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Radio mic rack pre wiring thoughts


cedd

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Hello hive mind. I'm after some collective thoughts on how to tweak my radio mic setup for faster get ins.

 

I'm using furlough/no gigs to really streamline how I travel and to service my kit. I'm now turning my attention to my mic racks.

I have 4 racks of 8 (3 racks of trantec S5 spread over channel 38, 65 and 70. Then 1 rack of Line6). In the past I've kept them separate and have just lifted them in to the van/car as individual racks. I now tend to hire bigger vans for large shows (rather than having to squash everything in to my own van). With that in mind I'm thinking of building a trolley so all 4 racks travel stacked and strapped together (see photos);

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XZbs78aiP7oKF6Rt8

And the back of one rack here;

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XgF98ob3yqbhoBLQ9

Before anyone suggests one big rack, they sometimes go out on small hires in bunches of 8, and one or 2 of my venues aren't geared up to take wheeled racks, so I need to retain the ability to transport individually.

 

I'm keen to speed up wiring up when I get in to theatres and have the luxury of a ramped get in and big van. Interlinking the racks and plugging up the looms to the stageboxes takes a reasonable amount of time. What would be ideal would be if they were pre wired together before I got there. I have RF links between the 3 UHF racks (main RF distro is in rack 1 - usually at the top), powercon links, 4 pin XLR DC links (redundant power supply in rack 1 with relay changeover units in each rack), audio (edac on racks 1 and 2, XLR on rack 3 and Line6 rack) and I may soon have another cable (maybe a d type) for my home brew remote monitoring software.

 

The question is how to achieve this.

The easiest way is to simply not take the back lids. That leaves the cabling vulnerable though and doesn't lend itself to easy van packing.

Option 2 is to leave the back lids behind still but build the trolley with some sort of protective upright box that the racks but up to (maybe attaching to it with the butterfly catches designed for the lids). The problem with this is that I don't always take all 4 racks - sometimes it's 2 or 3. It'd therefore need to be modular (pin hinges maybe).

Option 3 is to modify the racks somehow. I have space to move the rear rack rails forwards (towards the receivers) a couple of inches. I could then cut a hole in the top and bottom of each rack to pass cables between (the holes would line up between racks). I could make a set of little doors that would fit in to close these holes when not in use.

 

So the big question - what would you do? Any other options I've missed?

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Thomann do a flexible racking system which has individual sleeves which can all travel together in larger cases.

 

Link here

 

 

The advantage is you can have your receivers racked up in logical batches which can either go out by themselves or be combined for bigger shows. With a bit of thought you could probably have a simple way to link power etc. beforehand.

 

Biggest drawback is the expense, but you may be able to build something similar yourself for less, especially if you use the existing racks as raw materials.

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Some sort of manufactured door? Plenty of cases have side doors. You could cut a hole in each back and mount a door trough 90°?Orhttps://www.flightcasefittings.co.uk/hinged-rack-panel.htmlModified to fit a hole cut in the back door of the case.Potentially with a brush strip added

If you wanted to go for the "hole top and bottom" I'd go for simple desk cable grommets? Maybe a high quality type, but easy to source and operate

Edited by Dave m
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Hello hive mind. I'm after some collective thoughts on how to tweak my radio mic setup for faster get ins.

 

I'm using furlough/no gigs to really streamline how I travel and to service my kit. I'm now turning my attention to my mic racks.

I have 4 racks of 8 (3 racks of trantec S5 spread over channel 38, 65 and 70. Then 1 rack of Line6). In the past I've kept them separate and have just lifted them in to the van/car as individual racks. I now tend to hire bigger vans for large shows (rather than having to squash everything in to my own van). With that in mind I'm thinking of building a trolley so all 4 racks travel stacked and strapped together (see photos);

https://photos.app.g...bs78aiP7oKF6Rt8

And the back of one rack here;

https://photos.app.g...F98ob3yqbhoBLQ9

Before anyone suggests one big rack, they sometimes go out on small hires in bunches of 8, and one or 2 of my venues aren't geared up to take wheeled racks, so I need to retain the ability to transport individually.

 

I'm keen to speed up wiring up when I get in to theatres and have the luxury of a ramped get in and big van. Interlinking the racks and plugging up the looms to the stageboxes takes a reasonable amount of time. What would be ideal would be if they were pre wired together before I got there. I have RF links between the 3 UHF racks (main RF distro is in rack 1 - usually at the top), powercon links, 4 pin XLR DC links (redundant power supply in rack 1 with relay changeover units in each rack), audio (edac on racks 1 and 2, XLR on rack 3 and Line6 rack) and I may soon have another cable (maybe a d type) for my home brew remote monitoring software.

