Multiple Questions regarding sound/booth monitor/recording interface

[etcdrama]

Hey guys I have several questions that I hope you can help me with.

I am the technical director at my high school and we just got a whole brand new facility:

We are running a Yamaha MG32/14FX board through 4 EV SxA250's which you can see in the picture if you look on the left.

Now that we just finished our fall production we got some money to spend on goodies. Now there a couple things that I wanted to ask you guys about. The teacher wants to make a "Studio" where people can come and record their music. What I was thinking is just having everything set up on the stage and then have a pair of these at the console
KRK Rokit Powered 5 Generation 2 and more Studio Monitors at GuitarCenter.com.

for mixing and previewing sounds/music etc. by use of the Group 1-2 bus which you can do right?

Now the next thing is the way our booth is setup it is very hard to hear the actors/performers so we have a "booth monitor" this consists of a wireless vocal microphone (Yes I know its ghetto) hooked up to a 200watt Yamaha powered mixer attached to a big ugly piece of trash Gemini Speaker. Now this kind of _works_ but I'd like to get a more efficient system going. I was thinking I could run the wireless microphone into the board and have it set to the Aux 1 and 2 buses with the pre function selected so it won't go the main feed. Then have like a pair of computer speakers at the light board where the person running the lights can adjust the sound to their needs and the person at the sound board with those speakers i linked to can adjust the volume for themselves. Would there be enough power to give a pair of cheap computer speakers enough signal to be useful as a booth monitor? I know its kind of something I need to try but I am open to suggestions on changing this. I know they make better microphones for long range pickup but I dont know what would be a good one to get and how much it would run.

The next thing is those EV's are lovely but they are XLR connect only. With us living in the 21st digital age people dont know how to operate anything but an ipod and unfortunately unless I get like 5 adapters and stick them into each other then there is no way to get an Ipod to those speakers. What I was thinking is maybe getting a cheap mixer like this:
Amazon.com: Behringer 802 8-Input Mixer: Musical Instruments
Then get a couple of 1/4" to XLR adapters so that can hook up to those speakers and you got a quick little stereo thing going if you need to hookup 2 microphones and a guitar or something and an ipod
Is that a good way to do it and more importantly will it work?


Thanks in advance

 

[museav]

I have to get this out of the way first, it is sad to see what seems to be yet another example of a new facility that possibly could have been so much more. From a mix position that does not hear what the audience hears to speakers that appear very questionably deployed and probably many other issues, there at least seems to have been some design decisions made that negatively impact the quality and functionality of the space. But it is what you now have, so let's see if we can help you.

The teacher wants to make a "Studio" where people can come and record their music.

There are a number of issues to consider with this application from technical to copyright and licensing. There is also typically a difference between a "studio" approach and what would typically be associated with an archival recording, your approach sounds more like the latter where you are simply recording an event rather than creating a true studio environment.

For recording from the main mixer it is typical to use Aux sends as those allow you to create a mix that is relatively independent of the house mix. You could use two Groups (e.g. 1/2 or 3/4) to create a 'record' mix as noted but that is an atypical use. Groups are usually used for creating submixes, for example you may route the band/orchestra or a group of mics to a Group and thus be able to mute and adjust their level as a group rather than having to adjust all the related channels individually. And previewing is usually done through PFL or "pre fader listen" for channels and AFL or "after fader listen" for the Groups, which allows previewing or monitoring the audio without disrupting the audio paths.

As it may also be relevant, be aware that the Group Outs on your console are +4dBu balanced outputs while if you use a consumer recorder that will likely have -10dBm unbalanced inputs.

Now the next thing is the way our booth is setup it is very hard to hear the actors/performers so we have a "booth monitor" this consists of a wireless vocal microphone (Yes I know its ghetto) hooked up to a 200watt Yamaha powered mixer attached to a big ugly piece of trash Gemini Speaker. Now this kind of _works_ but I'd like to get a more efficient system going. I was thinking I could run the wireless microphone into the board and have it set to the Aux 1 and 2 buses with the pre function selected so it won't go the main feed. Then have like a pair of computer speakers at the light board where the person running the lights can adjust the sound to their needs and the person at the sound board with those speakers i linked to can adjust the volume for themselves.

