Freesound Forums

This post is mainly for those who mix or operate sound for performance, i.e., theatre or music halls.

I'm currently working at the Texas Shakespeare Festival. The greatest place on earth, I have realized, is here and now with these people, and it's a great misfortune that I will have to leave in a few weeks to resume my real life. Another great misfortune is the equipment they have. TSF provided a sound computer with 512 mb RAM and an audiobox called a Gina G3, made by Echo. This computer had been sitting in storage all year, without climate control, in humid East Texas. For three weeks, our sound crew struggled to get the audiobox to communicate with the computer-- as it turns out, the PCI card suffered from the elements and had to be replaced with a specific item sold only by Echo. The damn'd and blast'd machine causes a quiet hiss/buzz from the speakers, as well-- not so much as you would hear it from the house, but if you were next to the speaker, you could tell. Also, there is some transmission from one output to another-- that is, when you play sound only through the LR Mains assigned at, say, digital audio out 1-2, then you'll hear it very quietly through the speaker attached to digital out 3-4.

Do any of you know how to prevent this obscenity of theatrical sound, short of replacing the accurst device? Also, I'm leaving a list of suggested uses for the surplus budget each year, and I would wish for them an audio box which works through firewire or USB (as firewire is easily converted to USB with the use of a connector, which we -- for reasons unknown-- already have). I'm particularly fond of MOTU as a general rule, but I'm open to suggestions for newer and better things. What say you?

There could be many reasons for these probs

where to start....
What is the setup, Audio box is it 2 ch or multi, how many speakers/amps, how long is the cabling (just a guest) software, any mixers, and how do you use the system eg, just playback of sounds or live micing any backline equipment eg rack of gear etc

first, need to find the source, - AMP, PC, AUDIO BOX, SPEAKER, CABLING

start with easiest, PC and Audio box, remove them out of the formula plug in a "Known working" CD player into amp any noise?
yes - then its the cabling, amp or speakers

bad earthing loops (find plenty of info on thenet "google"
amp may need repairs or shielded
where is the amps close to the speakers or at the PC end?
dirty power - can test this (if a small system) plugging all the gear into a active UPS
is the supply to the house 3phase or single phase, if three make sure all gear is plugged into the same phase

No- work out if PC or audio box, my suggestion if PC replace, if audio box is as old as the pc - replace both