djw1981

At church we are getting some nice new keyboards and around the same time a couple of our ~15yo BSS DIs appear to be failing, so we were looking to get some stereo DIs to go with the new keyboards as an upgrade.

The BSS DIs are single channel and don't appear to be made any more; the Kark Teknik 2 channel DI;'s don't appear to be made or in stock anywhere at present; we found one Radial Pro DI2 which we have on a keyboard in another hall and don;t want to have to keep swapping it. 

 

So which brands / models of 2 channel / stereo DI are currently reliable and quiet etc. 

Saw this over on the Catalyst EPS facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Catalyst.EPS.ltd/ - awful at any time, but a real kick in the teeth just as things are getting going again.

 

Catalyst have been busy bees buzzing with excitement at the return of some live events with audiences.

Unfortunately today we are less excited to hear that last night we had £35k worth of PA stolen from a live in-person event site.

Please be vigilant, COVID doesn’t stop other bad things happening.

The kit 2x d&b Y12s, 4x d&b Y8s and 2x d&b YSubs, looks like they have been damaged whilst being “de-rigged” .

Clearly not people who know what they were taking .

If anyone hears of this kit being moved on please let us know so we can pass information onto police… it might seem like a good deal to someone but from the bits of d&b cabinets we have left on site; then kit will be certainly written off.

On more positive news, we are super excited to be providing stadium PA and LED for the British and Irish Lions at Murrayfield this weekend.

I guess if anyone hears or sees anything - their contact details are 01738 815720 enquiry@catalyst-eps.com

We are taking 3 cameras and our main church PC (spitting out its normal software stuff - song videos, readings, ppt etc) each onto an ATEM Pro mini as HDMI feeds, then squriting this via USBC into a laptop and telling the laptop to see it as a webcam. We feed audio from church sound desk to the audio in on ATEM. We then spotlight that feed in the call.

 

We did need to disable some Zoom audio features so it doesn't try to EQ the audio.

....the simple cable solution also doesn't handle the 14dB level shift

 

Just to be utterly pedantic, -10dBV to +4dBu is 11.8dB difference

 

More seriously, the reported fussy-ness about connected monitor is a little concerning... could you expand a bit more or do you know of any particular (say) 27" monitors that do work? We are probably buying a Pro plus monitor fairly soon!

We bought an amazon BenQ and it worked fine with that and the Samaung 40 inch LED screen (used for 'training' our video ops.

Sounds like you need to sort the airflow / ventilation path! First step of risk management is avoid not mitigate the effect?

If the audience are facing away from you, and more than 2 metres away, what increased risk do you perceive?

I'd agree that the airflow is the problem. The increased risk is because of the airflow over the audience coming into the sound room. There have been spreading problems due to airflows like this - see My linkhttps://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

Ideally you'd need some positive pressure in the sound room to keep the flow the other way. Fans from the outside, etc are all possible but, to be honest, much more complex in our situation than the window approach.(... and before anyone suggests it, I've tried farting a lot but keeping it up for three hours is pushing it, even for me )

That blog post is not representing where UK population health science is (see Brian's HSE advice).

 

If your organisational risk assessment suggests that the airflow through the sound booth is of high risk to mandate a barrier, then the barreir itself merely changes the airflow and that risk is transferred to others - FOH stewards etc? If the risk (once assessed) is so high then it would mandate the wearing of a minimum of a Type 3 fluid resist mask for staff surely.

If the existing system works, why change anything?Assuming that you fill half the theatre, one sound operator's breath is hardly a risk? You could have a partial Perspex screen that stopped line of sight (breath) to the sound roomPresumably the sound op and audience are facing the same way?

I have worked in completely sealed control rooms, ones with sliding windows and on a balcony and a balcony beats a room most of the time.Could you have a low velocity fan to prevent the audience venting into the box?Wear a mask?

Fair point but bear in mind most volunteer techs are in the more vulnerable age group and less willing to take risks!

There is no danger to the punters from the sound op (I.e me) but there's no realistic way to stop the airflow from the auditorium through the window and being over 70 and with chronic heart disease, there's no way I'm willing to take the risk!!

