Distributed Audio System

[kmkonline]

Dear All,

Happy New Year.

I would like to ask something about the Distributed audio system. We are a secondary school in Hong Kong, we are looking for a distributed audio system. We have five different venue with different audio requirement.

1. School Hall (48 Stage Rack on Stage Level 2/F, 32 Mic. on Balcony Level 3/F (for choir performance), 16 input + ADAT in Control Room 4/F with Surface)
2. Integrated Learning Center (16-24 Input , two zone mono output) - no control surface, may be using PL series Panel for daily operation
3. Student Activities Centre (16-24 Input, Two Zone {x1 stereo + 1 mono} ) - no control surface, may be using PL series Panel for daily operation
4. Mini Theatre (24 input on stage, 16 input in Control Room - just a small room and everything on the same level). - Need to have a small control surface to operate all the channel for this mini theatre.

5. Spare surface in School Hall Balcony Level, will explain below.



The way that we connect the system of 2,3,4 is a Yamaha DME-64N as a speaker processor.

Setup

1. For daily operation, each of the venue will be operated independently. So I think this is easy to setup, just time to configure them

2. For campus radio operation, DJ will be sit in the mini theatre or hall, then all the location will relay the audio signal and do a broadcast. I think this is easy job for the system. So not much concert. But is it possible for me to change the setup for the whole system with a single recall on the computer software??? Or I need to be physically located in each control room to serve this purpose? Thanks.

3. Multi Venue Show, We have a live band in the Student Activities Center showing using the spare Surface (original for balcony), at the same time the signal will broadcast to the School Hall System then the Mixer in the control to do a Mixing with the Hall signal together. Then a overall mixing will be broadcast to each location. Is this easy to setup? Will it be very difficult to setup?

4. As as said in above we would have a spare surface in Balcony Level, is it possible to setup that Balcony Console to act as the FOH Console to replace the one in the Control room for some of the function, does it require us to do any manual patching? Because our control room is a store room when we design the building, its difficult to hear the FOH signal directly for large show, we would like to hook up a surface on 3/F then we can do all the channel linking... am i dream too big for this?

5. Selected channel from different places send to Hall Surface and do the mixing there, and then it send out required signal to each venue. For example, 4 mic of each venue will send to school hall surface and have a different mix to each of the location.

Above is the idea that I would like to design this system. Will it be too difficult for us to complete this one?

Please advise.

Best Wishes,
KMK

 

[metti]

I would just like to clarify one point. When you say "surface" do you mean mixer or MIDI control surface? From the context I would guess mixer but I don't want to presume. What types (make and model please) of mixers do you have?

 

[museav]

Above is the idea that I would like to design this system. Will it be too difficult for us to complete this one?

I'm not sure what you are asking. It is difficult to assess what may be "too difficult for us" without knowing much about your role in the project, your relevant background and experience, etc. Are you responsible for designing and installing the system? What is your role, background and experience?

I'm also not clear on the project. Are the individual space systems existing and your are trying to now tie them together or is everything new? What is planned for the actual mix electronics and interfaces in each space? What are the "PL series Panel" referenced? What are the mixing surfaces? Is everything still in the conceptual stage or are certain elements or equipment existing or already defined?

A DME64N is a matrix DSP processor that has four slots that each can accommodate 8 analog channels or 16 digital channels of I/O. That might work fine for taking the outputs of the subsystems for each individual venue and routing/mixing those as desired. However, in a couple of your scenarios it sounds like your goal is to route inputs to different mixers, use different control surfaces, etc. Are you looking at what is basically multiple subsystems whose outputs can be routed and mixed or are you thinking more along the lines of what is in effect one large mixing system with multiple controls and preset routings?

Oh, and since it might be relevant, do you have to worry about things like doing this within a budget?