# Unique Sound Control Situation



## BillOquin (Feb 4, 2012)

Hello All,
I am confronted with a unique situation I'm looking to resolve with some input from a multitude of counselors. I need to run the audio at our church FOH and I am also the guy who does the translations from English to Spanish for the services. This is broadcast via a hearing assistance system and works quite well. My problem is that currently I do this from a separate and isolated room to the side and cannot hear the FOH sound I am mixing for the main service. This was done in order to minimize the distraction I may cause the pastor when translating real time as he is speaking. NOW...We have purchased a new facility and I would like a sound control booth in the main auditorium along with the main system to hear what I mix. However what can I possibly do to control or isolate the sound as I translate while still being able to hear the main system mix? I intend to install some foam sound control in the booth and was wondering if there was any additional manipulation of this foam install that would steer me in the direction I want to go? By the way I use headphones in the side room now to hear the mix but have no idea of volume or freq response out there!

Goals: Hear the main mix, Speak without distracting congregation or pastor, whilst in the middle or rear of room.::bigsmile:


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Hey Bill - welcome to the Forum!

So basically, one function – live mixing – requires being in the auditorium where you can hear what’s going on on the stage, and the other – translating - requires an isolated room so the minister (and presumably the audience) can’t hear you speaking.

What you have here are two functions with mutually incompatible requirements. I don’t know how you could reasonably expect to reconcile the two. It’s like saying, “I need a big, powerful truck to pull my boat, but I can only afford something that gets 40 miles to the gallon.” In other words, you can’t have both; you’ll have to make a decision as to which is more important. 

Either that or recruit a second person. This is really a two-man job (as it actually is two jobs!).

By the way, that foam is merely an acoustical treatment, to make a room more “dead” and less “echoey.” It is not a sound _isolation_ treatment.

Regards,
Wayne


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