It's a real problem in amateur/volunteer theatre. 3 of our 4 lighting people are over 60, both the sound people and 90% of the stage crew!

S

Sounds like you need to sort the airflow / ventilation path! First step of risk management is avoid not mitigate the effect?

If the audience are facing away from you, and more than 2 metres away, what increased risk do you perceive?

Which is fine until one of the asymptomatic punters then coughs once inside the 'sterile' auditorium.....

One minor issue if using car stereos - my radio shuts down after 20min parked to save battery.

Is this running risk of car engines running during movie - noise / air pollution - or needing to jump start many cars at the end!

Mark - Floor area 54 m2 slightly tapering over the 12m depth - so 6m wide at one point, 4 at the other end - with a ceiling height of 2.8m.

 

I've been in and measured a few things and I think I'm going to use some of it as studio space - rather than storage, and a few mails today to old clients suggests that there's a local demand for video work. I've got lights, sound and video, and some green screens and black drapes all in cases, so rather than just store it, I can use it. This might work out quite well, because with the space, I can do quite a bit of stuff I can't do at the moment.

 

I'm assuming that the summer theatre really is on thin ice now, so need another source of income. For the price of the storage, I could have an earner? As I have the kit, I may as well try using it.

 

I derailed my own topic here - which was entirely my fault, but back on topic - I don't know if anyone has also noticed shop rents are at a low level too - I wonder if anyone has considered diversifying into selling to our industry. I see lots of comments on Facebook about the financial situation many of the big boys are in, so maybe there's mileage in selling services and products this way?

 

I just can't see that many of my old clients will ride this out. At least all my outstanding invoices are now cleared, I understand this is not the case with some of my friends, who have quite large debts owed from bigger companies, with little hope of recovery as they simply have no income to pay bills with.

 

Anyone else looking for alternative sources of income?

 

Something else to think about if you have a few quid in the bank is look at ebay. There are lots of decent products going at the moment for very low prices - not pocket money prices, but I've just bought another video camera - and there are radio mics, cabled mics and recorders going for well below their normal value. Quite a few from hire companies who seem to be clearing stock. Now is a great time to delve through ebay for bargain quality kit.

 

I'm hopeful us small fry will get through this with better prospects for the future.

 

Wearing my day job hat, a lot of 'big conferences' are instead being delivered as online webinar style, during COVID this was often a speaker at home / work talking to a computer screen and the viewer seeing their ppt screen. There is a growing realisation that social distancing rules etc are here for a while so lots of conferences are instead likely to be 2-4 speakers in one location with either a proj screen, or green screening of their slides behind them available online for a small fee. There may be 2-4 of these locations around country to minimise travel.

 

 

Whilst some speakers may be from large university affiliated organisations who have the high speed internet and appropriate tech; lots will be from smaller locations or as pre-records, so I suspect that there will be a market for this kind of thing across many industries.

Teams is our NHS solution, but won;t work on most of our PCs (even the ones equiped for video conference) only laptops or BYOD.

We are using ecamm for church services with a mix of pre-record videos and live (skype), including interviews and multi-person sections - reading / prayer etc. Worked well so far with no drop-outs

It may be worth checking if you have any kit which can dial out (fire alarms, burglar alarms etc) and look into how these would work in case of power failure to the VOIP kit. This may affect your insurance etc.

Pile some compost (free from most council recycling centres) in, dig it over a few times and get a local school to come plant some plants and then maintain them til summer....

Lots of people get alloy / steel car wheels powder coated so you may find a back of an industrial estate garage unit would do it.

Sam,

 

By that do you mean using the Matrix out's as monitor feeds?

Presumably for those with deep pockets, & where vanity trumps functionality ?

 

Absolutely.

 

If the wearer has a behind the ear aid, it's fairly likely it has or can be programmed to have a working telecoil. However, there is a tendency for some NHS audiologists not to allocate the loop as one of the programme options when fitting the aid. If the user doesn't know the benefits, they might even say ' no ' if asked. As OP's aid wearers will attest, loop based systems are still the most popular amongst users in this country.

