New to touring....questions

[jdcountryboy91]

I will be touring with a band from my school (Liberty University) with an exisiting system that includes (4) Renkus Heinz CF121-5, a Meyer 500-HP, Yamaha M7-32, Aviom, and a few other goodies. I haven't seen or heard the system yet, I've just talked to the engineer that was with the team (band) for the past 2 years.

With 4 mains, I know I have the flexibility to setup a few different ways to get the best coverage in the various venues we travel to. Though some venue's we travel too (ie large churches) that will allow me, I will use their installed PA with my console. This is where the real question is. What is the best way to come out of my console and into theirs?

The way I would do it in my mind is plug the L/R outputs from my board into two input channels on their board, play a tone through my console at nomial, set the channel gain on their console, and run the faders up until I get the desired output. Is it really as simple as that or am I missing something. I know it will change by venue and how their system is setup but I'm just wanting to make sure my theory is correct.

And of course, if they have an M7 I can just load my settings onto their console for the evening.

Any other suggestions?

[jdcountryboy91]

I just realized I posted this in the Amplification and speakers forum... I can't figure out how to delete it to repost elsewhere...

[tdangelo]

Originally Posted by jdcountryboy91

What is the best way to come out of my console and into theirs?

Many fixed installation PA guys (Church Tech Managers) will ask you to go directly out of outputs on your console into inputs on their console. That way they can still maintain some control over how you are feeding their mains as well as other in-house distribution which may be necessary (foyer, nursery, webcast, etc.) which they may not be able to do if they linked the consoles or used some other method.

The key is to be clear as to what signal is what. I would suggest making up a short snake with paper tape (or permanent) labels so the house PA guy will know exactly what cable you expect to go to mains, subs, monitors and whatever else.

Also make sure that during your sound check you confirm not only your inputs
but every output discreetly to make sure you know exactly what is being effected when you push certain faders on your desk.

[Brad Weber]

You may get a wide range of responses. Some groups demand direct access to the speaker system, completely bypassing the house mixing and FOH processing, and full access to any house system processing. On the one hand I understand that their goal is to have as much direct control over the final result as possible. On the other hand, this could also be a sign of someone that assumes they could always do a 'better' job of setting the house processing regardless of what is in place and/or wants to try to get more out of the system than they should. The other end of the spectrum is more of what you described, outputs from your mixer into the house console with their people having control of their console and system. And there are plenty of options in between those two. You need to decide what level of control and access you require in order to deliver the result you want as best you can.

Where tying into another console can get more complex is if you are dealing with not just the main mix but also multiple other mixes, such as monitor mixes, and if the intent is to use the house wiring for those as well.

Your comment regarding dropping your show into someone else's M7CL may make sense, but with some caveats. First, always make sure you discuss this and don't just do it as you may find some people that have not saved the current console setup, although you may help them by showing them how to do that and then being able to load and recall your show. Second, if they use the console processing for the house processing then it may not be practical to do anything that would significantly change those aspects. This is one reason why I like to separate the console and house processing and provide a dedicated system processor. Finally, while there is much that will be common, you will likely also have to modify your file for each venue as aspects such as the physical connectivity and logical bus assignments to the physical I/O may differ for each venue. This is especially true in terms of the Aviom as not only may not every M7CL have an Aviom card in it, they may also not have limited outputs available to go into an Aviom interface.

[jdcountryboy91]

Thanks for the replies guys! I agree with all that has been said. To me it seems the "best" way if I am going to use a house system is to use my console and use outputs for L/R and a seperate output for subs (which of course would change depending on how their subs are setup) and and go direct in to their console. I won't need their monitors or any other mixes because all our musicians use Avioms and in ears which would come out of my console.