My other workbench

[Phat Controller]

when I'm not mucking around at home on my workbench I am here .......

on my other workbench. Fixing, maintaining, and beautifying, sound and lighting equipment for the 7 Venues I work for.

Nice messy table of testing/cleaning/and parts.

the overflowing hoard of Props and equipment in 1 of the 3 warehouses we have, I have a never ending flow of equipment that needs to be serviced and cleaned *sigh*

My layout gives me an escape from this!!

[Phat Controller]

I don't know if this thread is going to kick off, or just die through lack of interest, but I know theres a few musical type amongst you, so here goes nothing..........

I bought this Yamaha LS9-36 Digital mixing desk the other day for a bargain, and will become the nucleus of my corporate sound system that will be used at high end functions. It's a little beauty and I'm quite chuffed (excuse the railway pun) that i got it for a song.

I intend to purchase some speakers & subs to make the package complete but its a lot more expensive than buying a loco so I'm watching my pennies and I'm being pedantic in what I buy.

The other thing I'm looking to do is to use my tablet to remotely access this mixer (much like you can do with DCC) whilst I tune the foldback monitors on stage or the whole front of house system in the room.

The wonders of modern technology!!

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In the bad old days my remote was called George. I would move around front of house gesticulating madly to him for up/down, that's it! I have a suspicion that it was setting the level on those stacks, that I now walk around with a pair of amps of my own, one behind each ear!

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Yamaha digital mixing desks. Can't fault them!
Mines an 01V with added ADAT card.
Thanks
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[Phat Controller]

Back in the good old bad days I had several "remotes" called Terry, Peter, Abbo (yes I know it's not PC anymore but that's what we called him), James and many more, that I cared not a jot for, as they amounted to nothing in the end. Their only use was to assist me, with the old analogue Yamaha PM3500 console, checking the monitors onstage, that I was operating from the F.O.H desk - yes it was fly by the seat of your pants stuff back then, but I did manage to pull off quite a decent mix on stage.

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Now we've retired the old girl, and replaced it with the M7CL48, for F.O.H, and the LS9-36, for monitors, both being linked through a digital snake via cat5 cable, it works fabulously with the 12 NEXO GeoS elements in the array!!

We do sometimes bump out out F.O.H desk, when overseas acts hire or bring their own (most acts will hire a whole touring PA system for their Australian tour, as they want the exact same gear in every venue - which would never happen!)

There are also Tech Expos (which I love cos they show off all the new gear coming onto the market) that we host and many many more events (Miss Pole Dancing is a Favourite, as I'm the one up in the house rigging lowering the heavy "ring on a rope" down through the trussing - you get a VERY good vantage point up there in the dark - however it's VERY hot!!)

I've never operated a 01V but we do have one that is a stand by, and yes we stand by the Yamahas too, they are very reliable and rather easy to use. I'm quite excited about using an ipad to control the monitor mix when I get a chance as I want the same thing fro my system and I would like to get a feel of it before I commit to my very first ever apple product (Yamaha only have their OS on apple format)

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ooh I see T.C. Electronic! and you got to love floating faders on the yamahas.
Another thing they are good at is saving mixer presets! I use a preset for my radio show which loads all the eq settings on the mics and channels I use instantly. BRILLIANT!
My racks about 8 feet high but stationary in my studio. Sod trying to cart that around.

As for getting up "in the irons" as it's called in the big film studios here (the trusses / roof walkways), no chance, I'm scared of heights.
Thanks
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Some places like the Gala Hall, which in the Summer was the Gala Swimming Baths had their lighting in the roof and if it was pointing the wrong way (that's what you got for doing the season's opening night), someone had to go up the walkway between the ceiling and roof and reach through the hatch next to each lamp , guess who was always the someone. There was a space under the stage which was built out over the dance floor, that had a big hole in it and you could climb down and walk on the floor of the empty pool. Had to go down there several times when someone had blown the fuse in the plugs for the on stage power. I'm darned sure it wouldn't be permitted today, but as I was usually parked in the Borough Engineer's parking space I was reasonably sure he wouldn't be coming in that night. With the acoustics of a swimming pool and the stage half way down one long side I reckon the snare drum could have shattered glasses in the bar.

[Phat Controller]

Just to give you perspective on height (pic taken from the middle of the balcony) ..........

Our flagship venue, the Enmore Theatre built circa 1902, rescued by my boss in 1972 from demolition. He sold his house, begged, borrowed all he could, and bought it. Since then it's been one of Sydneys' iconic live venue theatres, hosting a myriad of performers including the Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, Coldplay, Oasis, to name a few.