 

Which is ironic given that more and more both hospital reception desks and NHS consultation rooms come with the portable desktop loop devices to assist patients to hear what is being said.

We have been assured that there is little spill out of the room with these, though many of us are a little skeptical.

There may also be some scope to contact a local (wet) hire company who stocks one of the speaker systems you are interested in buying and do a trial run with some of their kit etc, and then see whether that sound is what you want - you may be surprised by the results, and they may have alternative suggestions. It also allows you to assess practicalities.

<Devil's Advocate>

 

You could make the argument that a tired rigger has similar capacity for catastrophe as a tired truck driver so it's probably not horribly disproportionate.

 

</Devil's Advocate>

 

Do other industries have these issues? You hear about medical staff working very long hours - do they make more mistakes when tired, like a rigger might? Are there regulations around surgeons and doctors (or indeed other professionals) that make it a 'solved problem', as it were, that we could adopt in our industry?

 

It'd also be interesting to consider the self-employed:employed ratio for these industries; are truck drivers, construction workers, surgeons etc mostly freelance?

Yes, as a middle level hospital doctor.

 

EWTD - 48hr averaged over 17weeks. 11hr break between shifts. 24hr on-call's are allowed if scheduled to be off site on call for majority of it. No more than 5 nightshifts in a row (in NHS scotland) etc.

Clear evidence of poor decision making

 

e.g. see Anaesthesia link

In particular

20 hours of wakefulness can cause impaired performance

equivalent to being over the UK legal driving limit for alcohol.

See also Fatigue toolkit

Finally there's an editorial from a Sleep Physician at https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2017/10/06/michael-farquhar-we-must-recognise-the-health-effects-associated-with-shift-working/

Indeed, most first aid kits I've come across (the statutory ones) just aren't geared up for the kind of major trauma seen in these kinds of events.

Sadly my workplace is very much a target and we've recently invested in a number of major trauma kits including pre-made tourniquets, haemostatic dressings (incredible things - have a look at the videos on YouTube) and lots and lots of dressings.

Confusingly, I was told only 4 or 5 years ago that tourniquets were bad things and shouldn't be used. Having dealt with a major car accident in my early twenties and applied one myself, which undoubtedly saved the life of the man involved, I had to disagree. Now it would appear they're back in vogue to the point where we're buying properly made ones for our kits at work (which prompted me to buy a couple for my own kit at home - save me losing another of my favourite t shirts to have to make another one like last time!).

A tourniquet ti stem bleeding is good - a tourniquet for a long period is bad.

 

It should be remembered that most hand / ankle/knee surgery involves a tourniquet (at defined pressure) being in place for up to 90 minutes wilth no ill effects. So a short term one to prevent bleeding which is soft (doesnt create additional damage) and doesn;t cut into the skin, and which is removed quickly once at the trauma centre will save lives.

But if you have given them your name then they could start 'Dear David'

If I can offer a situation I am familiar with for discussion.

 

A once/twice a year event has a band (drums/bass/guitars/keys) and orchestra on stage, with a choir behind the oprchestra. Due to the band noise (despite IEMs, drum screen and guitar amps in the basement), the orchestra is mic'd up with flown foldback speakers. Due to stage shape, the band is to one side of the woodwind, the orchestral percussion is behind the woodwind, and brass to the other side of the woodwind. The conductor is very clear that this is the only layout that is acceptable to him in this venue.

 

There have been occasional complaints (over the years) from woodwind regarding the noise they receive from other musicians, which is possibly made worse by the foldback.

 

The orchestra is not fixed, with a regular core, but other musicians play as they are able. Some have thus voted with their feet and no longer play for these events.

 

The event is such that the participants first get together on the day at about 2pm, and rehearse until approx 6pm, with the event 7.30pm-9.30pm.

 

Does anyone have any advice for things we should be doing - my concern would be that any claim would currently be difficult to defend as we have no readings, but the posts above suggest that it is long term exposure which is a bigger issue.