peakaudio

Wedding Season!

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 16:24:49 GMT

In full swing!

Weddings in Montana are magic. We are so lucky to be able to participate and help facilitate some of the most important moments in peoples lives. From sacred ceremonies to brides trying to get a wreath over their new husband's head while he's being thrown into the ceiling by his buddies. We get to see people in their most meaningful moments and we are humbled by that. Here are a few pictures so far this summer.

New Gear Day!

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Wed, 25 May 2022 20:45:05 GMT

Yamaha Stagepas 1k!

New gear day. Added to the fleet today was a pair of Yamaha Stagepas 1k column array speakers. Think of these like the smaller brother of the Bose L1 Pro16's we've already got in the fleet. Excellent for vocals and music that doesn't necessarily need to knock you off your feet. Of course they are bluetooth enabled and carry a five channel mixer onboard which is totally rad! Use them at your next speaking event, party, wedding, or whatever, they can be dialed in to sound AWESOME in almost any space!

Glacier High School Prom 2022

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 17:51:00 GMT

That. Was. Fun.

A successful night at the Gatsby themed Prom for Glacier High School in Kalispell! Biggest banger of the night? And I can't believe this one is still holding on like this, but "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepson. That song appears to be standing the test of time!

My Montana Wedding Expo 2022

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 02:04:35 GMT

Shout out to Marley!

Let me tell you a short story about how I became the luckiest boss ever. I was referred to this 17 year old (at the time) kid with a penchant for enjoying loud things. A year later, I plan on doing a wedding expo and come down with Covid. Marley to the rescue! Now he's 18, and he's incredible. He has never been late, he's never complained, he's always got good input. Short story is he's the coolest, and he handled the entire expo BY HIMSELF.

Major thanks to Marley, if it wasn't for him, we'd have had an empty booth today. Wish I could have been there to meet all the prospective brides/grooms/other and help answer questions, and CARRY THE EQUIPMENT AROUND instead of sitting there like a dud on the couch, but hey, it happens, and it's really nice to know I've got such a great person to fall back on that is trustworthy and responsible at such a young age. If you met him today instead of me, you already know.

Thanks Marley, I owe you one.

Lincoln County High School Gym

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 01:57:38 GMT

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?

I take a lot of pride in trying to make the most out of a situation. I often go into an event space not really knowing what I'm walking into, and find some funny things. In the case of Lincoln County High School, I found a bunch of gear that was great at one time, and some seriously great, but woefully underpowered speakers.

We made the most of it. Installed two new wireless mics (Sennheiser EW-D), iPad control via a private network and Allen & Heath QuPac mixer. I absolutely love this mixer for the application of school gym because I can program the iPad to look super simple to the end user. All they see is they have two mic channels and they can click to mute or click and drag to increase decrease the volume. What's unseen is all the signal processing, eq, etc., that happens under the hood makes a super powerful solution that's totally workable for just about anyone with 15 minutes of training.

The pride piece in this build is finally getting the speakers (some older 15" Electrovoice cabinets) the love they have always wanted with an LEA professional amplifier. That thing was a dream to work with and has proved to be just what the doctor ordered in this case.

Fun job, and economically done for the school. Should last for a good long time to come!

Conference Room Installation

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 20:56:35 GMT

New Conference Room

New Projector, HDMI over HDBaseT installation with integration into existing TVs on the room side walls. In-ceiling speakers for speaking engagements and playback from projector, motorized screen (client already owned this, just needed it installed) and an elegant rack-mount solution. Sound like next up will be mics and mounting a TV or two. Turned out excellent.

Glacier Homecoming Dance

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 20:53:36 GMT

What a party!

Incredible Dance
Incredible Space
Great Tunes
Awesome Party

New Gear Day!

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 19:32:34 GMT

Bose L1 Pro16 Now Available to Rent!

Major output. Clear as a bell. Bass that you can feel. One of these ultra portable Bose L1 arrays is capable of blowing the top off of your medium to large size event (around 250 or below people). Two of them will give you the party you always wanted. These are incredible portable PA's for:

Speaking events
Wedding DJs
Backyard parties
Sporting events

Reserve yours today!

Edgerton Elementary Projection

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 17:17:32 GMT

From Old to New

Edgerton had a problem. We provided the solution. Older gyms weren't built for new tech. Prior to this upgrade, Edgerton Elementary had to roll a projector on a cart to the middle of the gym, connect a computer on a cart that was too small, run two speaker cables to a janky box on the wall, roll out the audio rack, connect an HDMI cable to a projector, connect a 3.5mm trs cable to the audio rack, and then maybe it worked. Now it's a wall-mounted, HD laser projector in a cage. All cabling is run to a room just outside of the gym and after working with IT at Kalispell Public Schools, wireless transmission of a computer screen and audio is possible now from anywhere in the building. Pretty awesome upgrade if you ask me.

Two gyms, three days, bingo!

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 02:22:35 GMT

Want to hear some amazing gym sound?

Head over to West Valley School in Kalispell and you'll find it! In the small gym, 4 - 12" EV cabinets does the trick to provide crystal clear audio capable of getting the PE classes moving! In the large gym, it took 6 - 12" EV EKX cabs with 2 - 18" subwoofers, and it. sounds. amazing. Might be the most balanced sound I've heard in a gym since we moved to Montana 4 years ago.