I'm not clear on how you use the wireless mic or where it is located but this is an example where both the console selection and the overall room and system designs should have avoided or addressed this situation.

The person mixing sound typically needs to bounce from monitoring/cueing on the console, listening to the live sound and communications (do you have a communications system?). If the control booth speakers act like headphones tied into the mixer then those can serve multiple purposes and some mixers have 'control room' outputs specifically for this purpose. If you use a separate source for the monitor speakers then the operator still has to deal with also monitoring the house mixer and comms.

Another potential problem is that if they monitor off the console or from a mic somewhere else then they are not hearing what they would naturally. If off the console then they do not hear the natural delay it takes the sound to get to them or the effects of the room on what is heard. If monitoring off a mic then the mic location and response affect what they hear. The bottom line is that the ability to mix based on what the audience is hearing is compromised.

There may be some misunderstanding about Aux sends. The Aux sends are typically used to create independent mixes for things like monitor mixes or tie lines to the stage or record sends or ALS sends or, as with Aux 5 and 6 on your console, for processing and effects feeds. The "Pre" and "Post" nomenclature has nothing to do with whether it goes to the main mix, that actually determines whether the signal being sent to that Aux mix bus is before (pre) or after (post) the fader for that channel. If pre fade then changes made with the channel fader do not affect that channel in the Aux mix, if post fader then any changes to the channel fader do affect that channel in the related Aux mix.

The next thing is those EV's are lovely but they are XLR connect only. With us living in the 21st digital age people dont know how to operate anything but an ipod and unfortunately unless I get like 5 adapters and stick them into each other then there is no way to get an Ipod to those speakers. What I was thinking is maybe getting a cheap mixer like this:
Amazon.com: Behringer 802 8-Input Mixer: Musical Instruments
Then get a couple of 1/4" to XLR adapters so that can hook up to those speakers and you got a quick little stereo thing going if you need to hookup 2 microphones and a guitar or something and an ipod
Is that a good way to do it and more importantly will it work?

I am confused by this, what EVs and what is XLR connect only? What are you trying to do? If the goal is simply an easier way to tie in an iPod, and ignoring potential copyright and other issues that could be involved there, then a docking station or an interface like the ProCo iFace (Pro Co Sound | On Stage with the Best) or Whirlwind podDI or pcDI (Whirlwind / Direct Boxes) would probably be a good option.

 

[jkowtko]

Seems like he has self-powered speakers. I think a small mixer would be a good idea to provide easy access to RCA inputs for people to quickly connect their equipment and still get stereo sound out. Buy a few 1/8" and RCA to 1/4" for the input channels.

Brad pointed out the problems with electronic vs natural monitoring from the booth. If that booth has a window I would just open it up all the way and lean out as much as you can to hear as close to what the audience hears. It still won't be ideal, and you may have to make dozens of trips back and forth from the booth to the main room to "calibrate" your ears for booth duty. I've had to do this, it's a real pain, but it gets me pretty close to being out in the room.

The other thing you can do, of course, for live performance, is to have an outpost in the back of the room where you can place the console and snake it back to the racks in the booth. I also concur that it is sad to watch these multi-million dollar facilities built one after another with apparently no regard for sound. But then again maybe the designer just assumed the sound crew would bring in their own equipment, plant the board on rear two rows of seats, and do what they do best

 

[BillESC]

As stated, all too often the theatre designers want it pretty... not functional. Sad to be sure. The new High School Auditorium in West Point, VA is a prime example. The booth has windows but they don't open. All of the XLR jack on the stage are wired with two conductor un-shielded wire. I could go on and on but hey, they only spent 4.8 million.

