Why is it....

[Matt Riley]

I think the other thing you've got to remember is that schools seem to be singularly incapable of remembering that capital purchases such as sound equipment and lanterns need maintenance. If you're part of a school that seems to not realise that nearly all kit in this industry goes wrong pretty quickly without maintenance, then it makes a lot of sense to buy behringer.

[KevinE]

That's a valid point about pupils trashing equipment..any teacher will tell you their horror stories. I think pupils should never be allowed alone with expensive stuff till they've proved they can be trusted.

 

Not too long ago (!) when I was at technical college, (ok 20 years ago) the lecturer brought in some radioactive isotopes and taught us how dangerous they were..handling them at arms length with tweezers and waving them at the geiger counter. He had a phone call and was called into the prep room..whenupon a gaggle of kids leapt forward to the lead-lined box, opened it and took the samples out and played with them, teasing each other with them and pretending to come down with radiation sickness. OK, no major harm done this time but it serves as an illustration.

 

I tell you..one minute is all it needs!

 

I also maintain physics and chemistry equipment for some local authority schools and it's a similar story....one of our bigger jobs was to remove and blank-off the 110-240 mains selectors on scopes and PSU's because the pupils loved setting them to 110V when the teacher's back was turned.....

[Andrew C]

The kids where I work are in the top few % intellectually, and in general are a nice, polite bunch. H3ll, there are a few who I would lend kit to, on an individual basis; however more than two or three of them involved, I wouldn't trust them not to break a house brick.

 

We do have some nice stuff, it is all locked down, rack mounted with security bolts or hidden in cupboards.

 

Example;

 

Sound FX pc running Sound Cue System is playing up. Told jer pupil to cut his losses, and make an MD. Two hours later he is caught trying to drill the lock on the PC case. "I was only going to add more RAM so I can do my sound!"

 

Not much point as the MoBo was full. He thinks that I don't trust, or like him. He's right too!

[Chubbs the Techie]

Major problem we have at the moment is that we've started updating kit to a higher standard; meaning in some recent shows, sound has been fantastic and lighting not so much, and vice versa

 

H3ll, there are a few who I would lend kit to, on an individual basis;

 

I'm allowed to borrow anything I want from our drama dept, as long as I sign it out :). Even in the knowledge that I use it in gigs I do, therefore I make money from it indirectly..drama teachers are the best teachers to suck up to!

 

C

[nicemms]

One word ...

 

Budget!

[David Duffy]

I have been both a helper and supplier to schools. There are times when good gear is appropriate. There are also times when using the cheapest gear that will do the job is well justified. A couple of examples:

 

I sold a small lighting desk to a primary school (that I help out at) about a year ago. I know what happens there and what casual hirers of their hall are like, so suggested a cheap desk that they can replace in 2-3 years time. They had 2 or 3 times the budget than what the cheap desk cost, but accepted my advice. Nearly 12 months later that little desk is still working, and with the money they saved they bought a couple of extra stage lights.

 

By comparison, a high school that I also help out at got a grant for lighting and sound equipment. As part of the deal I supplied a nice LSC Maxim desk with moving light control. Now they don't have any movers yet, but I knew that this would be the only lighting desk that they could buy for quite a few years. They can always hire (or loan) the movers as they need anyway. Students are learning to use that desk and it should last as access to it is fairly restricted.

[robloxley]

1. Money (lack of);

 

2. Technical knowledge (lack of, when there is no paid technician);

 

3. Bad advice (follows from above);

 

4. Sometimes it is better sense to buy something cheap and keep replacing it, than to buy something expensive and then not be able to replace it when it inevitably gets trashed.

Equally there are lots of times that investing in quality (at the extra cost entailed) will be much more economical in the longterm; it's just not easy to always know when that is (your points 2 & 3).

[PDD]

Equally there are lots of times that investing in quality (at the extra cost entailed) will be much more economical in the longterm; it's just not easy to always know when that is (your points 2 & 3).

Absolutely. Luckily I am in a position (in a school) that I can afford to buy the more expensive kit (e.g. I have a Congo lx desk), but I also have a little Strand 12-way manual desk for the... shall we say, less careful user (i.e. unsupervised by me). Soon to be joined by a Zero 88 desk for the same reason. I would say I'm in the minority of schools that can afford that luxury.

[ojc123]

I think you will find that budget plays a huge part and also budget politics.

Agreed

The school will have a budget imposed by it's govenance body and have to buy all the books materials and services out of that. If a school theatre buys top of range kit then another department gets no books, pens or paper.

Agreed but I would settle for any cash from the School. All of our kit comes from our own efforts or occasional Parents' Association donations.

Also, in schools the kit is under used - two shows a term rather than two shows a week! BUT the kit is still trashed by untrained hands.

Agreed and that is why some of our kit is disposable. There's no point buying an SM58 because it'll last for years when you know that the £25 version might last longer because it's a bit less nickable.

I never used the stuff at school, I didnt want to be a part in it. I just use my kit for gigs e.t.c

I just think its wrong that schools buy in such rubbish gear!

You are entitled to your opinion and I genuinely respect it but I hope you can accept why people in schools make the decisions they do. It is right to buy appropriate gear and that is the type of decision that some of us have to make all the time. Sometimes I buy A&H sometimes I buy Behringer. Both have their place. Some could argue that top quality gear would be wasted in Schools and that it would be wrong to buy it.

[niax]

I think you will find that budget plays a huge part and also budget politics.

 

I was reliably informed last year that at the school I was at, if a department didn't spend all it's yearly budget, it was deemed that it could do with less money and therefore have it's budget cut for the next academic year.

 

Schools also generally have cheaper equipment because it's not really a requirement in most schools to have good technical specification - it's not something they can sell the school on unless they have the vast drama department to back it up with. There are other more important areas which prospective student's parents will focus on, this in the more well off schools. The less well off schools simply don't have the cash to splash out on equipment that they'll use once a year at most when they can hire in what they need.

[Johnno]

I buy cheap and cheerful for our school. I've just spec'ed a sound package for the drama room which has a Soundcraft mixer, W-Audio amp, and Behringer mics. With leads, stands and case the lot cost £500, which was the budget. The mics were chosen primarily because they come as a three pack in a plastic case. I figured the drama queen would be able to look after them better with "slots" to go in after use than if they were loose.

 

When we upgraded the hall sound system I forked out for one pair of decent speakers and also used up some old ones we already had. The result's not too impressive as the difference in tonality between the speakers is huge. Luckily you don't notice unless only the old ones are playing and I see to it that that doesn't happen.

 

 

Edit: Who said I can spel?