Termlab + hosting competitions questions

[Fuzzy336]

*if in wrong section please move it to the right one*

I recently acquired a Termlab from a shop that closed near me, at the bottom of the post there will be a pic. This termlab is an older model and I was curious, is it possible for termlabs to become un calibrated over time to where it doesnt show the correct DB level? if so can you re calibrate it to make it correct if that is the case?

Also now that I have this termlab I want to start hosting local competitions, what all do I need to know about hosting events? whats the best way to advertise them locally? do I need to get a permit from the town I'm hosting the event in to not get shut down with noise ordinance complaints? how do I go about doing that? and is there anything else i need to know? I just want to start having local fun events for people around my area to be able to compete for trophies and maybe cash prizes if it picks up enough. any and all advice is welcome, thanks!

Here is the pic:

[Mtnbikecrazy55]

Cool! I don't compete so I would t know the answers to your questions, but your vision sounds fun! Go do it!

[sully]

Start by talking to local shops about them having a show and using you as the Db drag guy, takes a lot of the liability off you and the shop can get the word out better than an individual.

As for the system not being calibrated, the only thing I have seen is faulty microphones so you may need to replace it if you are going to use it regularly. From the looks of it you only have one mic anyway so if you are doing competitions it would benefit you to get another so you can have contestants go head to head.

[audiofanaticz]

Thats a way old mic, it dont even have the cat5 connectors, and that mic reads a bit louder compared to the new systems.

To judge shows, you normally need to have the event promotor package for db drag/bassrace, Im not even sure if todays software would even run on that meter.

None the less judges need to have the most up to date software.

If the you where able to get updated working software for that meter, you would have to pay to change the meters licensing in your name, and also pay for the software upgrade, since your obviously not the original owner, and since its older then 1 year old (which is how long free updates and customer support lasts after you purchase a new meter). Also, this is all kept track of by Wayne who invented these meters, by serial number, date, address, owner info, etc.

Now since it is a way old meter (easily over 6-7 years old) and reads 3-5db louder since its not the same pressure sensor style mic, it would make the meter illegal for almost every sanctioned competition that uses a termlab simply because scores that are set by competitors at your shows would not be the same as scores set by the same or different competitors at other shows.

Hopefully you didnt pay too much for the meter, because realistically it wont be much use to host shows and any somewhat real competitor wouldnt compete on that mic unless it was for fun and meant nothing stat wise for said competitors career.

My opinion is they are not worth buying used, because you dont have access to customer support if you have an issue with it, you wont have up to date software unless you pay for each new version that comes out every couple months. Your just spending more money on a used item then its worth.

Sorry to bust your bubble, if I did. Just being honest with it.

[audiofanaticz]

As for hosting shows, normally you need to find a shop that is willing to pay you money to do a show.

Of coarse you can do them for free, but once you pay money out of your pocket for sanctioning fees, trophies, etc your not going to be a happy camper.

Now you can have shows for fun and not have to worry about sanctioning fees, but most likely you wont have to great of a competitor turn out, since the competitors don't get points and stats for their career, and points are needed to get a finals invite for the competitor.

Almost every organization has a judge, and most those judges have a few state territory where in those states only that said judge does shows for that organization such as DB Drag/Bassrace, IDBL, IASCA, MidwestSPL, EMMA, NSPL.

I see your in North Carolina, which runs into your first problem which is that there is already a judge that does DB Drag/Bassrace, and Iasca in the NC and SC states called Carolina SPL

They actually have a event Saturday the 3rd in SC, and another on the Sunday the 4th in NC https://www.facebook.com/CarolinaSPL

So if you wanted to judge comps you would need to be a judge for another org, as long as there is no other judges in that area doing the same org, which their maybe ( I don't know since I'm not from that area).

Normally the way it would work tho is you find shops in your permitted territory to host a show, the shop will usually pay you some money. Usually to cover the sanctioning fee for whatever org your a judge for ($100-500) depending on how many point show your planning on hosting. Once you get a good following and competitor base you can normally get the shop to toss you more money, which may help with trophy costs. Typically you should have 1st thru 3rd place trophies for every class in the org your a judge for (this can be 10+ different classes), but once you have been doing this a while you get to know your competitors and know which classes are always ran so you don't have to have as many trophies on hand per show. Veteran competitors don't care so much about a 1foot tall trophy but a new comer sure as hell does and will be mad if he takes top 3 and gets no trophy, now if its a 3-5 foot tall trophy from a big comp/show, those seasoned and veteran competitors will want them!!!

So after the shop helps cover the sanctioning fee, and possibly the trophy cost or part of it, the rest is all on you and up to you if you make money doing it or go home broker then you started.

The day of the show the competitors show up and register, you normally can charge $15-25 per class they compete in, if they do multiple classes there's normally a $5 price cut for doing 2 classes. This is where the judge makes his money to cover his fuel, lodging, time, equipment.

Sometimes for bigger shows you can talk to the audio manufactures and get items for raffle, and have raffle tickets sold which is more money in your pocket, big raffles bring in competitors from all over, sometimes this is enough to get competitors to goto your show vs another show that maybe held in the next state over. Just like competitors are more likely to drive farther for a 3x (3 times the points) show vs a single point (1x) show. However double and triple point shows cost double and triple the price to sanction which is what makes it an official competition.

