Lights and Sound: Best Mixing Board

Best Mixing Board

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Lights and Sound
Forum Discription: Technical discussion
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2393
Printed Date: 4/30/24 at 2:47pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Best Mixing Board

Posted By: ziwiki
Subject: Best Mixing Board
Date Posted: 5/05/07 at 9:44pm

My CT has the opportunity to start putting together a house sound system. What is the best type/size mixing board to put in? We do mostly musicals with a pit orchestra, running multiple wireless bodymics and mics for the pit, but also use the theater for folk/rock bands between shows.

Replies:

Posted By: TimW
Date Posted: 5/06/07 at 10:41am

As with almost any theatre project, you will always want more later.

I would start with just inventorying what mics you use altogether. This will give you a starting place for how many channels you would like available.

One option, assuming you have a decent board already, is to use the board already in service to mix the pit, then patch that board into your main mixer which will contain your bodymics, cd players, etc.

By using 2 boards, you can have a choice of what size board for each band.

I am using a Berringer mixer with 16 available channels. No musicals in our place. The owner isn't fond of them but I enjoy them. It has done a great job for us.

I know that this is probably generic info, but it might help the thought proccesses rolling.

Posted By: tblan
Date Posted: 5/08/07 at 8:57pm

There are really so many aspects to this question its difficult to answer without more information about your needs. I am assuming you want to stay in the analog realm. Though I personally use a much larger number of inputs due to the scale of the shows I mix, I would imagine that you would want a 32 channel board. This should be able to accommodate many musicals, as well as most concerts. In terms of brands, a Midas console would be fitting in this situation (and they certainly are some of the best), but they tend to be pricey. Despite their known power supply issues, the A-H GL series are also good boards at a lower price, and with a redundant power supply you should be fine.

Posted By: avcastner
Date Posted: 5/20/07 at 11:22am

I prefer the Yamaha MC32 (I think it comes in a variety of channel conglomerations). The faders on the Yamaha have a lot of headroom as opposed to the others I've seen.

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