So I was doing a gig the other day for quite a big band in a smallish venue, some dude comes along to record the show using a couple of interfaces and a laptop. So I'm using an Allen and Heath GL2200 32ch desk for monitors and he connects up his jack looms to the direct outs but doesn't check the levels etc during soundcheck.

So we're doing the line check before the band goes on and he starts to fluster because he's only getting some of the channels.

It's a bit late now.

So half way through the set he tells me that it's the channels using phantom power which are causing the problem, Hats, Ride, DI's etc.

So after the gig now he and the the cameramen and a FOH engineer for one of the bands are mulling over the desk while I pack away the stage. When they've finished trying to figure out what the problem was (30-45min) I'm told that my desk is to blame and that the direct outputs don't function if you apply phantom power.

At this point I take a condensor mic out of the box and plug it into one of the channels which allegedly wasn't working, then I plug my headphones into the direct out of that channel and lo and behold, I have sound coming through the phones. So I try a few more 'faulty' channels and they are all working too. Which leads me to my question.

Could the phantom power have caused the direct outputs to interfere with his interface in some way? Or is it a more likely explanation such as, a duff old loom having dead channels and looking for someone else to blame? Any suggestions?

"Duff old loom"

Sounds about right

Also ive done a few bits of stuff when a selection of laptop and plugins apear

the thing I find is that a lot of these people may be awesum on a PC but dont

think about the basics

Maybe im a bit old school but a "Music Tech" degree does not teach you how to

repair a jack plug (or if it does noone cares)

Dont stress as your kit is respectable, I wonder how many of his AD/DA's and capture techniques have been used

week in week out on tour


Cliveybaby

Just send the guy a copy of THIS BLOCK DIAGRAM. It would be pretty much impossible for Phantom Power to get any place close to the Direct Outs.

Duff old loom perhaps--or finger trouble when setting up his record software.

Bob

That'll teach him for doing only half a job.

I've done many recordings from a GL2200 24 channel, so unless the 32 has completely different boards in it...........

He said "the direct outs don't function when you apply phantom power". Are you sure he wasn't applying phantom power to your direct outs in the mistaken belief it was needed? Lots of electronics really don't like phantom power.

True dat, I was wondering if he applyed phantom at his end, could he have killed the signal somehow, and surely he would have tried it both off and on? I've never had any difficulties before of this manner.

Whatever, I still think it was the loom. When I was pulling the jacks out of the desk at the end of the night the plastic cover would just pull off some of them leaving the gubbins in place which didn't seem to be a good sign. I was just asking really to make sure I wasn't missing something and that the thousands of gigs I've worked on actually count for something......

The phantom power supplied by your desk to the microphones could not have caused a problem with the direct outs, physically impossible due to the design of the desk (short of major internal failure in which case your gig would not be one you would be talking about in such favourable terms).

IF however he was using a soundcard / HDD Recorder that supplies Phantom power to the outputs of his device then it is possible to interupt the signal from the direct outs to the device. Been there and seen it happen with a A&H GL4800. Don't know the exact science behind it...

Poppadom