Normally you will see a second desk running into another in venues where the production being put on is very large and spending a large amount of money on purchasing or renting a larger desk; with the required number of inputs, is not feasible. To get around this sometimes a tech will pull out an older or spare desk that is not being used and run the master output from the second desk into the main desk running the rest of the system.
So why not get a new desk?
Money is the standard limiting factor here, buying a larger analog sound desks is very expensive and digital desks are also very expensive. Secondly if you can run slightly larger shows than what you're normally capable of; with two desks, it can widen the field of possible clients that can use your facilities.
So why not rent a larger desk for the duration of the production requiring the extra channel? When you rent audio gear it can end up costing you more to rent the gear than it would to actually cost to buy. In other words it's better to save your pennies until you're in a position to upgrade.
Generally running one desk into a second is something only done with analog sound desks. This is because digital desks normally run a CAT5 or CAT6 cable from the desk to a patch box/stage box. Depending on the brand your desks amount of channels can be easily expanded by adding more patch box/stage box modules which defeats the purpose of having two desks.
Let's have a look at a basic 2 desk analog set up:
Requirements
• 2 short leads with quarter inch jack connectors
• 2 sound desks
For a basic set up you will need at least one channel with an Unbalanced, Mono Quarter Inch Jacks input on your main desk; that is already running to your front of house speakers. On the second desk find the Quarter Inch Jack master outputs and plug one lead into the left and the second into the right output slot. Take the other end of those leads and plug them into the free channel you set aside before and plug one lead into the left input and the other into the right input. The final outcome should look something like figure 1.
(Figure 1)
This is the simplest set up and one that is mostly used for adding just more inputs to your set up.
Using all sends:
You may find yourself in a situation where you need to use more sends/aux to foldbacks or other equipment. In this case keep the same set up from above because we will be adding to that configuration.
The basic idea of this set up is that both desks can give audio to each other although it can be somewhat limited to what you can do. For instance:
• Unfortunately with this set up it has a loop and moving the channel volume slider up the main desk outputs will cause an undesired feeding or continuous reverberation effect. I recommend you mute the channel or tape the volume slider to stop it being accidentally moved up during shows.
• While you can get sound from the one desk to run to the other's sends/aux but the added sound is just whatever is coming out of each master output so you can't control a 100% of what is going into each send/aux. I'd recommend that you have microphones with singers/actors/speakers/PC input on one desk and on the other have all the instruments in your show as it will make the two desks easer to work with.
With this set up it works differently depending on how your speakers work. If your speakers are powered the set up is going to be different to how this set up will be connected up if your system has unpowered speakers.
If you have powered speakers:
Requirements:
• 2 short leads with quarter inch jack connectors
• 2 sound desks +
Set aside a channel with Unbalanced, Mono Quarter Inch Jacks inputs on the desk you have added to your main desk as we will need it in just a second. On your first desk find the Unbalanced Quarter Inch Jack master output slots and put one end of each lead into each slot. Then take the other end of those leads and plug them into the free channel you set aside before and plug one lead into the left input and the other into the right input. The final set up should look something like figure 2.
(Figure 2)
If you have non-powered speakers:
Requirements:
• 2 short leads with a female XLR connector on one end and a mono quarter inch jack connector on the other end.
• 2 sound desks
Using the XLR master out instead of the unbalanced jack master output you do the same as if you are following the same procedure as above. The final set up should look something like figure 3.
(Figure 3)
A better solution:
So what if you want more flexibility or are going to be using a two desk system more frequently?
To be fair you should upgrade your current system to something larger that would end up fitting your needs a lot better but if you have 2 desks and don't have the option to upgrade this would be how you could do it. To start off we are going to take a different approach to the previous two solutions. Instead of running one desk into the other, this approach is going to use several Y cables and the idea is that both desks are going to run independently from each other. With the Y leads the system will:
• Run the left master output from each desk to the left speaker
• Run the right master output from each desk to the right speaker
• Join up any sends/aux if needed
Now where do you get your hands on a set of 2 female to one male connector XLR Y leads or a 2 mono quarter inch jacks to one mono quarter inch jack Y leads? This is the hard part as stores generally don't sell such leads because they are more of a specialty item. Your best bet to get some is to go to a local audio specialty store and have them order in the leads or have them make the leads up for you. Alternatively, instead of buying them you could make the leads yourself; if you have the soldering skills to make such leads.
Now the set up for such a system is very simple, although very complicated to demonstrate in writing so have a look in the figure 4 to see how it all goes together.
(Figure 4)
Final thoughts:
Now the one thing to remember when working with audio technology is that nothing is ever permanent, so your set-up should be as flexible as possible. Every event you put on will have different requirements and your set up should change to meet what is being done in the show or performance.
The only time everything should be locked into place is when show/performance is taking place. In other words you bump in all the audio equipment for the show and after that your equipment stays locked in to the configuration, until after the last show when everything is bumped out. Then you set-up differently for the next event and so on and so forth.
Take the above ideas as ideas to get you started as 99% of the time the 2 desk set up will need to be customised depending on what the needs are for the show you are running.
Zach Radloff lives on the Gold Coast and is studying IT technology at university.
Zach Radloff's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/zach-radloff.html