 

[museav]

As stated, all too often the theatre designers want it pretty... not functional. Sad to be sure. The new High School Auditorium in West Point, VA is a prime example. The booth has windows but they don't open. All of the XLR jack on the stage are wired with two conductor un-shielded wire. I could go on and on but hey, they only spent 4.8 million.

At least in my experience the problem there is that there too often is no "theatre designer" but rather an Architect or other party who designs what they think a theatre should look like and systems designs that are provided by someone providing "free design" which is often worth exactly what was paid for it (if not less).

 

[TimmyP1955]

Re: Possibly unhelpful response

If, from the console, you cannot hear what's happening in the auditorium, you cannot possibly give the audience the sound that they paid for when they bought their ticket. No one would ask the lighting people to work through a tinted window, but they think nothing of making it impossible for the sound people to do their job.

For recording, you don't want to hear what's happening in the room at all. In this scenario you want a control room that is closed off, so you hear only what the microphones are hearing.

 

[BillESC]

Re: Possibly unhelpful response

Oh, and I really like West Point's FOH lighting position. Two pipes with 16 S4's on each. The only problem is they are on motors which brings them down to seat level for color and relamping But focusing is bit*h.

 

[museav]

What really bothers me is why these issues were not addressed during construction and training for the facility and system, if not being actually resolved then at least being discussed. As long as the parties with authority accept such an approach and result, this will continue to happen.

To give you an idea of the problems, I once had such a person tell me that their perspective was that if I did my job designing the system and creating bid documents then they should be able to hire anyone for the installation and get a good result. Not only is that rather unrealistic but to add to it, they then often have little assessment of the design or designer with that service also often being awarded based on cost (thus free is good) rather than value. So you assume that the design lets you hire anyone for the installation and then select a design team based on their offering the lowest cost for their services. Sound like a recipe for just such problems?

One thing to consider since this is apparently a new facility is that if you have a warranty on the original installation then changes made to the systems without involving the original providers could affect their ability to support the systems as well as their responsibility to do so. You may be at a point where making it work is more important but you should be aware of this.


I see that I missed that the speakers are two EV SxA250 per side. I'm not sure why they went with ground stacked powered speakers rather than flown speakers and amps, but I would not try connecting anything else directly to the speakers. Use the system you have. The interfaces I noted previously should let you use existing mic inputs into the system.

I also do not understand the stacked speakers. The SxA250 has a nominal 80x55 pattern so it looks like there a single speaker would not provide full horizontal coverage of the seating. So either the system was intended to run as split mono with the speakers on each side covering one half of the room or perhaps the speakers were to be arrayed side-by-side. But in either case I do not understand why two identical speakers vertically stacked, there is no good reason for this and several reasons not to, I personally would disconnect the bottom speakers and use them simply as rather expensive stands for the other two. At least try flipping the top box so the horns are closer together and any resulting combfiltering is minimized, although that would also lower the horn height.

Hopefully there is also some signal processing or at least some EQ between the mixer and speakers, if not then that would be one upgrade I would suggest be a high priority. That would also be another reason to run sources through the system rather than direct to the speakers.

 

[etcdrama]

Thank for for all the responses thus far let me clarify a few things.
This facility was built in the mid 70's and was renovated for the first time this past year.
The "booth monitor" is something that we started using so that the lighting person can hear where they are at in the script. How the booth was originally designed was in a 3 panel array. The middle panel is a solid window that you cannot open or close. On each side of that are some simple windows almost like a jewelry case window that just slides to the side but doesn't lock. Anyways the lightboard is in the dead center of the center pane of glass because they felt that was the best place to put it so that the person running the lights can see the picture from the center. So this is in no way meant to be for the sound board operator except to listen to where they are at in the script. The reason why I liked the idea of using an AUX bus is because right now I have that sent to a powered mixer with an old speaker as our booth monitor. Someone mentioned they were confused with the placement of the microphone, we put it center stage on a mic stand right up against the stage. It is not meant for sound reinforcement for the audience it just gets sent to us in the booth. Now I sent it to the AUX bus and used the PRE select so that its like a "monitor" but just for that microphone. That way the audience doesn't hear it and we have a little more control over how loud it is and if needed its easy to just kick up the fader on it and use it as a vocal microphone if needed.

