New DR 260 user
BERT
Posts: 2
Hi,
I'd like to share a little background information with you. I'm new to this fourm and I just purchased a new Drive Rack 260.
My wife is a mobile DJ, she plays mainly off a lap top and external hard drive with over 25000 songs at her fingertips. The music can range from country, southern rock, disco, beach, blues, even hip hop. She plays small clubs with up to two hundred people, and larger venues with up to two thousand people, lots of weddings, private parties and sometimes festivals.
Now a little about me. I'm the owner of a plumbing company, I have no formal music or sound management training. I set up her equipment for her, mingle with the crowd while she works and tear it down when she's finished.
Her equipment:
Lap Top With Sound Blaster Sound Card
Maxtor 300Gig Hard Drive
OTS DJ Software
Furman PL Plus
Numark CDN 90 CD Player
Pioneer DJM 3000 Mixer
Two Mackie SWA 1801 Subs
Four Mackie SRM 450's
Two Shure Beta 58A Mic's
One Sennheiser E845 Mic
The reason I've purchased the DR 260 is to hopefully be able to tweak the sound set up for different venues at which she plays, and also control the feed back that sometimes occurs. I choose which speakers to use based on the size of the venue she's playng and the number of people expected. I always daisy chain the sub's and high pass out the the 450's. Up until now, I've only had the EQ on the mixer and my ears to tweak the sound. I decided to add the DR 260 after talking to the sound manager of a local band. He felt like the DR 260 would address all of my sound management issues.
I've not installed the Drive Rack in her system yet. I felt the smart approach was to ask you kind people for some advice, and your recommendations on the proper set up with her equipment. Yes I know the owners manuel is a good place to start and I've read through it several times, but this piece of equipment will do far more than I have the ability to grasp.
Shes booked to play for a little over one thousand people in a couple of weeks and I'd like to have the necessary knowledge to use the Drive Rack to tweak the room and eliminate any possible feedback issues that might occur by that time, without the possibility of really making a huge mistake and making her performance a disaster. Is That possible?
I don't mind doing my homework, recommended reading etc., I'm not afraid to set the system up and learn hands on by trail and error, I just don't want to make a mistake whens she's out working.
Any information that you could share with me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks In Advance,
Robert
I'd like to share a little background information with you. I'm new to this fourm and I just purchased a new Drive Rack 260.
My wife is a mobile DJ, she plays mainly off a lap top and external hard drive with over 25000 songs at her fingertips. The music can range from country, southern rock, disco, beach, blues, even hip hop. She plays small clubs with up to two hundred people, and larger venues with up to two thousand people, lots of weddings, private parties and sometimes festivals.
Now a little about me. I'm the owner of a plumbing company, I have no formal music or sound management training. I set up her equipment for her, mingle with the crowd while she works and tear it down when she's finished.
Her equipment:
Lap Top With Sound Blaster Sound Card
Maxtor 300Gig Hard Drive
OTS DJ Software
Furman PL Plus
Numark CDN 90 CD Player
Pioneer DJM 3000 Mixer
Two Mackie SWA 1801 Subs
Four Mackie SRM 450's
Two Shure Beta 58A Mic's
One Sennheiser E845 Mic
The reason I've purchased the DR 260 is to hopefully be able to tweak the sound set up for different venues at which she plays, and also control the feed back that sometimes occurs. I choose which speakers to use based on the size of the venue she's playng and the number of people expected. I always daisy chain the sub's and high pass out the the 450's. Up until now, I've only had the EQ on the mixer and my ears to tweak the sound. I decided to add the DR 260 after talking to the sound manager of a local band. He felt like the DR 260 would address all of my sound management issues.
I've not installed the Drive Rack in her system yet. I felt the smart approach was to ask you kind people for some advice, and your recommendations on the proper set up with her equipment. Yes I know the owners manuel is a good place to start and I've read through it several times, but this piece of equipment will do far more than I have the ability to grasp.
Shes booked to play for a little over one thousand people in a couple of weeks and I'd like to have the necessary knowledge to use the Drive Rack to tweak the room and eliminate any possible feedback issues that might occur by that time, without the possibility of really making a huge mistake and making her performance a disaster. Is That possible?
