more sound questions

[Ricky Smith]

So we're using suspended mics for the non leads in our play, they're the cardial mics that you can hang with a 15+ foot cord and a xlr connector, however the problem is they require phantom power. but that's a problem with the way our systems setup it's a two mixer sound system a PA system and a Drama System, if PA is on you can control either with the 12 channel mixer up on stage in the rack or the soundboard in the back 32 channels soundcraft, or if in drama only the 32 channel mixer works so people cant screw around with the system. in either case if you turn phantom on the 32 mixer board it doesn't make it all the way down to the stage where the mics are connected. our only fix we know of is to hook it into a small 6 channel mixer down on stage and have one output to the system.

does anyone know of a way to fix this? perhapse we're missing something but we were told we could hook those mics in and they would work fine when we were trained on the system

now you would think oh well just call the company and have them come out. well that's not so much an option neither me, nor the drama, or music instructor has the ability to contact them. the contact is through our building manager. who unless there's a fire under his ass isn't going to get them. he's told us for 2 months now litterly that they'll be coming out but they never call "him" since it's their job and not his apparnetly to do the calling.

[6ftstudios]

so...the system works a few ways, but which way are you running it for this production? Does "phantom from the soundcraft doesn't reach the stage" mean that there are not inputs for the soundcraft on stage?

If you can give me more information and be more specific - it will help.

- D

[Ricky Smith]

our system is comprised of two racks one on stage and one in the control booth, the booth one has a hard switch between pa and drama. if the switch is set to pa the system will run without the soundcraft board being on and you can use a cheap 12 channel rack mount mixer on stage, or you can go upto the booth and turn on the soundcraft and operate from there but you can also mess with the front stage mixer.

now if you set it to drama only the sound craft will operate the system and you can't mess with the front stage mixer. all the mics run upto the booth where the sound craft is.

i think the way it works is all the mic channels 10 wireless, 4 hardwired, 2 spare in the rack. all run into the stage rack and then there's some sort of control pannel that everything runs into and depending on if you switch to pa or drama that changes what is able to control the system, so from there all those channels run upto the mixing board in the booth. thus if you turn on phantom power it sends it down the line into the control pannel but that's where it ends and it doesn't make it to the ports.

[Foxinabox10]

I think the issue is that the way it is wired does not support phantom power. What you do is hook up a phantom power supply between the mics and the board and this will make it work. Here's an example of one:

http://www.markertek.com/SearchProdu...ff=1&sort=prod

The second one on the list will power 4 microphones.

[astrotechie]

Originally Posted by Rickblu

our system is comprised of two racks one on stage and one in the control booth, the booth one has a hard switch between pa and drama. if the switch is set to pa the system will run without the soundcraft board being on and you can use a cheap 12 channel rack mount mixer on stage, or you can go upto the booth and turn on the soundcraft and operate from there but you can also mess with the front stage mixer.
now if you set it to drama only the sound craft will operate the system and you can't mess with the front stage mixer. all the mics run upto the booth where the sound craft is.
i think the way it works is all the mic channels 10 wireless, 4 hardwired, 2 spare in the rack. all run into the stage rack and then there's some sort of control pannel that everything runs into and depending on if you switch to pa or drama that changes what is able to control the system, so from there all those channels run upto the mixing board in the booth. thus if you turn on phantom power it sends it down the line into the control pannel but that's where it ends and it doesn't make it to the ports.

see this is where if the building manager did something we could find out much more easier, ie call the company. But i have to say i think you are right, There is a way.

[gafftaper]

Yeah just sounds like you need an in-line phantom power supply I did a quick search on www.musiciansfriend.com and found a dozen options. It won't be cheap if you need to do a lot of mics but if you only need a couple it's not bad.

[Ricky Smith]

would you happen to know where i can get 6' xlr cables. or even just buy the ends in bulk?

[jkowtko]

http://www.orangecountyspeaker.com/ ... I've bought a lot of stuff through them ... very inexpensive and so far has been working well for me.

[gafftaper]

Musician's Friend XLR plugs for as little as $2 each

You'll also find their house brand cables in 6' for $9.

OR buy this 20' cable for $8, add two connectors for $4, Cut to length, install, install... bam two cables for $12.

Sign up for their catalog and watch their sales. I've gotten their house brand 20' XLR cables for $5 in the past. They aren't something I would take on a road tour but they are just fine for high school theater.

[SHARYNF]

Before you run out and buy a bunch of phantom power modules, it makes sense to understand how this is all run.
I am guessing that there is some sort of isolation transformer splitter that is on stage that takes the mic inputs and allows these to be routed either to the on stage mixer or the main mixer. If it is not just a simple y split, then the isolation transformer is going to block the phantom power from one channel. If you look around you should be able to find out how the signal is routed, typically with an iso setup, there is a non iso feed, that is direct and this feed will accept phantom power and my guess is that this should be from your main mixer, and then the inexpensive on stage mixer is on the iso split and does not get phantom power. I would suggest that you either get a tester for phantom power or use a phantom powered mic and try to determine where the phantom power is getting blocked. You might find that in all cases if you use these mics you need to have the main console on to provide power, OR it is possible the the cheap mixer on stage is providing power, and then this mixer needs to be on at all times, even if not being used.

what mic's are you using? Some require a module that is battery powered, (some of the Audio Tech) some have batteries built in (AKG c1000s) or some do need phantom power (Oktava 012) for instance.
Sharyn