Posted by Richard Crowley on 01/30/08 19:16

"Rick M" wrote ...
> We're looking to relocate our sound board in a church
> from the back corner of the balcony to either the
> middle of a wrap-around balcony or in a 'sound booth'
> in the back.
>
> On argument is that the operator must be in the open
> to judge the sound.
>
> The other argument is that all
> audio and video and projection and recording folk
> ought to be in there own secluded, secure,
> non-distracting from the rest of the people location.
>
> I say that moving operators, screens, and fans are
> a big distraction, plus they will use the space for
> 18 or so people-in-pews.
>
> What's your view? What facts are needed?

Is this the "FOH opeator"? That is the person who controls the
mix and levels for the sound heard by the audience. (FOH =
Front Of House") That person MUST be in a position to hear
a representative sample of what the audience is hearing. If you
employ professional engineers you might be able to get away
with putting them in an isolated location, but even most pros
will balk strongly at that. Putting amateur sound operators in
an isolated location for running FOH sound is a guaranteed
disaster. It is hard enough to get them to run things correctly
when they CAN hear properly.

If you are creating any mixes for other uses (recording,
overflow, TV, etc. etc.), then you really need a separate
operator with their own mixer creating this mix in an isolated
environment so that they can also hear what they are doing.
But they SHOULD NOT be able to hear what is going on
in the main audience area because it will interfere with their
ability to mix properly.

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