Control Board Area - Attempt 1

So after 7 years of being in our new home we are finally building a proper area to control our audio and video equipment.  For as long as our church has been in Seattle we functioned as a 'gypsy' church never having a permanent home.  We were used to setting up our sound system every sunday and taking it down to put in storage.  As a result all our equipment is of the portable PA style.  Now that we have a legit home it is about time we made it better suite our needs.







Location
First of all the back right corner has been the home of the AV table since we initially setup our PA system.  It gets us out of the way but is really the worst possible spot to control our equipment.  When trying to hear what the speakers are sending out the center is really the ideal spot.  Also when the congregation is standing it is near impossible to see any performers who are on the ground level like someone at the piano or playing the guitar.  As a result we need to elevate ourselves (it really isn't just for a power trip).  The location required removing the back middle pew but will open back up the back corner and the half of the back right pew we removed so no expected change in seating capacity.

Sound Board
So our Makie board is old, after around 20 years of use moving between multiple locations it has begin to fail.  One of the sub mixes is out, the sliders are crackly and the audio system seems to have a hum which we are pretty sure is coming from the sound board.  Dan was able to find a used SoundCraft 800B which while a few decades old is a much higher quality board and far more serviceable.  Each channel can be removed for servicing or swapping and the passive electronic components are thru hole which can be replaced much easier than SMD (Surface Mount Technology).  One downside is the size, this board is massive, with 8 more input channels it is close to double the dimensions of our old makie board.  Due to the size our new area had to be designed around the board.

Construction
Design
Being a mechanical engineer I spent a fair amount of time to plan and design our setup.  This was to have an idea as to how it would all fit together, maximize our space, and estimate the cost.  In reality during the actual process of building the design wasn't held to very strictly.

It took multiple days of construction:

Day 1: Platform
I chose to build the platform like a deck (post and beam).  From my experience building the stage I can't assume anything in the building is straight or level.  This turned out to be wize as between the 10' width there was a 0.5" difference in height.

   

Day 2: Sound Board and Device Structure
The next day we started building the support for the sound board and other equipment.

Day 3: Compromises

So building something this large in such a public place is bound to raise some eyebrows (or furrow some brows...)  My idea of an area that allowed decent viewing of the stage performers while seated had to be dropped down from a platform at about 16" to half of that at 8".  Also the extra width at the sides where the step would be was cut back.  This also meant loosing the storage underneath, but a few committee members felt that the area was too large for the space... oh well. 

 

     

... Unfortunately due to the size of the sound board this design has been rejected and it will be completely redesigned to be smaller.