We have a really nice
Mackie 1604-VLZ3 16
Channel mixer. We all love it. Our setup is kind of crap because our school has no money
.
We have an
auditeria,
Auditorium/Cafateria. The way the wiering was set up when the
auditeria was built is garbage. From the lightbooth, which is way in the back left corner of the
auditeria, your can only see half the
stage and hear nothing. So what do they do? They put all of the amps, CD player, and all of the wiering back there. Then the
house speakers are hard wiered into the amps. The backstage moniters are hard wiered into another amp backstage. (Or something like that... I'm the light engineer, I just dabble in sound.) So two years ago we got the new sound board. Then we got two new speakers to put up on the
stage so we dont need the crappy
house speakers. This year we finally got a long *****
snake so we can put the sound board in the middle of the
auditeria and run the
snake up to the
stage. We can run the a mic cable fromt he poard into a mic input to get sound through the
house if we have to. But since we have limited space around the sound board we have no room for for sound effects equipment. So we just want a small board to keep back in the light booth that we can run a mic in the booth and the sound effects equipment through the
house speakers with. What would best suit that?
I appreciate your enthusiasm and passion and offer the following comments only to potentially help and protect you and others.
First, just to get it out of the way, I doubt you are a "Light Engineer". Lighting is traditionally part of Electrical Engineering and especially when addressing
system design and installation rather than
system operation, you probably should not be using the title Engineer without having first earned it through the appropriate education, experience and license. Illinois law seems to agree on this.
You seem to perhaps be making a lot of assumptions on what is "garbage" and what is proper based on very limited actual relevant knowledge and experience, especially in regards to installation practices and code compliance. For example, I have had many public projects that would prohibit a temporary
snake across the floor in this type of application due to the liability it presents as a trip hazard (I would usually instead have connections for the
console on a rear or side wall so that the
mixer could be located there with the
snake run a very short distance directly to the
mixer without crossing an occupied floor area). And some of the other comments make me curious as to how the new speakers were installed and if they are properly mounted and installed, much less how everything is wired. Being a school application, there may be
safety and code aspects of which you apparently simply aren't aware.
Adding a cheap mixing
console to the
system as planned just doesn't seem like a good idea. It will make the
system much more susceptible to problems and more difficult to use. It will also make the
system performance limited by that one device. Of course, I'm not sure if you are running the
system stereo or
mono since you mentioned adding two speakers but then also mentioned running the
Mackie output into a mic input, which would also be running
line level into a
mic level input and not a good idea. If you had to have an intermediate
mixer, I would look at something simple like a Rane MLM82S or MLM803, Ashly MX-406 or
TOA M-243. Ideally, you might consider a matrix
DSP device that could provide some automixing for basic function and some
system processing as well as
tie in the
Mackie.
I noted the comment regarding having no room for sound effects equipment. What stands out to me here is the concern with sound effects while there is no mention of any
system processing. I would certainly look at incorporating some
system processing (EQ, limiting,
etc.) before I would be spending money to
address effects.
Do you have a long term plan for the audio systems? Are the changes already made and being considered a part of this plan? Are they being documented along the way so that others have a record of the
system? Who is designing any changes, defining the wiring practices, documenting the
system and any changes, adjusting
system gain structure and processing settings,
etc.? It sounds like this could easily become the all too common situation of creating as many problems as you fix, especially for those coming later. If it is not properly thought through, what you do now could easily postpone other improvements or increase the cost of future projects I really suggest that you consider getting a qualified Consultant or Contractor to help you develop an overall plan for the
system and to perform some of the work, especially when it comes to things like mounting speakers. I realize that budget is tight and that you often have to do what you can with what you have, but there is a time and place for that and then there are times that it simply shouldn't be done if it can't be done right. Getting a professional in may also provide a potential learning opportunity.
So I recognize your willingness to "do what it takes" and to try to come up with cost effective solutions, but I think you may be getting to where you simply don't know what you don't know and should really get some professional assistance.