If you look on the upper most part of the pic you will see 2 large box type structures, they are the followspot operator stations, accessed by a 38 metre ladder that goes straight up into the ceiling. A short walk along some planks, then up another 5 metre ladder, onto the main catwalk, through the web of roof struts and high tension wires, to hold the roof/ceiling together, then a drop into the followspot box!

I was quickly initiated into the followspot crew, and overcame my fear of heights, it was "get up that f#%@&^g ladder, or you're no good to me!" so I did!

Again if you look closely in the middle of the pic there's a flash of colour - that is our Italian, in house lighting tech, in a harness, walking the LX2 trussing.

Also hanging is our main F.O.H PA the NEXO GeoD 13 elemnets a side with the 8 x GeoD Subs (4 per side) next to them. Also, to enhance the bottom end in the theatre, are 4x Meyer PSW6 (2 x 15 + 2 x 18 in each cabinet + 2 x 12 in cancellation speakers - a serious bit of kit!!) 2 per side.

these bad boys - no-one can stand in front of them for long!!

So that's where I used to spend my nights, before all my medical problems descended upon me. I also worked in the 4 other venues we manage, as either a soundtech, or lighting tech, or stage manager. A variety of positions I was able to, do hence I've risen through the ranks to where I am today.

[Phat Controller]

I managed to buy 2 Yamaha powered DXR15 Subs to go with my mixer for $800.00 the pair! BARGAIN!

there were conditions to the sale, well not actually any conditions, financially, just the condition of one of the subs - it was dreadful.

One sub cabinet was fairly ok - normal "rock n roll" wear and tear (to be expected in this industry) the other cabinet ............. well not so good!

I will take the grille off, panel beat it if it needs it, clean it,then spray paint it satin black. Will also take out all the internals, dismantle the enclosed amp section, and give it a thorough clean, make sure the internal walls of the enclosure are fine, then put everything back and test. That's about all this one needs.

Now the problem child *sigh*

I've already started fixing it ..........

The carcass was pretty well abused. It's made out of "chipboard" particle board - whatever you want to call it! Seems it was dragged along a concrete surface and the bottom edges have been (for what of a better word) eroded.

My solution is to glue and screw a plywood panel under the remaining surface, then pack the gap with a PVA sawdust mix to adhere to both surfaces and act as a filler.

When smoothed out will make it look all neat and tidy.

The corners however need alot more attention and I've cut a positive & negative template to help me shape the corner using the glue & sawdust method. Once its all dry I can scrape/sand/file it back smooth.

meantime Timwald is on hold as this project has taken priority (New Years is fast approaching and DJ's are already putting in their orders for equipment, so it all has to be ready before then!)

[joshv8]

And I found my job interesting Tony. You sure do have your work cut out for you! Its an interesting profession thats for sure. Even though thats why we are all here, its nice to see what people do outside the model rail box

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I'd say your method of repairing chipboard is more or less recreating what it was made from in the first place! I encountered one chipboard beast sometime around 1970 which had on the back what I can only call "cleats", like you'd find on the gunnels of a boat. Found out what they were for the first time we put it on a proper raked stage. The sod walked every time the bassist got into his stride. So from then on the kit included a length of sashcord with which to attach it to any handy fixed part of the venues structure.

[Phat Controller]

Thanks guys. I'm mainly doing this to keep myself occupied and sane! Getting myself out of my hovel and getting physical and interacting with people.

I didn't think anyone would be interested in what I get up to in real life!!

My work is my play. I get to play with lots of expensive sound and lighting equipment to find out what it does

update on the speakers ..........

took a while to get to this stage lots of filling and filing

ended up better than I thought

filled in all the imperfections as well

got the curved corners and the sides right too after lots of hand sanding and filing.

all I need now is to paint them with the proper paint

$129 a tub plus the rollers

that's the next task

[Phat Controller]

the paint roller came out this week, and I'm actually quite pleased with the results of the textured finish on the speaker boxes.

This effect was done by a roller and is called "Orange Peel", I rather like it considering the original paint work was sprayed on with a gun.

The small roller on the paint tin lid is the texture roller. Paint has to be rolled on thickly to get the desired effect.

It's certainly made a difference from what they once were.

Next is refit the speaker, amp, and handles connect them and replace the grille.

Then they're all done!! ready to be tested again.

[Phat Controller]

The finished product...........

I'm very pleased with the final finish, compared to what I had to start with, they look like new!

the pictures speak for themselves!

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Very nice.....................but do they go upto 11?


Thanks
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