drumfill with the sub on a separate send out in May
Beck did a 2 week
tour with a 72 box system. They had our PM 4000 and WRS
X1 out front and the PM 4000M on stage.
Rat Sound and Industrial
Sound have been working together referring shows back and forth
and a cooperative sound system install in the El Rey theater.
The Glass House
main room sound installation is complete and we have started working
on a system for the small room.
Offspring's drummer
Ron, is having a custom triamped drumfill built for his home studio.
It will consist of 2 dual 15"/dual 10"/2" triamped Rat Drum Fills.
We built an all new
400 amp main power distro. Minicams will replace all Hubbel
twistlock connectors. The distro will run on either single
phase or three phase power and maintain a balanced load on all
power legs in both configurations. It will power an entire
stadium system and is only 19"x17.5"x12" (10 rack spaces) which
is microscopic as far as conventional distro systems go.
Where are the Rats?
Tommy Rat - working
hard on both Rat business and doing local shows with a small PA
company he runs called "Magnum Sound." He flew out to Montana
to help with pre production for the start of the Pearl Jam tour.
Brian Rat - prepping
tours, heading up the Glass House install, working local shows
and with Rancid as house engineer.
Dave Rat - booking
the tours and installs, doing a few engineering gigs, designing
the Rat Cube system and other new equipment.
Karrie - running
the office, invoicing, personnel, equipment scheduling and is
Pearl Jam's monitor engineer
Smitty - PA tech
for Sonic Youth and will go straight into stage tech for Pearl
Jam.
Jon - Prepping systems,
scheduling gear, working one offs, and will be house PA tech on
the Beck and straight into house tech for the Pearl Jam tour.
George - Monitor
eng for Rancid
Jim - House eng for
Space Hogs and Phunk Junkies
Tim - House eng L7,
monitor eng for The Specials
Tommy LBC - our shop
tech, doing one offs and helping with the start of PJ.
We have designed new sliding
hinges for the fly bars that hang the speakers. The current
pin hinge is designed to release if excessive stress occurs from motor
speed imbalance but requires replacement if this occurs. The
new hinge will offer a predetermined resistance, then slips out.
It will be faster to setup and add even more safety to our super safe
fly system. The current Rat fly system has a 9 to 1 safety factor,
uses nylon for load support and steel backups. Any two points
can fail, and the system will still stay in the air.
Some of the
new equipment we purchased since the last newsletter:
TC 2290
TC M2000
Yamaha PM4000M
SPX 990
2 Aphex tubessence
comps
4 Rat ultra long
throw horn packs
24 TAD 2" drivers
BSS DN 310 X-over
BSS FCS 960 EQs
2 Aphex mic preamps
Audio Technica 4050's
We have new dealerships
with Aphex, Aura, Audio Technica, K & M and Littlelite.
In May we
did a show in Las Vegas that went really well. Lots of great
bands on two alternating stage. Only bad thing was that someone
stole the PSU rack to the Ramsa WRS X1 on the small stage. What
were they thinking? Its not like the PSU's are useful without
the console. Anyway, if you hear of some Ramsa WU PS100's or
Ramsa WU PS80's for sale, let us know. It would not be a bummer
to get them back. They were in an Ascot 10 space ATA style shock
mounted case, black carpeted panels with aluminum extrusion.
The Rat Cube
system is progressing and it is going to take "compact" and "high
density" to a whole level beyond our existing systems. Looks
like we will be able to reach the goal of mechanical time alignment
of the components with no fidelity compromises. Unlike most
systems, the Rat Cube system will not require a system processor
to be flat, time aligned and accurate. It will be 18% smaller,
20% lighter and offer the same volume and will be optimized for the
"tweeters on an aux. send" configurations we are now running.
page.nextel.com