Heres a few more wide angle pictures:

There is a RCA record out on the console which is what I was planning on using with Adobe Audition on the sound booth computer which is up there next to the MG32.

As for the studio this would NOT be copyrighted music. It would be for students who wrote their own song that they just wanted to be recorded. The other purpose of setting it up as a "studio" is that we could record our own sound effects, voice overs for plays or other groups at the school might need for example the film class.

As for the speakers they went for a ground installation because they wanted a "portable" system that could be taken out easily and used in a variety of circumstances. I didn't think about this until someone mentioned it but the placement of the speakers. I have them stacked on top of each other right now with just a basic stereo mix to the whole auditorium. Would it be better to unstack them and split them up? Meaning take a speaker on each side and aim it toward the center area and take the other speaker on that side and point it to that side. If you would like a birds eye view of the auditorium I'll be happy to make one. The speakers are powered and here in the link I should have included in my original post:
SxA250 - Electrovoice
There are no 1/4" hookups on the back which would make it easier for a simple ipod hookup. Can someone elaborate on copyright concerns? I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time figuring out what you mean by running into copyright concerns using an ipod to play music.

@museav can you explain what you mean by signal processing or eq? We dont have a separate Equalizer we have just been using the EQ's on the board. Do you recommend purchasing an EQ? If so what model?

Now please keep in mind that this is not something that was given an incredible deal of thought. Unfortunately our technical department is way behind where it should be and this setup is a lot nicer than what we had. I appreciate this feedback because it helps me learn more about issues we are having and how to correct them. Once again thanks for all the input

 

[mstaylor]

Thank for for all the responses thus far let me clarify a few things.
This facility was built in the mid 70's and was renovated for the first time this past year.
The "booth monitor" is something that we started using so that the lighting person can hear where they are at in the script. How the booth was originally designed was in a 3 panel array. The middle panel is a solid window that you cannot open or close. On each side of that are some simple windows almost like a jewelry case window that just slides to the side but doesn't lock. Anyways the lightboard is in the dead center of the center pane of glass because they felt that was the best place to put it so that the person running the lights can see the picture from the center. So this is in no way meant to be for the sound board operator except to listen to where they are at in the script. The reason why I liked the idea of using an AUX bus is because right now I have that sent to a powered mixer with an old speaker as our booth monitor. Someone mentioned they were confused with the placement of the microphone, we put it center stage on a mic stand right up against the stage. It is not meant for sound reinforcement for the audience it just gets sent to us in the booth. Now I sent it to the AUX bus and used the PRE select so that its like a "monitor" but just for that microphone. That way the audience doesn't hear it and we have a little more control over how loud it is and if needed its easy to just kick up the fader on it and use it as a vocal microphone if needed.

Heres a few more wide angle pictures:

There is a RCA record out on the console which is what I was planning on using with Adobe Audition on the sound booth computer which is up there next to the MG32.

As for the studio this would NOT be copyrighted music. It would be for students who wrote their own song that they just wanted to be recorded. The other purpose of setting it up as a "studio" is that we could record our own sound effects, voice overs for plays or other groups at the school might need for example the film class.

As for the speakers they went for a ground installation because they wanted a "portable" system that could be taken out easily and used in a variety of circumstances. I didn't think about this until someone mentioned it but the placement of the speakers. I have them stacked on top of each other right now with just a basic stereo mix to the whole auditorium. Would it be better to unstack them and split them up? Meaning take a speaker on each side and aim it toward the center area and take the other speaker on that side and point it to that side. If you would like a birds eye view of the auditorium I'll be happy to make one. The speakers are powered and here in the link I should have included in my original post:
SxA250 - Electrovoice
There are no 1/4" hookups on the back which would make it easier for a simple ipod hookup. Can someone elaborate on copyright concerns? I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time figuring out what you mean by running into copyright concerns using an ipod to play music.

