[FONT="]I'm lead student technician for an 840-seat public high school theatre that opened in 2004. Sadly, some of the equipment installed with the building was lowest-bid junk. We have some alumni donating money to upgrade several systems, including our sound equipment. (I'll probably be asking about the other parts of the project in the appropriate boards) Here are the relevant components of our existing inventory, in the signal chain:[/FONT]
[FONT="]Our current system, without purchasing any new equipment, could sound better. Neither our director nor I know enough about sound to properly tune the built-in system, and we’ve resorted to wheeling our monitor wedges out onto the apron to use for FOH sound, which has been a huge improvement but does not solve our board capacity or microphone reception issues. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I think it would make sense to hire a theatrical consultant, sound engineer, or some other skilled individual to tune our existing equipment and advise us on what to change/purchase in order to improve our sound. Things are very muddy and mid-centric. Perhaps we need to move the speakers. Perhaps we need more powerful amps. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Anyway, the point is, where do I go to hire someone? (I looked at this thread, but it's a bit different from what we're looking for) What kind of person should I be looking for? We’re in the South Florida area, if anyone has recommendations. We’ve been quoted about $700 for this sort of work previously. Is that an accurate figure? [/FONT]
[FONT="]Also, any recommendations on a new console in the 30 to 40-channel range? I’ve looked at an Allen & Heath GL2400-40 (40 XLR ins, and I've used one at another school and liked it), and a District A/V coordinator suggested a [FONT="]Mackie 3204-VLZ, which has 28 XLR and 4 stereo inputs.[/FONT][/FONT]
Thanks,
Austin Powers
Lead Student Technician
Kathryn Lindgren Theatre
Boca Raton Community High School
- [FONT="]9 Shure SLX beltpack/reciever combos (We have several older Shure sets, but are moving everything to SLX bit by bit. I want to invest in a distributed directional antenna system, because we’ve had issues with tangles of wires and individual antennas)[/FONT]
- [FONT="]1 Yamaha GF24/12 mixing console (20 XLR channels, 3 of which are already dead due perhaps to the visible condensation that forms when our booth A/C cycles on and off. Gah.)[/FONT]
- [FONT="](1) Rane GE130 equalizer (30-band)[/FONT]
- [FONT="](1) Shure DFR11EQ digital EQ and feedback reducer[/FONT]
- [FONT="](1) DBX 223 stereo 2-way crossover (splits signal to – CH 1 low freq, CH 2 high freq)[/FONT]
- [FONT="](1) Yamaha GC2020C compression / limiter (labeled CH 1 low freq, CH 2 high freq)[/FONT]
- [FONT="](2) Yamaha C450 stereo amplifier (top amp listed High Freq, bottom amp low freq.)[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Hung behind fabric panels, pointing almost straight down, above the apron:[/FONT]
[FONT="]Our current system, without purchasing any new equipment, could sound better. Neither our director nor I know enough about sound to properly tune the built-in system, and we’ve resorted to wheeling our monitor wedges out onto the apron to use for FOH sound, which has been a huge improvement but does not solve our board capacity or microphone reception issues. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I think it would make sense to hire a theatrical consultant, sound engineer, or some other skilled individual to tune our existing equipment and advise us on what to change/purchase in order to improve our sound. Things are very muddy and mid-centric. Perhaps we need to move the speakers. Perhaps we need more powerful amps. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Anyway, the point is, where do I go to hire someone? (I looked at this thread, but it's a bit different from what we're looking for) What kind of person should I be looking for? We’re in the South Florida area, if anyone has recommendations. We’ve been quoted about $700 for this sort of work previously. Is that an accurate figure? [/FONT]
[FONT="]Also, any recommendations on a new console in the 30 to 40-channel range? I’ve looked at an Allen & Heath GL2400-40 (40 XLR ins, and I've used one at another school and liked it), and a District A/V coordinator suggested a [FONT="]Mackie 3204-VLZ, which has 28 XLR and 4 stereo inputs.[/FONT][/FONT]
Thanks,
Austin Powers
Lead Student Technician
Kathryn Lindgren Theatre
Boca Raton Community High School