This past Saturday, I finally encountered the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. We had a typical benefit job, but with a twist - we could only get into the room at 3:00 PM. As the downbeat was scheduled at 6:30 PM and I had to shower down after all of the equipment humping, that didn't leave much time for setup.
My sound setup has five vocal mikes (wireless) with associated receivers, a Peavey PA head with ten channels in, a sub mixer board with ten channels in through which all of the instrumental mikes are run, plus all of the associated cables and power supplies. To date, I have used some light weight black monitor stands to mount it all, but the set up has been cumbersome at best, and hard to get everything properly plugged up and running. Attaching the power supplies to the microphone receivers usually takes 10 minutes, just for that. Then, balancing out all of the microphones has to be done. It's a real time eater.
So, after shaving it so fine this past time that I walked up on the bandstand just as the downbeat was scheduled to occur, and having again to break it all down and store it away, I decided that enough was enough.
My plans have been drawn up for ten years or more - using a rack mount case, I would install half inch Plywood shelves for the receivers, the PA head, a passage way for the cables from front to back, and a retracting mount on top for the mixer board. All of the power would be wired up permanently, patch cords would remain in place from the receivers to the mixer, and from the mixer board to the PA head.
All I had to do is to find the right enclosure. Shopping around locally, I landed a couple of options, neither of them what I really wanted. So, I went on line and landed a fourteen high, twelve rack mount case with casters and solid, latching covers all around.
I'll pull the rack mounting hardware, install 1/2" Plywood shelves to allow for installation of the electrical supply (with only one power cord for all - Yeah!!!) at the bottom, a space for the receivers (held in place with silicone caulk), stacked two or three high, a divider for routing the sound cables from back and top through to the front to be plugged into the PA head, and a shelf for the PA head (fastened to hardwood cleats through bolted to the case body. The mike power supplies will screw to the bottom of the PA head shelf, and the PA head (with rubber padding under the metal feet) will be secured in place by additional hardwood cleats through bolted through the walls at top, front and back.
The mixer board (or a new one, with additional channels - I haven't decided yet) mounts to the retractable board mount in the top of the unit. Power supply housed down with the rest of the electrical at the bottom, lead routed up to the top level and left permanently connected. The two channel stereo to mono patch cord will be routed down to the routing divider and through to the front of the PA head. Shortened up power cords on the microphone receiver power bricks. A short cord for power to the PA head from the outlets.
Once it's all bolted and screwed in place, all I will have to do is to wheel the thing in to the off-stage location, pull the panels and the top, plug it in, and plug in the sound snake for the instrumental mikes.
Then, it's one cable from the head of the sound snake to each of the mikes, power on the wireless mikes, and all's good to go. With open front and back panels, there's no chance of overheating the PA head - its on-board fan will do all of the work.
In equipment handling alone, this will reduce three significant loads and a couple of stands down to one slightly more cumbersome one, which it will pack better in the trailer in the bargain. That's at least one less trip from the trailer to the stage and back again, saving maybe ten minutes more. No coiling up the little microphone power supplies any longer, or folding up the receivers - they will all stay in place in the box. The microphones will store into one smaller Pelican case, rather than the jumbo sized one that they occupy now.
This one improvement will also cut my electrical wiring way down, from eight plugs into eight outlets, to one plug in one outlet, with the rest kept connected within the box. Three short extension cords will be eliminated, and all of the electrical stuff will be made up in a much more permanent fashion.
A couple of other improvements will include some sort of flex neck red LED light, mounted under the sub mixer board at the top of the case, and wired in red LED lights mounted over the mike receivers and the PA head fronts, with one pair of outlets switched for the lighting system. I have yet to find the right LED gooseneck light, however.
And, a full set of instructions mounted inside of the lid panel, covering the system adjustment basics without all of the bells and whistles that are included in the manuals. (The uninitiated never can seem to find the right knob in a sound emergency.)
I've got an older mixer for use with wired mikes for rehearsal (although we have been using the cordless equipment for now), so this will only go to the jobs or recording session in the trailer. A bit of a lift, but only into and out of the trailer - the castors will handle the rest.
All I have to do to find the 1/2" Plywood, have them cut a 4" strip off at a 45° angle (to miter the shelf ends and the ends of the bottom shelf), and then bolt it all up, hit it with the flat black paint, and she's done.