@museav can you explain what you mean by signal processing or eq? We dont have a separate Equalizer we have just been using the EQ's on the board. Do you recommend purchasing an EQ? If so what model?

Now please keep in mind that this is not something that was given an incredible deal of thought. Unfortunately our technical department is way behind where it should be and this setup is a lot nicer than what we had. I appreciate this feedback because it helps me learn more about issues we are having and how to correct them. Once again thanks for all the input

I would address some of the things that they missed in the refit before building anything new. If you are tying in an Ipod go to the board not the speaker. You haven't even thought about lighting. There may be problems there also, but fix sound first. Having an op trying to mix without hearing live is a big problem.

 

[etcdrama]

there are lighting issues but I did not post them because this is in the sound forum. However I'm getting most of the lighting issues rectified as soon as I can.

 

[museav]

Someone mentioned they were confused with the placement of the microphone, we put it center stage on a mic stand right up against the stage.

The concern was that unless the mic is out in the audience then it is not reflecting what the audience hears. It sounds like it is likely picking up more natural stage sound than it is the sound from the audio system, which may be fine for the lighting operator but not for mixing audio.

There is a RCA record out on the console which is what I was planning on using with Adobe Audition on the sound booth computer which is up there next to the MG32.

It looks like the record out on the MG32 is the main left and right output before the main faders. Whether that will work depends on what you are trying to do, the only way to use the record out and not have the same signal going to the main output would be to have the main faders all the way down. For archival recording or distribution to other areas (Lobby, Green Room, ALS, etc.) that will be in use at the same time as the house system, then for several reasons I prefer to create a separate mix for those sends.

As for the studio this would NOT be copyrighted music. It would be for students who wrote their own song that they just wanted to be recorded. The other purpose of setting it up as a "studio" is that we could record our own sound effects, voice overs for plays or other groups at the school might need for example the film class.

Just understand that the acoustical environment and technical functionality are not going to be those of a typical studio. No multi-channel recording, mix down or overdubs using the console, etc.

I didn't think about this until someone mentioned it but the placement of the speakers. I have them stacked on top of each other right now with just a basic stereo mix to the whole auditorium. Would it be better to unstack them and split them up? Meaning take a speaker on each side and aim it toward the center area and take the other speaker on that side and point it to that side. If you would like a birds eye view of the auditorium I'll be happy to make one.

You'd have to look at the pattern of the speakers and the shape of the listener area, the idea is to try to get the sound as even in level and response as possible throughout the listener area while still maintaining acceptable gain before feedback from mics on stage. The 80 degree horizontal pattern of the SxA250 is often too small for many fan shaped rooms, however I don't think the SxA250 are really meant to be used in arrays and a 160 degree or so horizontal pattern may actually be too much. It may simply take trying some different configurations to see what works best. For example, using just one speaker per side may result in a slight reduction in level but might also make the sound crisper and clearer, it should be pretty easy to try that as should some side-by-side arraying.

Can someone elaborate on copyright concerns? I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time figuring out what you mean by running into copyright concerns using an ipod to play music.

Somebody may have legally obtained the music on an iPod for personal use, although many times if somebody brings their own in even that is not assured. In either case, use in the theatre would not be personal use and unless it clearly meets the academic use requirements, which would pretty much be limited to class use and material directly related to the subject being taught, then you need to obtain rights for any copyrighted material used including any music played. Playing copyrighted music without rights for public performance (and for recording or rebroadcast or whatever else may be involved) can is generally illegal. Even recording a performance of a song which you have rights to play may require a different license than for the performance.

can you explain what you mean by signal processing or eq? We dont have a separate Equalizer we have just been using the EQ's on the board. Do you recommend purchasing an EQ? If so what model?