 

The question is how to achieve this.

The easiest way is to simply not take the back lids. That leaves the cabling vulnerable though and doesn't lend itself to easy van packing.

Option 2 is to leave the back lids behind still but build the trolley with some sort of protective upright box that the racks but up to (maybe attaching to it with the butterfly catches designed for the lids). The problem with this is that I don't always take all 4 racks - sometimes it's 2 or 3. It'd therefore need to be modular (pin hinges maybe).

Option 3 is to modify the racks somehow. I have space to move the rear rack rails forwards (towards the receivers) a couple of inches. I could then cut a hole in the top and bottom of each rack to pass cables between (the holes would line up between racks). I could make a set of little doors that would fit in to close these holes when not in use.

 

So the big question - what would you do? Any other options I've missed?

Whos racks are they?Can you buy spare lids? If available I'd buy 4 spare lids and cut sections out top and bottom to suite, pre wire then fit lids to cover/protect with the tail coiled inside one.

Arrive on site, remove one lid and plug tail into mixer aerials & power.

If spare lids are not available how is your woodworking skills?

 

 

 

 

There are rack manufacturers who would be only too pleased to make bestoke lids at the moment.

Realistically you'd only require 2 sides and bottom on the bottom lid, 2 sides and top for top lid and 2 sides for middle lids.

 

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They're Terralec's Cobra racks - actually very good quality, but I think they're an import rather than manufactured anywhere that'd allow for custom work.

I think I'd struggle to leave the lids on (be it with doors cut in to them or with top and bottoms removed) as they don't offer enough depth for xlr's to be plugged in to the back panel without fouling the lid. Once I start having to move the rack rails in to the case I may as well make the cuts in the case bottom and top, meaning I can still remove the back lids without cables passing through them.

 

I'm leaning towards this upright box at one end of the trolley that they butt up against. Almost like a radio mic dog box. It can have a plugboard in it and I might even fit one of my stageboxes in there if I plan it right. I'm thinking I can make it as a 3 rack high unit (if I'm just taking 2 racks, wiring them together won't take long) and then have an additional 1 rack high unit that pin hinges in to take the 2.4GHz rack.

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I was thinking along the lines of a new outer flight case which had shelves for the existing racks to slide into - a bit like this sort of tool case (Flightcase Warehouse):

12613_0_l.jpg?cb=061120

but with shelves for the existing flightcases instead of drawers.

It could have a removable back (for access to connectors) of whatever depth was necessary. If the shelves had stops at the back, the existing racks wouldn't slide too far back, and the front of this new case could have sufficient depth of foam to stop the existing racks sliding forwards in transit. Once the rack was in situ, I can't imagine the existing racks would want to move around.

You could perhaps have one for all of your racks, and a second one for just three of them (assuming that when you're down to just two racks, the effort to cable it up is not so great as to justify a custom rack.

Edited by Tom Baldwin
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I like the idea of an outer case that holds the racks within. Weight isn't a huge factor as I'll only use this setup in venues with ramp access or a lift. I daresay I could build something like that myself (currently designing a home brew CNC router setup, so it'd be a fun project to launch it at).

 

Based on some of the replies I feel I need to say, I'm not looking for a new flightcase system. I have existing racks that serve me very well. I'm looking for a way to transport them in a way that allows them to be pre wired together. I do like the "stack of racks in a box" products, but they don't allow for the pre wiring I'm looking for and don't provide enough protection when a single rack goes off on hire.

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Assuming each of the racks is the same make/size, and that the “feet” on them interlock with the unit below to make a reasonably stable stack, how about something like:

 

a. Stack ‘em up.

b. Take off the back panels and wire them up.

c. (the important bit) Manufacture a new single “back door panel” which locks across all 4 racks, and is deep enough to allow cabling to flow up and down. eg if 4 racks, each 4U high with one catch each side of the back panel, then a 16(ish)U back panel, with 4 clips each side.

d. Rachet strap round the whole thing, maybe a wheel board on bottom, to make it movable as a single unit

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  • 3 weeks later...

Those Thomann rack sleeves look great!

 

On my larger Shure 4 way and 8 way racks I have them wired to 12 pair veam. Really makes for quick setup. Simply have a set of Veam tails at the soft patch or go direct in to the stage box and you literally don’t have to deal with any single cabling.

 

How do you get on using multiple mics in the 2.4ghz area?

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How do you get on using multiple mics in the 2.4ghz area?

Depends on the venue and job.I used a set of 4 for an outdoor event. 4 headsets worked a treat.

Exactly the same set up the following day in a university... forget it 200 youngsters with phones constantly running, the mics stood no chance, even when we moved the receivers to within 5m of the transmitters

 

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