Sound system for touring children's theatre

[STT]

Hi smart people!

I travel from school to school putting on shows with local kids. I need a sound system that is going to be versatile, indestructible (ha ha), and highly portable. In one location we may be in a park, the next in an echoey cafeteria. The main concern is being able to hear the kids. Our audiences are usually in the 300-500 person range. I'd also like to be able to record from the board to my computer.

Right now I have nothing. If you were building an entire system on a modest budget (a couple thousand ish) What would you do? What would you avoid?

Thanks!

 

[0HZ]

Couple thousand ish? That is pretty vague. What do you have for input needs? What type of production is it? The more information you can provide the more we can help with informed suggestions.

 

[Joshualangman]

It sounds like reinforcement is your primary concern. How many mics do you need? Handheld or body mics? If handheld, do you need wireless? Do you need playback of cues also?

 

[STT]

Yes, reinforcement is the main thing. I was thinking 3 floor mics, and a couple of hand helds to start. Wireless would be nice. Body mics make me nervous with this age group.

I would also like to play music/cues from my macbook pro or a cd player, and possibly hook up a keyboard.

I need to figure out something that will cover all of my bases in case a location doesn't have anything.

 

[BillESC]

Here's a start using MAP pricing.

2 - EV ZLX-12P active speakers - $ 798
2 - Speaker stands - $ 98
1 - ZED-14 mixer - $ 399
2 - ATW-2120 wireless handhelds - $ 698
3 - Pro-44 boundry mics - $ 465
1 - Lot mic cables - $ 60

Total $ 2518

Now, I'd also suggest getting a small slant rack case that would house your mixer and wireless receivers and have it large enough to also house a 2 or 3u drawer where your mics, cables, etc., can be stored. Might add a couple hundred.

 

[museav]

While they may work well for many situations, I'm not sure the ZLX-12P would be sufficient for music, EFX and vocal reproduction for 300--500 people outdoors. And while I'm not sure you need two speakers or 'stereo' reproduction in most cases, there may be situations where want two or more speakers to get good coverage of the entire audience. And to me that's the dilemma, trying to cover all your bases for what you might need in a few situations could require significantly greater investment and more complex systems than covering what you may need the majority of the time. With a limited budget you may want to decide if you want to focus on a quality system to serve the majority of your events or one that may be able to cover all of your potential situaion but perhaps to do so at some tradeoff in quality, reliability, etc.

On some more specific items, are you the only one who would be operating the mixer or do the kids or others get involved there? Is recording a two channel mix acceptable or did you want to multitrack record every input individually?

Because of the variety of environments you apparently may encounter, I'd include at least a one-third octave equalizer. And while I'm not generally a fan of them, it might not be a bad application for some type of feedback elminator.

If you do shows with short periods between them then you might want to consider having, and perhaps even carrying with you, spares for anything that can readily fail or be lost (cables, adapters, etc.) or that you can't perform a show without.