Sound System at St Catherine’s

S O U N D    S Y S T E M    P R I M E R

This is a very simple guide for using the sound system in the church.   The complete guide for the mixer can be found at this link

FAMILIARITY OF SYSTEM:
There are 3 key things to be aware of:

  • The primary system is on the wall behind the alter, in a black box.   To the left of it is the on/off switch and setup
  • The mixing board is found in the credenza behind the piano.   If this is locked, you will need to request a key from the Priest Changing room.  They key is labeled ‘Sound System’.
  • The ‘snake’ is on the floor, and generally has several cables plugged into it.   It tends to be situated next to the piano

POWERING ON SYSTEM.
The ‘sequence’ of turning on the system is important to protect the sound system from damage

  1. Turn on the mixing board – In the bottom left corner of the credenza, there is a smaller roll-away enclosure.  Open this up, and at the top of this enclosure is a black on/off switch.   Switch this on, and you will then see the mixing board start up (lights will blink, the screen will show information on it)
  2. When the mixing board is on, you will want to do 3 things:
    • Using the trackball, look for the bottom left area of the screen for the ‘Scenes’.   Select the ‘5pm Sunday’ item in the list, and then press ‘Now’ above it.  You should see the volume sliders as well as the channel descriptions change
    • There are 2 groups of sliders – the ones on the left control the individual channels, and the group on the right control the main volumes.  Look on the right group and choose the 3rd slider – it will say ‘Main’ and select ‘Mute’ button so that it is red
    • On the left set of sliders, go ahead and mute all the channels.  There are 2 sets of channels – select the white buttons and you will see the descriptions of those channels change to thinks like ‘BeckGtr’ and ‘BassDI’, for example
  3. Go to the Primary system, and specifically the small box to the switch to the left of the primary system.   Touch the screen with your hand, and you will see it show several options (Sometimes take a second).   Select ‘System On With Choir’.  When you do this, you will hear the primary sound system turn on
  4. With the Primary system on, and the mixer on and muted, you can now start to connect instruments or microphones to the system.  Mics and Direct boxes, along with cords, can be found in the white milk crate typically found in the credenza
    • Connect the DI boxes to the two free cables found on the ground and do not originate from the snake (They will be coming from under the piano).  This is for the guitars (Trish uses the wireless guitar connector).
    • Jeff brings his own DI, and will connect directly to the snake
    • Becky’s mic can be found in the milk crate, and there will be an existing cable attached to the snae
    • A small mic is now setup for Rick, and this can be found in the mic box.   Take this mic + a cable and connect it to channel 8 on the snake.
    • The cantor mic can be found in the organ stool.
    • The boom mics can be adjusted as necessary to fit with the group.
  5. Once all of the instruments are connected, start to unmute the channels, starting with the Main channel.   Be sure that any instrument that is not present (Say, Mike’s guitar) remains muted.   Continually have sound checks until you are confident everything is set.

DURING MASS

  • There should be no reason to adjust during mass, unless you feel something is too loud or too soft
  • If there is any feedback, start with the main channel to turn down, and then adjust as best you can
  • In the event of a major problem with the mixing board, return to the box to the left of the primary sound system, and select ‘MASS WITH CANTOR ONLY’.  This will enable just the piano and cantor mic and is a possible fall-back if there is a catestrophic failure on the board.

MASS IS OVER
At the end of Mass, the sequence for shutting down is just as important.   Please be sure to follow these steps to protect against any potential issues.

  1. Immediately after Mass, mute the main channel as well as all the individual channels.  This is to prevent any voices from going over the sound system.
  2. Go to the box to the left of the primary system, and select ‘Shutdown’.  This will start the process of shutting down the main sound system.
  3. While this is shutting down, you can begin to have the instrumentalists start to disconnect and put away cables and mics.
  4. When the primary sound system is off (about 2 minutes), go the mixing board.  Using the trackball, go to the upper left corner and select the drop-down menu.  Select ‘Preferences’ bear the bottom, and then ‘Shutdown’.  You will start to see the system shutdown.
  5. If there is a message about the scene not saved, you can select ‘cancel’.
  6. Like a regular computer, you will see information scroll across the screen, and the lights for the channels will turn red.
  7. Once the buttons are green, you now can turn off the mixing board by using the black switch in the lower enclosure.
  8. Once all the various cables/mics are put away, you can roll down the credenza.

 

Restoring

If for any reason the sound board does not respond or fails to load the automation (the scenes that we use for the various ensembles) and you are unable to restore using the automation menu on the board, the flash drive maybe used to restore the “show” file that contains all the automation. Simply insert the flash drive into the USB port on the right-hand side of the control surface of the board. Use the automation button in the center of the board to navigate to the window where the files maybe loaded back into the machine. You must load not only the “show file, but also the “preset” file in order for all of the functions to be properly restored. If you must use the flash drive, please be sure to return it to the drawer after you’re done.

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