I don't mind doing my homework, recommended reading etc., I'm not afraid to set the system up and learn hands on by trail and error, I just don't want to make a mistake whens she's out working.
Any information that you could share with me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks In Advance,
Robert
0
Comments
First a little background about me.. I have been here for 3-4 years, have multiple 260's and a DRPA, I do Live sound and lighting, have also got a few DJ and Karaoke rigs and do small pa rentals and installs. All my DJ Karaoke systems are computer based and haven't used discs for years now...sure makes it nice, have over 50,000 songs and about 600 gigs of karaoke with more that needs to be converted...
As for reading... start @ the other DRUG user site (the old one) in the tutorials section @ the top of the page
http://www.driverack.com/drug/index.asp
http://www.driverack.com/drug/forum_sta ... forumid=24
check all the links and info, especially the white paper by Mike Kovach on the Auto EQ function...
Your setup,
You an learn a lot about the speakers from the website, I went and checked out their specs, and the corresponding frequency charts. They cross the 1801's out @ 120 hz that is also where the 450's would be crossed in if you used the swa1801 as the crossover... I have a problem with this however 9AGAIN THIS IS STRICTLY GOING BY THE FREQ CHARTS @ MACKIE)(darn caps lock anyway)
If you look at the chart for the 1801, you will note it is nearly 15 db down from the 65hz crest... Now if you look @ the 450's chart they also have a dip in response @ 120 hz but only about 5 db, and stays flat to nearly 70 hz. Why is this important you ask? Well, it gives us clues as to where to put or crossover. Now mackie sets the xover @ 120 hz, and must provide ,I would assume, an eq adjustment for that nearly 15 db drop @ 120 hz (this would mean that the 120 hz sounds would be only 1/3 as loud as 60 hz and 150hz! Another thing to consider is the lower you run the 450's, freuqency wise, the less clarity there will be in the lo mids as the woofer struggles to reproduce the lowest frequencies, so let the subs do what they do best, and the tops what they do best...
So I would set the xover point @ 100hz, to stat with (some experimenting should provide the best point.. but for now...100hz )The speakers have their own limiters so you should not need to worry about that, (you could set a brick wall limiter for a safety if someone were to walk up and slam the mixer controlls wide open...) So we won't set an HPF (lowest point the subs will be allowed to go) but the LPF(crossover) @ 100 hz L/R (which is linkwitz riley ) @ 24 DB / octave slope. A corresponding (HPF) for the SRM450's will be set @ 100hz, also @ L/R24 and set the LPF to out which lets the SRM450's reproduce antyhing they can in the HF area.
The Wizard section has the C300 in the speaker selection area, which are the passive version of the SRM450. (in reality though a selection of 'custom' would do just as well since there does not seem to be any type of adjustments made to the modules)
As for the Wizard, I would set up, linked stereo, mono subs (which is a 2X3 setup) the limiter, and notch filters in the modules,(I don't suggest the sub harmonic processror, and you play pre-recorded music so a compressor is DEFINATLY NOT suggested! All custrom passive, and NONE for amps...
If you are not using the GUI, download it and get it hooked up. It makes setup SOOO much easier...
You CANNOT EQ a room... you can only eq the system with reguard to the room... In this reguard only frequency cuts are recomended, as boosts only increase distructive energy in a room. In a livley(echo) rooms an austensibly flat system will work best (see the tutorials section)
When using the auto EQ indoors, note that the resultant EQ curve will be inacurate below 150hz due to standing waves, this means you would need to re-zero, and Eq this region by ear (remember that little sag @ 120 hz we spoke of earlier? this would be a good place for a PEQ inserted to bring that back up to the rest of the frequencies..again see the 'tutorials' section for hints. The area above 700 hz also posses problems for the Auto EQ, mostly from reflections that arrive out of phase @ the measurment mic (make sure you use a dedicated measurment mic, one designed for that purpose) These reflections arrive out of phase and cancel the primary sound and confuses the Auto EQ. These should also be EQ'd by ear..
As for the AFS start with 6 fixed and 6 live filters, 'Live', 'Loud ', make sure all mics are live and set up for use. exceed the level you intend to use for the show...
Keep us informed..
Gadget