I did all the design work into my iPhone using Siri, this while sitting in the hot tub after the job.
My sound setup has five vocal mikes (wireless) with associated receivers, a Peavey PA head with ten channels in, a sub mixer board with ten channels in through which all of the instrumental mikes are run, plus all of the associated cables and power supplies. To date, I have used some light weight black monitor stands to mount it all, but the set up has been cumbersome at best, and hard to get everything properly plugged up and running. Attaching the power supplies to the microphone receivers usually takes 10 minutes, just for that. Then, balancing out all of the microphones has to be done. It's a real time eater.
So, after shaving it so fine this past time that I walked up on the bandstand just as the downbeat was scheduled to occur, and having again to break it all down and store it away, I decided that enough was enough.
My plans have been drawn up for ten years or more - using a rack mount case, I would install half inch Plywood shelves for the receivers, the PA head, a passage way for the cables from front to back, and a retracting mount on top for the mixer board. All of the power would be wired up permanently, patch cords would remain in place from the receivers to the mixer, and from the mixer board to the PA head.
All I had to do is to find the right enclosure. Shopping around locally, I landed a couple of options, neither of them what I really wanted. So, I went on line and landed a fourteen high, twelve rack mount case with casters and solid, latching covers all around.
I'll pull the rack mounting hardware, install 1/2" Plywood shelves to allow for installation of the electrical supply (with only one power cord for all - Yeah!!!) at the bottom, a space for the receivers (held in place with silicone caulk), stacked two or three high, a divider for routing the sound cables from back and top through to the front to be plugged into the PA head, and a shelf for the PA head (fastened to hardwood cleats through bolted to the case body. The mike power supplies will screw to the bottom of the PA head shelf, and the PA head (with rubber padding under the metal feet) will be secured in place by additional hardwood cleats through bolted through the walls at top, front and back.
The mixer board (or a new one, with additional channels - I haven't decided yet) mounts to the retractable board mount in the top of the unit. Power supply housed down with the rest of the electrical at the bottom, lead routed up to the top level and left permanently connected. The two channel stereo to mono patch cord will be routed down to the routing divider and through to the front of the PA head. Shortened up power cords on the microphone receiver power bricks. A short cord for power to the PA head from the outlets.
Once it's all bolted and screwed in place, all I will have to do is to wheel the thing in to the off-stage location, pull the panels and the top, plug it in, and plug in the sound snake for the instrumental mikes.
Then, it's one cable from the head of the sound snake to each of the mikes, power on the wireless mikes, and all's good to go. With open front and back panels, there's no chance of overheating the PA head - its on-board fan will do all of the work.
In equipment handling alone, this will reduce three significant loads and a couple of stands down to one slightly more cumbersome one, which it will pack better in the trailer in the bargain. That's at least one less trip from the trailer to the stage and back again, saving maybe ten minutes more. No coiling up the little microphone power supplies any longer, or folding up the receivers - they will all stay in place in the box. The microphones will store into one smaller Pelican case, rather than the jumbo sized one that they occupy now.
This one improvement will also cut my electrical wiring way down, from eight plugs into eight outlets, to one plug in one outlet, with the rest kept connected within the box. Three short extension cords will be eliminated, and all of the electrical stuff will be made up in a much more permanent fashion.
A couple of other improvements will include some sort of flex neck red LED light, mounted under the sub mixer board at the top of the case, and wired in red LED lights mounted over the mike receivers and the PA head fronts, with one pair of outlets switched for the lighting system. I have yet to find the right LED gooseneck light, however.
And, a full set of instructions mounted inside of the lid panel, covering the system adjustment basics without all of the bells and whistles that are included in the manuals. (The uninitiated never can seem to find the right knob in a sound emergency.)
I've got an older mixer for use with wired mikes for rehearsal (although we have been using the cordless equipment for now), so this will only go to the jobs or recording session in the trailer. A bit of a lift, but only into and out of the trailer - the castors will handle the rest.
All I have to do to find the 1/2" Plywood, have them cut a 4" strip off at a 45° angle (to miter the shelf ends and the ends of the bottom shelf), and then bolt it all up, hit it with the flat black paint, and she's done.
I did all the design work into my iPhone using Siri, this while sitting in the hot tub after the job.