I really like the idea of a permanent table, bolted into the floor, with the road case bolted to it and the lid padlocked down. I only wish we could do that; unfortunately we don't have the space (the only space that would be feasible is where the church puts their board every Sunday). Oh well, things could be worse - at least we have decent equipment.
soundboard security
- Thread starterccfan213
- Start date
techieman33
Well-Known Member
Even assuming it was a midas board it wouldn't harm a good case. We do it all the time.
The church that uses our auditorium has a completely separate reinforcement system that they set up every sunday. Their board is indeed massive (a 48 channel A&H ML5000) and they have two racks of signal processing gear (not counting the speaker cabinets, patchbay, and amp racks on stage). For comparison, our board is a 24 channel Spirit Live 42.
Then there's the issue of the study hall being in the auditorium - and we have at least one broken chair a week...
Then there's the issue of the study hall being in the auditorium - and we have at least one broken chair a week...
ccfan213 said:
Well how big is this board? If the board is that expensive, odds are it's not light, and neither will the flight case be. Bolting it to the table is a good idea..if you intend on never moving this thing. Otherwise, you're just shooting yourself in the foot. You need to consider just how much effort it would take to steal this thing. Most thefts are done rather quickly, and people don't want to be taking a long time to lift heavy objects....they'll just steal a VCR. If someone has a lot of time, it's likely an inside job, in which case it would be a blessing in disguise since you don't want a theif working there.
Regardless of whether you decide to bolt the board to the table, you should get all the snake and all your insert sends and such on a multipin. Make sure you get a flight case with a doghouse so you can leave everything patched. Then you just disconnect the multipins, pop the lid on, and lock it up. Plus, since you're going through all that trouble, you can put in a few different snake locations around the place with these multipins, making it really easy to move the board to a new location. Cutting big holes in the back of a flight case can compromise it's structural integrity, and the case may not actually be as strong as it woulda been without the holes in it. It's not going to make a huge difference.....but it sounds like you want this case to take quit a bit of abuse.
Of course, above all, your school should have this thing INSURED. So even in the unlikely event that something does happen, you're not going to be completely screwed. If you don't have a board that expensive insured, then you're asking for trouble.
And what's this about the study hall kids breaking auditorium chairs? Those chairs aint cheap...who's controlling these kids?
And that's exactly the problem with high school. Out in the real world, if your gear gets trashed, you bill the guy who hired you to do sound in the first place. And you make sure it's in your contract that he is responsible. Of course, you still have insurance, just incase. In high school you can't do that.....nor can you fire the foolish employee of yours that spills a coke on the board.
That's enough of a rant from me..I'm out.
mr_sound said:
I'm not sure...any ideas?
Seriously, though, at our school we have mandatory study halls for most students (minus the vocational ed students, etc.), and we have 1900 students. Split that over 8 periods, that's like 200 kids per study hall with two monitors.
As far as fixing the chairs, our school engineer takes care of that. He can fix just about anything (and pretty well to boot). Worst case scenario, break the concrete up, put a new bolt in and cement it, and rebolt the chair down. I've seen it done before.
This isn't the only thing they like to break. The aisle lights are apparently fun to play with too...fortunately I can get maintenance requests pushed through pretty quickly, or fix the damn things myself.
you can't just fire a guy because he accidentaly spilled a soda or do something because he thinks he doing his job but accidently damages the board. Also if the board is not constantly guarded or secured it not so much as stealing a heavy board but by damaging it by the students or audience members who are either up to no good or thinking they know how to use the system even though they don't.
techieman33
Well-Known Member
its pretty damn heavy, its only 24ch but it has 8 subgroups and for the life of me i cant figure out why it weighs so much, it took three full grown men grunting and turning red to get it up the stairs into our booth. so i dont want to be movint it too much, sombra2 is right, partially because we discussed this online the other day.... its both the issue of theft which the night custodians have plenty of opportunity to move heavy objects as they are unsupervised all night, but it is also that there are people in the auditorium without techs all the time and there is no way they will change this. i cant ensure that an exposed board wont get damaged, people like to play with things. i dont want to have to re plug in everything every time there is a 1/2 hour assembly, that could get annoying fast, and im not quite sure what you mean by a multipin.
by the way, we have broken seats too and it drives me insane. i cant figure out why people like to steal the wooden armrests from the seats...
by the way, we have broken seats too and it drives me insane. i cant figure out why people like to steal the wooden armrests from the seats...
propmonkey
Well-Known Member
who is going to steal a soundboard?? i think thats pretty unlikely but if there are people around it you should keep it covered its more likely to be complete destroyed then stolen in my opinion. i dont think the average high schoo lstudent or person would want a soundboard and or know how to sell it if they were able to steal it.
sound_nerd
Active Member
Actually, since you've mentioned enclosed cabinets, I do know some people make something that looks more like a desk for pro audio stuff. It has a roll top that you can padlock, and then a cabinet underneath for all your rack gear. I beleive I saw something like this in the Markertek catalog www.markertek.com.
Of course, I still highly recommend getting a nice flight case for it that can be padlocked. Then get all your inputs and such on a multipin. If it took 3 guys to get just the board into the booth, then I highly doubt anyone's going to steal the board in a flight case. When you're using it, take the lid off and connect the multipin (though I'd use one of those elco 52 pin ones, not the socapex 19 pin...that's for lighting) and you're up and running. When you're done, disconnect the multipin, put the lid on, and lock it up. Any ATA flight case will protect it from stray objects, and likely even a fall off the table itself. The padlocked lid prevents anyone who thinks they know what they're doing from touching the board. And the sheer weight of the thing prevents anyone from walking off with it.
BTW, what board is this? I'm curious to know what 24x8 board takes 3 guys to move.
Of course, I still highly recommend getting a nice flight case for it that can be padlocked. Then get all your inputs and such on a multipin. If it took 3 guys to get just the board into the booth, then I highly doubt anyone's going to steal the board in a flight case. When you're using it, take the lid off and connect the multipin (though I'd use one of those elco 52 pin ones, not the socapex 19 pin...that's for lighting) and you're up and running. When you're done, disconnect the multipin, put the lid on, and lock it up. Any ATA flight case will protect it from stray objects, and likely even a fall off the table itself. The padlocked lid prevents anyone who thinks they know what they're doing from touching the board. And the sheer weight of the thing prevents anyone from walking off with it.
BTW, what board is this? I'm curious to know what 24x8 board takes 3 guys to move.
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