Sound board clean

does anyone know of a way to keep a sound board and its surroundings nice and oraganized

 

Standard Food Rules.

No Food.
No Drink.
No Candy.

Keep those computer Alchol Wipes in the ready.
Also keep the board covered when not in use.

We have a Sound Craft K3, which is a modular board. So we could if we wanted to, but choose to escalate internal cleaning of the Board to our Vendor and Designer of the system Accutrack Recording.

If you have to do it your self, then there is a circuit board cleaning solution I use for mother boards and other IC's that get really gunkey over time. You can get the cleaner from a electronics store, maybe not a Radio-Shack. That is what I would do.

 

Sooo true.

The only thing I could suggest is to enforce good cleanup during the strike of a show. I know (and accept) that our board is gonna get messy with scripts, CD's, tools, cables, ETC. But I insist that the board is cleaned every strike afterwards, everything patched 1-1, all papers clean, etc.

Another good habit is to try and reset the labeling on the board at each strike. If this means removing the tape - or adding a fresh piece, I always find it helpful to have a clean place to label before a show.

 

Get a "script caddy" that can hold a script or papers for a show--this way folks do not set heavy binders down on your board knocking stuff out of settings. Basically--it is a flat book holder on a swing arm. Works great. Set rules for your sound console--like Zero out the console when done. Set up marking tape so folks can use that. Make sure the tape is WIDE tape as folks cannot seem to every write between the lines and always slip. Have a drawer for remotes, CD's, tapes etc...a few pads of paper, stickers and post-its for labeling playback & playback cases, and highlighters and sharpies also in this drawer. I use locking rack-drawers and love them..very convenient and if you don't like someone--you lock them out of your drawer. I highly suggest you have a drawer or space for all manuals for all gear as well, and it should be bound in a binder that never leaves the booth--chain it to the wall if you have to.

Have a closet where you can keep cleaning supplies and extra sound toys--like turn arounds and cables etc, and spare recording media you can then sell to the person at 3 times the retail value, cause they wanted to tape the event but forgot to go to the store to buy a blank tape. also keep Canned air, De-Oxit and other cleaning agents should be here as well. Spare mic elements, windscreens, mic clips, wireless stuff, all the things you don't want walking--lock it away in this closet. Lock this stuff away or the mindless fools who think they know what they are doing will use it everywhere you shouldn't. Especially canned air--which is just too fun to play with and freeze bugs with.

-wolf

 

Thanks for all the suggestions

 

Two words: Dust Cover. You'd be amazed at the sheer amount of crap floating around.

 

what fun would it be if you couldnt eat and drink at the desk???

 

Certain people are always allowed to eat and drink around the board, but it is discrete and never on the board. Out of site out of mind. I like the K3 board to much to have it tainted by stupid accidents.

 

You need to add "...and tell others that they can't."

 

Its definatly not fun to find a nice blob of dried pizza sauce on a fader....

:x :x :x

 

you must keep it clean i just found a tuna salad sandwich from a concert in my booth trash this afternoon, it was all green and nasty

 

I eat and drink near the board all the time, but I know if I spill something if 2 years of slave labor for me. ALso some times that is the only time I have to eat or drink. After every show I throw away all my warpers and bottels.

 

The problem is not what you do when you are alone at the board. The problem is what other people do because they see you at the board eating and drinking. We allow the crew kids to eat sometimes around the equipment too, but we do it discretely, and we never eat or drink directly over any of the boards. We do not want to ruin or Soundcraft K3, Insight 2x, or the Compulite Saber. That would be very bad for business.

 

Keeping the Sound board area clean

I recently purchased a dust cover for our Mackie S424x4 console in our auditorium. That was a great purchase, it keeps dust out and makes things look so much more professional when you walk into the booth. Another great use is that is keeps people from touching. There are a lot of theatre students walking around, or just random students walking around...since it is a high school, and some of them are not always so bright and they like to touch. It is always nice to keep things covered so nothing is bothered if your in a production week for a show and things are set to a sound engineer's liking.

Cheers,
Mike M

 

yeah.
teh no food or drink rule applies to every one but me.
and when i do i lean back or turn away so im not eating over it. and no cans or drink are put at the same level or above the board.
i have a similar theory for my computer keyboard.

 

In regards to the food and drink rules, I personally find them more effective if you follow your own rules that you set. People won't respect them if you dont. But you gotta wonder sometimes, what the heck people are thinking sometimes. I am currently doing Fiddler on the Roof for a summer music theatre and I watched as one of the crew members set a loosley closed bottle of water on top of a monitor speaker backstage that I had, had one of my sound crew members set up earlier in the week.

 

the easiest way to keep stuff protected is to put a lock on the booth door and carry a key. lock it when ur not there and only other techs or staff who have a key will be able to get in. hopefully staff wont be stupid enough to screw with things they dont know about, but this isnt usually the case. if u leave little notes around that say do not touch and make urself avalable to anyone who uses the auditorium you can usually protect your stuff from others. a bigger problem is often keeping it clean. the best way to do this is to not be a total slob, only a partial slob. then come in during lunch or when ur extremely bored and clean up. if u clean up after every show you can keep it relatively clean.

 

:wink: I also found that cigarette ash can be a pain to clean off the board to. We still smoke in the studio anyway.

 

Last summer when I wsa working for an audio shop one of the boards came back we opened up the case and there wsa sand everywhere the boss was on the wrong side and asked what was up, a co worker replied "it's been f***ing starlighted" I also found out that the 2 400 foot xlr cables had been starlighted so I ot to recoil them which took a good chunk of time. (starlight beening the production company that later bought out the one I worked at)

 

i have a jands event that reguarly gets hired out to the local pubs. after each show i will generally rip the back off the desk and try to remove the half bottles of bourben and whiskey and whatever else seems to end up under neath there. i could almost go into business, drain it out of the desk and rebottle it...

if you smoke in the booth, why not just smoke to the side of hte desk, to prevent ash from falling in?