Thread: Sound Desk for Church

I have done plenty before. What exactly would you like to know?

Me to
What would you like to know
I used to do FOH/ Monitors and own and operated a system

Also made a lot of road boxes and Speakers (mainly Ws)

BTW Ive got a touring System almost compete for sale if you are looking for gear

My old Page
http://www.geocities.com/nevsutt/Index.html

now that's some quick replies. i'll get my plans off the other comp and post them up for comments.

I've made most of the model in Google Sketch Up. Some of it's a bit rough but you get the idea. It's 640K and too big for the forum but can send it to anyone if interested.

The plan is to build it in three units, two to hold the racks and a table top and drawers to bolt together when in location.

Racks.
19" racks for amps, eq, comp etc.
Front doors should slide back into the unit. Inspired by Australian wood review 54.
Back panels made of secruity mesh to allow ventilation.
Pondering adding a slide out keyboard drawer at top.

Roof
Flip top roof. Not excited about this but easy and can't think of anything better.
Two sound desks, one left out unlocked and run mainly front Mic and PA gear and the more complicated stuff locked up in the main unit.
LCD, I need to work out a way to lock the LCD. My friend suggested a worm drive but I think it will get complicated with the cords behind, and I thought attaching it to a flip top. Not sure.

Boz

I can make a few points.

The racks are hard to get to, and it will be hard to see and adjust equipment when there isn't much light about.

The stuff on the left and right sides of the desk will be hard to reach in a hurry and without straining the back. Anything there would have to be seldom used.

How are cables getting from the desk to the racks and back? Will those wooden panels get in the way should you decide to get a bigger mixing desk in the future?

Here are my suggestions:

If it is no problem taking up a bit more room:

Ditch the racks from underneath, then whoever is mixing can slide back and forth on an office chair and reach everything at the desk easily. Place the racks to one side and higher up so they are at eye level and more easily adjusted. This way the racks will be next to each other, so placement won't be so critical as far as what goes in which rack, signal runs will be shorter and with a bit of height it will be much less of a chore to plug things in etc. Additionally 2 seperate boxes like this will make things more portable (or sellable), should the church ever want to take their gear anywhere.

If room is a big issue:

Make the desk more circular so there is more equipment that is within easy reach of the engineer.

Possibly tilt the racks upwards slightly so they recieve more light from above (no pun intended), and are easier to see.

my 2c.

These are my favourite LCD mounts for lecturn/desk applications. You will not be dissapointed

http://www.atdec.com/Content_Common/...ulated-Arm.seo

The racks are hard to get to, and it will be hard to see and adjust equipment when there isn't much light about

I would prefer the panels surrounding the rack to be removable for access when working on the racks

The stuff on the left and right sides of the desk will be hard to reach in a hurry and without straining the back. Anything there would have to be seldom used

I agree

How are cables getting from the desk to the racks and back

This needs to be considered. Perhaps a timber channel for cables.

Will those wooden panels get in the way should you decide to get a bigger mixing desk in the future

I agree. Also, I don't think they are necessary.

Make the desk more circular so there is more equipment that is within easy reach of the engineer

I agree

Cables:
Behind the main sound desk there is a large hole in the desk, and circular holes in the two side cabinets connecting them to a space behind the drawer. Does that make sense? I've included a picture.

Have you thought about power points?

What about portable equipment people might bring in. Can they easily plug it in into connection points accesable?

I had a good look at the new mixer today, which allowed me to take some measurements and make sure it fits nice and neatly.

It became apparent that with the flip top it will be hard to access the top of the mixer. I've quickly knocked up plans for a sliding top. Which added some curves I didn't want. Functionally it should be very good. However, I'm not happy with the design which seems to be confused as in what genre and era it's from.

With the larger mixer and the dual screen it's blown the top to 2746 x 700mm. The only issue in making the desk longer is in transport to the install. However, because it will slot in where a pew currently sits I can't make it too deep. Which also rules out making the desk more circular.

You could hinge the front part of the slide and keep the square shape.

at my church the cover over our sound desk is like byfold doors on its side mostly using piano hinge timber width is say 100mm. works well as there is enough room to access top of desk. this way keeps it square

A company that makes roll top desks....
Looks straight forward I think I'll run with that for the desk.
http://www.hsarolltops.com/index.html

Roll tops..... ARRRRGH... sorry.

I have a real problem with roll tops......in short there is no free lunch....they actulay take up a lot of room and there is always an overhang.
I've been involved with a few and they are always a PIA.

In churches they always want you to take up less space.

the best option for the to is mulit fold sectional...where the to folds up & stacks at the back of the desk.....I've seen plenty of variations on that theme....... but the best is being able to either remove the stack of lid or slide it forward on its cleats to facilitate repatching.

Racks under the desk is pretty well unavoidable in churches.....apart from the fact..... most of the time you don't want the operator touching anything in the rack, particulary EQ & compression.....I will frequently fit security covers or place the thinks you dont want touched in a seperate section keyed to differ from the rest of the cabinets.

Its best to close in the entire desk top with lockable covers rather than sections, that way things can be left beside the mixer, locked up, such as headphones, radio mic packs & other stuff.
bringing record and playback machines above the desktop can be a good idea. Payback more so than record..... make sure you have a decent section of clear desk top so you can lay out, scripts for musicals, cd/ cass backing tracks for soloists & such.

Make sure you build this thing tough....I know of plenty of gear being knocked off from churches..... consider bolting stuff in the rack with allen key bolts.....that will slow down both the theves and the fiddlers.
remember a big look is pointless if you can just undo the screws in the hinges.


Pay good attention to ventilation in your racks....if you need to force ventilate......... you problay should....... use 12V fans runn on a lower voltage....I frequently use either multi voltage plug packs or voltage reg boards to controll fan speed and noise......most 12V computer fans will rin fine at 6 volts....a good may will be fine at 5 volts..... use big fans or lots of & run em slow.....even at 9 volts the noise reduction is significant.

For the LCD
there is a flup up bracket available for mounting LCD's under cupboards..... spring loaded all that...... you could just invert one of those or mount it under the back lip with the screen canterlevered so it pops up.


or just lay it on its back & shut the top.

make sure it is good & solid...... particularly that nothing squeaks or makes noises..........especilay chairs......

as for cable access..... a string of 50mm holes is hard to beat.

Do Not put too many power points where they are easily visible or accessable...people will want to use them and get realy cut when you tell them they cant.

having the racks underneath on wheels can be good and bad....if the racks are fixed have a door in the side or back.
don't bother with heaps of powerpoints under the desk..... put a 10 way power board in the back of the rack screwed to the side.

OH
You do have at least 1 power circuit for your exclusive use with is own breaker, and a seperate one for the AV guys with their dirty computer gear.

enough for now

cheers