Often there are two different 'parts' to signal processing and equalization. One part is what is adjusted on the board or by the operator at FOH for artistic purposes. That could be channel EQ, a compressor or gate on a channel, etc. The other part is system processing used to 'tune' the speaker system for the specific application and in many cases to provide some protection for the speaker system. This processing commonly includes crossovers, filters, delays, equalization, limiting, etc. The general concept in most cases is that one set of processing is intended to be adjusted in use while the other is optimized once for the system and should not have to be adjusted unless something in the room or system changes. The common example is that if you find yourself always making a similar adjustment to all channels then maybe that is better handled by system processing than by channel processing.

What to get depends on the budget and system. Your system is pretty simple. And with your speakers they have some equalization, limiting, etc. integrated into them. So you would really be looking more at adjusting for the interaction with the physical environment. Even something as simple as a dbx 1231 or 2231 equalizer (and there are other similar products) would probably help significantly in letting you better adjust the overall system while leaving the console EQ to be used for addressing individual sources.

 

[mstaylor]

I just did Sandy Patty in a church last night in a new church, 900 seats. It was great. They put a 48 channel Midas board in for FOH, a Maxim lighting board, a video mix position with two screens and QSC linearays. Luckily one of the church leaders owns a lighting/sound company and did the room right technically. All we brought in was a 5D for monitors, backline,some cameras to record the event, two followspots and colorblasts on the floor to add color on the walls and instruments. They had four electrics with ETC Source Fours and PAR 64s. Very nice look and sound and we were out in an hour.
It was nice to see somebody get it right the first time around.

 

[SHARYNF]

It shows where the money is these days ;-)
Sharyn

 

[Lightguy48]

I spent years as the lead tech at Edmond Memorial HS in Edmond Oklahoma, a very nice facility but horrible for audio. The booth was suspended from the roof about 1/2 between the back wall and the proscenium, 'security' was the concern, not technical operations.

Ultimately, while not desirable, we did a couple of things to run descent sound in the building (we consistently had excellent productions in the facility with numerous sellouts of shows)

If you're not able to fix the issues, here are some things we did:

1. Get a person with good ears on headset in the house during shows. It's low tech but we had to resort to having the music teacher and drama teacher on headset and they both had good ears. They would occasionally jump on headset through out the shows and pass along things that we might not notice in the booth.

2. I don't condone this but desperate time call for desperate measures, we had two condensor microphones installed in stereo configuration that feed the booth monitors, this gave us an 'idea' of what was in the house, but still it's not totally realistic because of the pattern and location where they were mounted. I'm sure someone could throw out a really nice stereo microphone with a good pattern but mounting it becomes an issue but it might help.

3. I set up a switchable mix to switch between the console out and the house microphones, I could bounce between the two, I used the console out for fine tuning the mix and the house microphones for balancing the vocals to instruments. But it still fell to people in the house to judge the overall sound because you just can't tell how much volume is being absorbed by the audience. If the house is full one night and 1/2 full the next you'll have issues.

4. Take detailed notes of mix during rehersals and use them during the performances. I used a laptop computer with an old DOS database program called Nutshell because it allowed me to create a custom screen layout that mimicked the layout of the console.


I hope you can find a real fix to your both problems because what we had to do was ugly but unlike your situation where removing some glass can help moving a control booth suspended in the air to the back of the house just wasn't happening. (Finally about 2 years ago the school system did renovate the theatre and moved the booth to it's proper location after 20+ years). Even with all the issues we had we had intricate sound in the facility, the biggest production we did was Into the Woods with 20+ wireless mics and an orchestra.

As far as your iPod situation goes, why not go buy a couple of direct boxes, you're going to need them anyway. Another solution, buy a Mackie or other low end mixer, set the output to mic level and dump it into the main console via mic pocket on stage, I agree with the other posters, don't go changing the system just because someone wants to run something on stage.

We had a Shure 267 on stage at the stage managers desk, for assemblies and other small events we just used the Shure mixer on stage to the main console.