Other things you need to host a show besides shops/carshows to have the show at:

~Printer for printing of registration forms, certificates, and brackets for eliminations.

~PA system with a mic so you can announce whats going on, whose up next, music.

~Some sort of pop up style cover/tent to go over your gear in case it rains.

~Almost every judge now days seems to be running either single or dual 36+inch screens to display the numbers to the competitors and spectators. You could also use the older style leader board, but the chip inside them that they ~need is something like $700 so that it can communicate correctly with the termlab.

~Tables to set your gear up on such as the printer, pc, tv's, trophies. Another table to have a place for competitors to fill out registration sheets for the event. or a bunch of clip boards, oh and pens/pencils.

Think thats about all I can think of now, its late err early...

I suggest going to a couple local sanctioned shows and see what and how the judges are running the events.

This isnt something you can do for free even for fun, there is a lot of work involved in it. Ive helped my local judge setup and tear down and run events for years... It got annoying quick when you have a 5'by12' trailer to unload, setup, and reload every show. lol

[audiofanaticz]

Also almost forgot, most organizations require a 2 mic setup because your going head to head, 1 competitor in lane 1, another in lane 2 that are both in the same class.

Without 2 mics, your not able to run most of the competition formats.

I also forgot to add that you need to advertise the shows, common sense would make you think the shop would help by telling their local customers, maybe taking out a radio ad, etc but that seems to be rare (at least around here). They feel that since your hosting the show it is your job. When you have shows far away and in a different area you think those shops would help more since you dont know that area but they do, but not always the case.

The termpro website posts upcoming shows, but the site is fairly dead and not many people keep up to date with it like it once was, biggest form of advertisement now days it seems like is Facebook, and some forums have a compeitors area where members can post upcoming shows/events

Here is what the newer style meters look like.

1 long 25foot cable plugs each of the black sensor into the white brain, then you have a usb cable that goes from the brain to the computer.

The newer brains are powered via usb, the somewhat older ones are powered by a wall outlet with a transformer power pack, but they connect to the sensor and computer the same way, and are just as accurate.

The old style like yours requires wall outlet power, a serial port on a old computer or really really really old laptop, and it uses the old balanced cable connectors to plug into the mics which read way louder because it is a mic and not a pressure sensor.

Heres a pic of mine which is the current style

Edit: You don't always need a noise ordnance permit either, it depends on the city, it also depends on the shops location. Again since sometimes you don't know where the location is, this is something you tell the shop about and tell them its something they need to handle. Its best to have this all in righting too, as well as other details about payment, date, time, etc so that your ass is covered in case an accident of any sort would happen.

[Fuzzy336]

Thanks for the input so far everyone, I wasn't wanting to host anything official with a point system, just something fun for people to partake in, there are no serious competitors around here so I'm just trying to cater to the average Joe who only has 2 12's. The meter was only $120 with a couple other things from a shop that was closing down. But I just wanted to run it where everyone just goes one at a time, there score is written down, and then if someone beats your score you can go for a re run to see if you can take the lead again, like I'm saying, most people don't know what song is loudest for their individual system around here. Plus it would just be for trophies and maybe a cash prize if the competition was big enough, and I'd be happy with just like a 20-40 person turnout, like I said, nothing crazy, just a local competition system.

[audiofanaticz]

That aint to bad for a price then since it was cheap enough, people buying used meters for 400ish is not a deal, even if they include the laptop.

20-40 people will be hard in most areas today due to the economy, not having a following which you would have to create.

The judge here does IL, MI, MN, and WI, he also does Db drag, usaci, and meca all at one show, and him to get 20-30 actual competitors a show is very hard to do in the last couple years with an exception of a few shows.

but if your not having sanctioned events, its a lot less of an expense to cover, something to do would be plan an even a month or so in advanced withh a great shop willing to help out. Get some kind of donations to raffle off supplied by the shop, cook out burgers, have cold drinks, etc. These things bring in the people. Maybe the shop could even have some sort of a sale for that day. Either way you will have your work cut out for ya, and planning it and getting the word out will be your biggest most stressful thing

Im sure there are many comps in your area, your just not aware of them, granted they might not be in your city, but if you drive a hour out one direction or another you'll prob find a comp, theres a lot of big name competitors from the NC/SC area and are pretty dang loud too

[Fuzzy336]

Oh yeah, there are a lot of loud people around here, and there are some big events I've gone to just to watch, but I know of a lot of people who want to compete but know they don't stand a chance at those bigger events. That's the crowd I want to try to help. Your idea about the shop with the one day special and raffle is a great idea, and I got 4 shops in a 20 mile radius I could talk to about that, plus countless rim stores. I already started a facebook page www.facebook.com/centralncbassheads to try to organize a crowd, is there any other approach I should work on? I already got the tent/cover, table, computer, termlab, extension cords, etc, can you think of anything else I need besides the trophies that I need to cover?

[Fuzzy336]

So does anyone else have any input/suggestions on this topic?