Dhoni Show’s sound reinforcement needs were comparatively complex compared to the regular shows held in Male’, Maldives, at that time. Perhaps this was the first show aligned with the concept of the album (also titled ‘Dhoni’ by Zero Degree Atoll). The performance also included theatrical elements.
Some natural sounds had to be reinforced live, in place of samples in the album. The most challenging was to get the “Bai Polhi” sound right and in balance in a line up of 2 drum sets; 4 bodu beru, 2 guitars, 1 bass, vocals with backing vocals and an array of percussions, playing at high volumes. Bai Polhi reproduces a very soft sound – the sound of grains of rice falling on a wooven mat. This was finally achieved by very precise mic-ing and monitoring.
To my recollection, due to limited resources, we had a couple of mixers hooked up to get the necessary amount of channels. Although no seperate mixer was used for monitors, one engineer was monitoring the monitor signals, one the main sound and one was monitoring overall event. I was involved in it right from the planning till the execution. However, because I was gigging with Amazon Jade at that time, I couldn’t be there on the last night of the performance.