Graduation Party — Tapa

The gym floor is usually settled by March, but graduation falls in June, and that means the hall is still scheduled around exams and makeup classes until three days before. You lose setup time, which means you lose the window to test the rig under load, and testing is the only thing between working sound and a feedback loop in front of two hundred parents with phones out.

What moves the cost in Tapa is mostly travel and time. Gear comes from Tallinn, crew comes from Tallinn, and the hourly rate starts when the van leaves the yard. A single-day strike and setup runs lean. If the venue needs power distribution beyond what the building panel can give, or if doors open before the test window closes, the invoice doubles.