They were a total pleasure to work with and their facilities guy, Phil was incredible. All I had to do was provide the rack and he fit it into the existing wall and built a panel around it so it looks super clean in the gym.

As usual, wireless mics abound, and iPad mixer control make using this system a breeze. We even ran a couple xlr cables across the gym under the bleachers and terminated them there to be used for music or wired mics at the scorer's table. Enjoy this sound system, Warriors! Thanks for letting us be a part of your school!

Snowline Acres Dance Recital

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 21:01:59 GMT

Snowline Acres (BEAUTIFUL VENUE) Dance Recital

Unfortunately I'm not a professional photographer. However, this venue is straight up incredibly beautiful! What an awesome re-use of an otherwise abandoned building on Idaho St. in Kalispell to turn it into one of the absolutely premium venues in the area. Picturesque views through huge windows, and incredibly old-timey timber construction make an amazing backdrop for this dance recital. Thanks for having me out!

Last Covid Wedding (I hope)

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 05:45:55 GMT

Linda Vista in Somers, Montana.

This was my first time out to Linda Vista. Not only was the venue spectacular, but the owners were fantastic. Met the client here with a 2+0 package and had it up and running in a matter of about 30-45 minutes. A simple, yet elegant, wired Shure SM58 microphone on a tripod stand is unimposing and reliable for a wedding officiant. Many people tout the amazing wireless microphones out there for something like this, but I've got a real soft spot for making sure that the audio is clear, and when there's a microphone on a stand, it is absolutely understood where to speak and "is this thing on?!?". Of course, with a backdrop like this, it's hard to even notice the speakers and microphone. What a great place to finish wedding season!

Cheers to getting through Covid. Stay safe y'all.

Private Memorial Service

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Sat, 29 Aug 2020 15:00:45 GMT

Beautiful, private, and a bit windy

This memorial service needed a place for a musician to play, and a projector with a canopy to provide privacy for a slideshow viewing.

For the musician, we used a 2 12" EV cabinet setup with a Yamaha MG06 mixer. Simple, effective. Inside the canopy was a short throw Optoma projector with a 113" screen and a QSC K12 speaker. People were able to have their moment in semi-privacy during a difficult time coming to grips with the passing of a friend.

Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of your day.

Mountainside Weddings

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 14:54:42 GMT

Covid Safe Delivery!

What a beautiful venue! Mountainside needed a small PA for a small wedding and a digital piano for a traveling musician to play at the venue. We provided a single 12" EV cabinet on a stand with a small Yamaha mixer, 2 mics, and a beautiful Casio digital piano (no, not the one you would find at Costco). The event went off without a hitch!

Cutting Open The Onion (Layers and Layers)

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 17:53:18 GMT

Re-hashing the audio and video for Epworth United Methodist Church

It's evident that this board has seen a lot of love for a lot of years. It was also in need of a cleanup and re-work. Epworth hired us to come in, clean up the board, replace the wireless microphone system, and add monitor speakers for the choir and piano. Some JBL column speakers, a crown amp, a bit of plenum rated speaker wire, a Galaxy powered monitor, 3 Sennheiser wireless mics, and a custom made floor box did the trick for that.

Then there was a curiosity for upgrading video and keeping functionality of a still camera. We added a Sony a6000 mirrorless camera, 2 long runs of Cat6a cable to carry high quality signal to every monitor in the house, new Bal-uns, a video switcher, and a new computer. Problem solved.

Finally, Covid forced the issue of live streaming church. Elgato HD60S to the rescue. We went from a dusty old neglected board to some pretty awesome stuff. The old board stayed as there was a definite love for it. All the things turned out great, now they need a permanent sound and video coordinator...anyone interested?

New Gear Day!

chad@chadisanerd.com (Chad Huff) — Thu, 07 May 2020 21:51:14 GMT

Always love new gear day!

About to take delivery of an AMAZING 18 channel digital mixer in the form of the Midas MR18. Talk about versatile! This thing can run it all, and it has 18 channels of gates, compressors, effects, 6 aux outs, etc. It's a really great piece of equipment that we are happy to start sending out on our rentals!

Also coming in the shipment are Shure Beta58a mics. This mic is a super-cardioid pattern, so it's even better at feedback rejection and has a better tone for most ears for singers. It's a great mic, one of the best! Looking forward to getting people to use this high quality equipment when this virus stops rearing it's head.

Can anyone say Corona Party?!? The time is coming! Get on the schedule!

Covid-19 Update

Sun, 22 Mar 2020 04:02:15 GMT

Parties are irresponsible for a while...

Bad news, parties are a no go for a while. Good news, we will be ready when the curve has been flattened. Make no mistake, we miss the events like you do. Let's wait a bit though, until the world has begun it's recovery before we set up any gear rentals. If you have something to book in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out. Wash your hands, stay home, you know, all that.

Accomplishing Stuff

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 22:35:10 GMT

Feels good to make solid progress.

There's not a lot that makes me feel as good as spring cleaning! This church needed some help. I'm in the middle of providing it for them. Total sound board cleanup, stage cleanup, eliminated floor monitors, added passive column array speakers to use as choir monitors. Ran new speaker wire, and Cat6A cable to take audio and video to all the tvs in the assembly hall. This has been a very satisfying job to help with! Excited for a few more steps and then training! Take a look at some before pictures, and during pictures. There are no completed pictures yet, but there will be soon!

Before.

During.

Before.

During.