Would this work?

[NHStech]

My sound board is up in a balcony. Usually, I have a stage crew to run things. Every once in awhile, however, I have to do it myself. Because I sometimes have to multitask, being in the control booth is bad because it isolates me, and people need access to me.
So I was thinking, I have a sound board that is presently unused. My microphone inputs to my main sound board (in the booth) are on the walls stage right and left, with the stage right box having 4 sends. Is there some way that, if I powered up the sound board/amps in the control booth, that I could use the sends and the spare board to control the sound (at least four channels) from stage right backstage? If not, what are the sends on the cable input box used for? Thanks.

 

[DuckJordan]

sends are generally used for returns, and not knowing what they are plugged into on the control booth side i would strongly advise against this, Granted you could do something like that. We had a small board in the booth and a 32 input in the auditorium and just sent the outs from the 32 channel to the small 6 input board in the booth using two xlr cables. It works but it doesn't sound the best.

 

[rwhealey]

EDIT: Re-read your post.

Yes, you can do what you want! The returns, however, are not what you want unless you use gender adapters.

Return lines are simply microphone cable with the opposite gender connectors so you can use them for stage monitoring. It sounds like yours are intended to be used with an additional amp rack on the stage.

You should plug in your secondary console to mic inputs on the stage (i.e, Mic 1 = left output of secondary mixer, Mic 2 = right output of secondary mixer). MAKE SURE PHANTOM POWER IS OFF ON THE MAIN CONSOLE! It may damage your secondary console. Now, in your booth, patch Mic 1 to channel one of the main console and pan left. Do the same with Mic 2, but pan right. Use the pad on the main board to get the line level output of the secondary console down to a reasonable level. Plug in all your mics to the secondary board, and you're good to go!

 

[bishopthomas]

Plug your microphones into your "backstage" console's inputs, then take the main outs from there and go into the wall plates which feed your FOH console. How you handle the signal on that end will depend on your setup/console. You'll want to be at line level (not mic) so you may need to pad the inputs. If by "sends" you actually mean returns (are they male connectors on your stage box?) those are usually for "returning" signal from the console to the stage. You would patch amps, powered speakers, IEM sends, etc. from these.

 

[museav]

This seems to be one of those "more than one way to skin a cat" situations and what works best might depend on the specifics of your system and the application. However, what concerns me the most is that you seem to be considering going from the possibly less than ideal situation of mixing from a balcony to the almost certainly much less desirable situation of mixing from a stage wing. If you are mixing monitors or submixing a drum kit then that would be one thing, but I would say that if you need to be at the stage then you really need to have someone else handle the house mixing. So basically, it probably could be made to work, but I strongly recommend not doing it.

"Sends" and "returns" can be confusing when applied to stage connections as they are often just a cabling path and it is how they are used that determines if the are a send or a return. A send is usually the output of a device being sent to something else while a return is a signal being input into a device. Thus it also depends on your perspective, a send at the stage might be considered a return at the mixer and vice versa. I personally find it much more effective to either label things based on use, e.g. "send to stage monitor" or "return from EFX 1" or "send to CH X", or in the case where there is no assigned use, such as from a patchbay to a wall plate or from one wall plate to another, to call them "tie lines" since all they do is tie the two terminations with no assigned purpose.

 

[NHStech]

I just had the installer out performing a tune up. Perhaps he can give me some insights on where those returns go.
Regarding the placement, normally I am in agreement, but in this particular situation, A) Sometimes I am the only one running things for certain events, so I do not have someone else to run sound. This is out of necessity, not out of preference and B) These events are usually limited to single lecturer type situations, not anything complicated.

 

[mstaylor]

Let me preface this with I am not a sound guy, I am a rigger/lighting/stage manager. However, like you I get stuck covering things by myself and sometimes have to get creative. What I have done in the past is take the mics on stage to the extra mixer, take the out on the extra board through a DI to get it to mic level and send it to the main board through a regular channel. Balance the two boards and then operate from downstairs. As stated, running from backstage is a bad idea but sometimes it is what it is. Hopefully it is only a speaker mic or two. Others that know more about it can step in and tell I am full of stuff or refine it to further help you.

 

[MNicolai]

Sounds like good reason to hire someone to do sound.

Statements like "this is out of necessity" scream that you are ill-equipped to operate your venue. It's just as easy to make a single lecturer sound terrible as it is an entire musical group when you cannot hear what the audience is hearing. Let's say you even headphones that give you a good representation of the EQ response of your room so you can at least make the outputted signal sound reasonably well, it's a moot point if you have systematic error -- such as your microphone is so quiet that much of the audience can't understand what the speaker is saying.

If it's worth bringing in a speaker to talk to a large audience, it's worth giving a student $10/hr for a couple hours of work to sit in front of the mixer for the event.

 

[bishopthomas]

You can certainly accomplish this feat of modern science, no matter what the skeptics say. I find myself setting up FOH on the side of the stage more and more these days. I've gotten used to mixing behind the speakers and usually no one dies. If you feel comfortable then go for it, simple as that. Remember your gozintas and gozoutas and the world will keep revolving around its axis.

 

[SHARYNF]

I would suggest that if you have to do this (this is not all that uncommon for small bands in clubs that have no space for a proper foh positon) place a monitor near you so that you can hear the pa sound. It is also POSSIBLE to add a mic out in the audience space and monitor this. Certainly not the best of situations, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do

sharyn

 

[David Ashton]

In a lecture theatre with the same mic and the same equalization every day, week in, week out, it is perfectly OK to sit behind the speakers, you will be able to gauge the level, if you can hear the guy on stage, from your backstage position, you can be sure the audience can, when I got lumbered doing that wretched job many years ago if there was any problem the audience would let the speaker know very quickly and they would just move a little closer to the mic.I found staying awake was the biggest challenge.