Table of Contents
Introduction
So you have commentators at an event you are streaming? Or have multiple guests on a podcast? This budget portable commentary audio rack will certainly help you out and won’t break the bank to do so! It turns out that the audio side of recording an event is a lot more achievable if you are on a budget!
Let me start from the begining. The project started when a tutor at my university had an old Behringer mixer that was in a 6U rack. At the time I was starting up my sports and live events broadcast production company Capture Sports and my tutor didn’t have much use for it so he offered it to me free of charge!
Now I didn’t have much of a plan of what to do with it but I took the time to figure out what it needed the most and I settled on using this for my live events that I record so a compressor of some kind and a headphone amp was needed so the commentators/guests could hear themselves via headphones.
Below il explain each of the items I built this rig with and why they are there and il give a rough overview of how its put together currently and what I am planning to improve it in the future.
Whats In The Front?
Behringer RX1202FX EURORACK PRO 12 Channel Mixer
The Main feature has to be the mixer. Its the main source that feeds the other extra equipment in the rig. As mentioned before it came with the 6U Rack and is a great piece of kit even if its missing all its knobs and sliders etc but for free I can’t complain! You can pick these up on the the web for around £100 if you look around. They are robust and perfect for this use, and if you need more inputs you can easily add them to your IO Plate on the rear which will is mentioned further along, or run cables direct through the gap.
It has to be admitted that this mixer does need replacing as it has a faulty FX circuit than can buzz if not set to the right setting and it does sound horrid but this isn’t an issue as we don’t need the onboard FX, hence the white tape but because this is used as secondary box and for now it serves its purpose, The end result for this project is to replace the mixer with a black magic SmartView Duo so extra clunky reference monitors arent needed to be brought every event so as for the mixer it will have to be jigged around or the compressor to the back who knows yet.
Alesis 3632 Dual Channel Compressor
A Compressor like this one really helps perfect that punch sporty sound that you get from professional sports broadcast productions. It also has a gate built in to stop unnecessary sounds when the mic’s aren’t being used. This was a Ebay bargain at only £70! It also has 2 Input Channels which we currently run in with a channel 1 master for both Left and Right to keep the compression balanced but this could be changed if you wanted to run each channel as a separate input.
A.R.T Headphone Amp 6
This is crucial to enable you to send an almost monitor signal back to the headphones of each individual you have on the mics. With up to 6 inputs this is all we need to host mainly 2 commentators and to then send a extra redundant signal to a zoom H5 we have that records all the channels we need. This device is so easy to use its really recommended you get this specific product for the rig!
Just to mention I had a story with this one on why it was so cheap, After purchasing it on Ebay in great condition for a price of only £60! Upon arrival one of the 1/4 Jacks were bent in and so was the right mounting bracket slightly, so I spoke to the seller and they offered me £20 and postage off so this was a real bargain as I managed to bend the jack port back and the mount didn’t really matter once it was screwed in it fit flush.
What’s In The Back?
Power Distribution
So after looking for a way to just plug the IEC(Kettle) cables into the back of each of the audio devices I couldn’t find easy solution as all the distributors found would have them either the power outputs facing out the case or the power input being on the same side. So sadly an old extension lead was the only option but a 6 plug distributor was put in so then we can hook up any extra things we or the commentators would need eg. laptops or tablets. And at least only one power lead is coming from the unit now. You can pick similar power distributors up for less than £15-20 on most occasions.
I/O Plate
The I/O Plate currently has 4 inputs via stereo 1/4 Jack Inputs and 2 Xlr Outputs which are left and right. This was another freebie but was very fortunate it had all the connections needed just as it is now!
Also if you were wondering what the other SDI/HDMI connections are. They aren’t relevant right now but will be once I’ve installed screens into the front as will be mentioned later. Praying that those SDI’s are not composite connections though!
Extras Worth Mentioning
This was another freebie collected from the university as they were in the process of building a new studio and this so happened to be in a skip pile! It came perfect really as it has all the inputs and outputs currently needed and when the screens are put in SDI In/outputs are readily available for use! It is certainly worth getting one of these to make hooking your devices up really quick and easy. The plate and connectors can be found at most audio visual stores and connect together with screws most of the time.
Airflow is crucial! These items are yet to overheat and this can easily be helped by having good airflow. Simple 1U Perforated panels stop air from being trapped. You can buy the panels shown in the rig here: 1U 19 Inch Rack Panel (Perforated) and 1U 19 Inch Blanking Plate (Solid) for less than £4 each.
As an extra touch labels really help ease of use for obvious reasons. You can pick up a dirt cheap label printer from Amazon for less than £23. The Dymo LetraTag is so easy to use! It’s recommended to get the Plastic Label Tapes which last longer and are still a low price.
How Its All Connected
To put it in basics we have currently 4 inputs integrated into the I/O plate as mentioned which then goes directly to the mixer. It then goes from the mixer to the compressor which can be bypassed when not being used. From the compressor the signal is sent to the XLR Outputs on the I/O Plate.
The Headphone Amp has a signal sent clean directly from the mixer on its monitor out and then the signal is dispersed to what ever outputs you need.
Final Thoughts
So as you can see from all of this it was quite lucky that this podcast/commentary audio rig was built for such a low price, however it can be done by anyone if you look around for long enough, you will find what you need! Ebay and GumTree are great for finding used items that are still in great condition.
If this helped you in any or if you have any feedback please let us know in the comments below. If you would like to view our other articles please click here: https://streamgear.co.uk/articles/
Thanks for reading!