It's a New Year and it might be time to rethink what's in your rack. There is something always exciting about cleaning out an old closet, giving away what you don't really need and finding a whole lot of space. The same can be done with that audio rack!
I think you'll see that if you are tired of overprocessing and getting poor results, it might be time to go digital. There are exceptions to every case, and I don't deny that an extra piece of outboard gear at FOH can be handy for the experienced technician. What I am talking about is a paradigm shift in technology and equipment management, not the odd "what if…?" situation. I have been telling clients for years now that we rarely "tune" systems, but rather, we "program" them. We patch in that special RS- 232 cable between a magical black box and our laptop, and start typing and "mousing" our way to detailed sound. Several questions (among many) always arrive. Let's try to answer them like this.
What if it fails?
In dozens of installations in the last few years, we have had only two equipment failures.
One was a software compatibility issue that I personally created and fixed before final settings were made. The second failure was a bad power supply, which actually was quite good until an air conditioning repair person switched a couple legs around in a sub-panel and sent enough voltage to almost melt the rack-mounted surge protector. We know where this man lives and keep careful watch whenever he approaches one of our projects.
Enough said. If you back up your data on disk and limit untrained access to the rack, virtually nothing can ever shut your system off for very long.
Can you show me how to operate it?
My first response always borders on rude: "Why would you want to void the warranty on your entire audio system?" If the settings are right, they are right. Rarely have I seen a wall move, a ceiling rise, bolted-down pews move by themselves or speakers change position spontaneously. I have seen some unusual events bordering on the miraculous in churches, but little that has affected the actual physics of the room itself. Having said that, there are many, many qualified FOH people working in houses of worship, and it's typical that we sit side by side during final system programming and decide on a "lockout code" together, often sharing a Starbucks and copies of the CD-ROM when we are done. Technical fellowship at it's best. Much of the time this is not the case and what a church wants is bulletproof, tamper-free settings. Period. OK by me.
Point is, either be prepared to get proper training or have faith in the darn thing!
How much does it cost?
Much less than you think. If you extrapolate the reality of additional cables, connectors (points of failure), rack size and required power distribution, I would estimate an initial savings of about $1,000 to $1,500. Assuming that the processing is made by the same manufacturer or is of equal quality, there is a difference of one piece of gear versus minimally 24. (But of course the DSP is even more versatile than all that!) The 24 pieces of gear roughly cost $5,000 to $6,000. You can easily buy a 4-by-12 or 8-by-12 DSP that will do far more for less than that! I would esti mate a overall hardware savings of $2,000 to $3,000. This does not account for on-site installation time, much of which can be done in the office!
So, just a thought for the new year; if it's time to renovate, get professional assistance as needed, investigate the gaggle of great products available and commit to cleaning up that rack!
Richard Rutherford is the owner of Rutherford Design, an audio, lighting and video contractor. He can be reached at rrutherford@fohonline.com.
