Rest 30 Records: Craft Lake City DIY Engineer

Rest 30 Records

rest30.com

When it comes to music, Dave Payne is a jack of all trades. As the founder and owner of local label Rest 30 Records, Payne works with local musicians to create material that is cohesive to both live and recorded settings by creating his own technology and instruments.

For the 2015 Craft Lake City DIY Festival, Payne will be showcasing his handmade omnidirectional speaker cabinets. With regular speaker cabinets, only the drums are omnidirectional—dulling the sound of other instruments and vocals to anyone not within a direct range of their frequencies. “I thought that if I tried to make the other sounds in the group function more like the drums do, sonically, then I could just circumvent the whole situation,” says Payne, who uses these cabs when working with groups on his label and his own bands. “When the Red Bennies play [with omnidirectional cabs], the singing, guitar and bass point at us—all of us, drums included—and then past us to the audience,” he says. “So we know the sound they’re going to hear. We also know how to play appropriately because we can hear each other,” adding that this technology is particularly useful for those seeking a more acoustic sound in a live setting without having to compromise the guitar over the omnipresence of the drum frequencies. “If you’re standing in line with the bass amp [in the audience], the guitar will be soft, and if you’re standing in line with the guitar amp, the bass will be soft,” he says, “and in both cases, the drums will remain loud.”

In addition to changing the way music can be heard for listeners, this new technology changes the way musicians hear themselves play in a live setting. “If you’re performing onstage, you can’t hear your bandmate at all, while the drums remain loud, and sometimes the drummer can’t hear either,” says Payne. “This problem is usually solved by using monitors for everyone, [which are] individual speakers set in front of each performer that delivers an adjusted mix of all the instruments that they couldn’t hear otherwise.” Rather than adding extra equipment and people (usually, this sound is mixed and monitored by a technician), Payne’s omnidirectional cabs will allow all members of a band to hear each other at the same frequencies.

Aside from speaker cabinets, Payne creates his own instruments, too. His specialties include fine electric guitars and a keytar that is operational with your left hand. For now, the speaker cabs are not for sale, but they will be in the future.

The 7th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival is right around the corner, Aug. 7 and 8 at the Gallivan Center. This year’s festival features over 250 artisans, craft foodies, vintage vendors and nonprofit organizations, as well as a replete offering of stage performers, buskers, DIY engineers, commercial food vendors and food trucks. Over the past seven years, Craft Lake City has celebrated DIY (do-it-yourself) culture of all forms, from artists and makers who call Utah home. This mission continually aligns with SLUG’s affinity for the vibrant local culture of Utah, and we’ve combed the lists of participants to highlight some amazing artisans, craft foodies, DIY engineers, performers and vintage vendors.