Also, I'm a little confused about your lighting operator being able to hear, obviously it's nice to have but also being a theatre lighting person all the shows I worked being able to hear was the least of my worries, my primary concern was hearing the stage manager who called the cues. I've done numerous shows where 'seeing' wasn't even an issue, both lighting console operators sat backstage, the only time we 'saw' the show was writing the cues, then backstage we went never to see the show again except that we were adjacent to the stage manager and could see her video monitors of the conductor and the house cameras.

The biggest concern for additional monitoring was making sure the stage manager had a small powered speaker at their desk that they could adjust and hear what was on stage.

Good luck!

 

[themuzicman]

My .02c --

First - Why are you running an auxiliary board and wireless mic for a stage monitor? Go invest in a shotgun or an overhead choir microphone and run that to the booth to give you your monitor mic.

I'd recommend getting a small 2 channel rack mount mixer to run it to your booth monitors, just to keep that feed separate from your main mix.

Your idea of using computer speakers from your main mix as monitors is probably a boor decision. Those KRK Rokit powered monitors are a decent, and a better solution for inexpensive monitors.
------------
Second -

I don't get what your problem is with running an iPod to the EV's...
I think you are attempting to plug an iPod directly into the speakers?
If that is the case, stop.
Yes, they are powered speakers, and all you would have to do is build an 1/8"TRS to XLR(M) adapter to plug an iPod into it, but why not just get an 1/8" to 1/4" TRS adapter and plug your iPod into your sound board.

I believe the $10 cost with that is a lot more cost efficient than running out to get a whole new sound board just to run an iPod from.
------

Also, making a recording studio out of your stage is probably a poor decision. If the stage was properly designed, the acoustical intent was to make your sound be heard in the house at a proper level, as such your "studio" will be acoustically noisy.

If you want a studio, I'd invest in a proper Interface to get your recording done. For a nice portable setup, look at the DigiDesign MBox 2, the small 2 channel mbox can be had for like $200 used, and that comes with ProTools LE. That way, a nice set of cans is all you need for monitor, and you can record anywhere you deem fit.

Find a room in your school that is acoustically sound, free of fluorescent lighting, and doesn't have any ambient noise problems. Bring in your mobile recording rig and record.

 

[etcdrama]

The reason I want to plug directly into the speakers with an ipod is so if we need to take one of them on the go we aren't dragging that mixer out and having to set everything up. Is it really that bad to plug it directly in the back of it? What are the consquences of doing so? That board has a pair of RCA inputs which is what we use for the computer and ipod. I just am looking at an alternative if we need to take one of them and get it set up quickly. With they way our community is, we usually just need one microphone hooked up or an ipod nothing more.

The booth monitor thing I know is total gheddoness but we are a high school and operate on a limited budget and unfortunately our sponsor doesn't hold the technical end in as high of respect as he should. I would like to get a better booth monitor system and the I like the idea of a shotgun or choir mic but does anyone have any suggestions on which one to get?

The recording studio would be very informal. I've been told by the band director that the acoustics have changed on the stage. We have a ton of curtains and we could actually create a "box" of curtains to muffle the sound which probably would eliminate a fair amount of ambient noise? I'm not against getting a recording interface I just thought we could save some money by running it through that console and just sending it to the line in of a computer.

Thanks for all the help thusfar gentlemen

 

[museav]

So the iPod issue is not related to the auditorium but rather to if you take the powered speakers out and use them elsewhere?

I don't know if you've had a chance to try different speaker arrangements but if placing the speakers arrayed side-by-side does not really help and you use them often for other venues and functions then you might want to simply leave two speakers in the auditorium and dedicate the other two two for other uses rather than using them stacked on top of one another as they currently are.

 

[etcdrama]

I have not gotten the chance to play with speaker arrangements. I'll get around to it eventually but right now I'm arguing with the engineer about how he underspecced the power going to our dimmer cabinet.

 

[SHARYNF]

Just remember that it is totally acceptable to spec less than the full load for all channels. IE if you have 96 channels of 2.5kw you are NOT going to need 2000 amps (96X2500/120)

Sharyn