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My Sound Cart


Simon Paine

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My antennas are mounted on Manfroto light stands, minus the bottom tripod legs, using the lectro Alp kit. The telescoping light stands fit inside the square tubing used to build the vertical bars on the handle part of the carts frame. So when I collapse them, they slide back into the frame of the cart, taking up very little room. (I'll see if i can find a better picture that shows what I'm trying to explain.)

One of the best things about the cart is, it breaks down into three pieces, and I can fit it all into a hatchback.

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Really nice rig!

Could you maybe give a rundown of what stuff is living on it, and how you were handling that boat rig? (Wireless?)

Thanks.

In the upper part of the case are some rack rails, and they are holding a Venue system, a DBX 1066 Gate/Comp/Limiter and an AC distribution unit, that also has two pot lights that come out of it. Below that is a sliding shelf that has my 744t on it (and on occasion, my powerbook). Below that on another sliding shelf is my Onyx 1220. In the left door panel is a LCD Monitor. Below the case, built into the frame of the cart is a 5-6 inch high drawer to hold a lot of my loose Gak. On the bottom of the cart is a Guest 10 amp battery charger, and in the back of the cart is a pelican case holding my 35 Amp hour battery (although whenever i can, i leave that on the truck, cause it weighs a ton.).

The cart may look a little big for the current equipment, but i made the frame and shelves big enough to handle a 01v96 and a Deva. Not that I'll be getting either anytime soon, but its fun to dream ! And i wanted to make sure it would be able to handle whatever gear changes I make over the years.

The boat rig wasn't as hard as it may have looked. They anchored it about 5-10 feet off the end of the dock. Since most of the action was happening on the deck, the boom op was able to catch most of it. But I did send 2 iso wireless signals to tracks 3-4 on the recorder, in case post wanted/needed them.

I notice you are using the Venue system, have you had problems with it? I've heard reports of them going down. I'm thinkin' about getting a backup chassis for mine.

LL

I haven't had any trouble with it so far. Knock on Wood ! I also have a couple of portable receivers in my ENG kit that i can use in case of failure. But i hope i don't run into that situation. Did you get anymore details about the reports of them going down ?

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Is that a Trew/\Remote Audio cart or did you build it up yourself? Good idea building it bigger than you need, I bet you end up

with that 01V96 and Deva sooner than you think.

Philip Perkins

It's not a Trew Audio cart. It's made by Location Sound Canada in Vancouver. http://www.locationsound.ca/cart.html I spoke with the fabricator there, and he sent me pictures of previous carts he had made. I took the best ideas from different units he had built, and incorporated what I thought I would need, and thats the design we came up with. It took about a month of emails back and forth until we were both confident we had exactly what we needed.

There were actually a few "Firsts" for him, when we built my cart. It's the first cart he ever built thats a dually. I actually have four wheel chair wheels at the back. It helps distribute the weight when I have to pull the cart over sand or other loose surfaces. It's also the first cart he built with a patch bay on the back of the box, instead of just a pass through for cables. It makes plugging in and out very easy.

I'm not sure if I'll be getting the O1V96 or Deva anytime soon. The market I work in really isn't big enough for that kind of investment. But ya never know !

Here is another pic of the cart, before I loaded most of the gear in it. (and before I installed the antenna masts / manfrotto light stands.)

post-55-130815074258_thumb.jpg

post-55-130815074265_thumb.jpg

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Air filled tires. So far no flats !!  For the gig i'm on now I drove the cart to set the first day, but I'll leave it on the camera truck for the duration of the production.

I'm in the process of designing a rain cover for it. I know some one who has an industrial sewing machine, and she will help me design and build the cover. Should be an interesting project. I want to try and incorporate some velcro openings for the patch bay, antennas and boom pole holder. And maybe add some transparent panels.

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Simon,

  cool cart!  I talked to Location Sound Canada last year and it seemed like the idea of rack rails was strange at first.  But obviously with your design, they incorporated it in.

  How is your onyx and sd744 mounted?  Also, how does each section come apart?  Is it held via latches?  Are they secure for heading up stairs?

  Again cool cart!

Sincerely,

Jonathan

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Simon,

  cool cart!  I talked to Location Sound Canada last year and it seemed like the idea of rack rails was strange at first.  But obviously with your design, they incorporated it in.

  How is your onyx and sd744 mounted?  Also, how does each section come apart?  Is it held via latches?  Are they secure for heading up stairs?

  Again cool cart!

Sincerely,

Jonathan

I made some custom brackets to mount the Onyx to the sliding shelf. I used a couple of visible screws on the front and the back of the mixer to moount to. It holds it in place pretty firmly. With the 744T, i used some velcro. But thats because i usually don't leave it on the cart overnight. Most of the time i take it with me, so i can do the file transfer and dvd burn on my drive home. The velcro works really well,  due mainly to the light weight of the recorder.

The cart splits into 3 sections. The base with the drawer and wheels. The Road case, and the rear handle and boom pole holders. I really only take it apart when transporting it. It can be lifted while put together. Although on occasion, I've taken the main case off, and moved it in 2 trips if going up some precarious stairs or in tight spots.

The rack rails work really well for me in this setup. I guess everyone has there own needs. I felt this setup met my needs the best.

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Are you running the 1066 on the Onyx master insert point? Is your 744 powered opff the same supply as the mixer and wireless stuff? Do you have an invertor running all the time?

thanks

Philip Perkins

The Onyx doesn't have dedicated master insert points. I suppose you could just patch the 1066 in and out of the master outputs, but i don't use the unit in that manner. I use it as a channel insert on the channels I have my booms on. I find that if i can get a a good limiting setting on my inputs, i can keep the outputs in control.

I power the whole cart from an ac distribution unit in the top of the rack. I can usually get power on set, so i don't bother going through the battery charger. But, if i am in a situation where i need DC power, i run the mixer, dbx, and venue off my 35 amp/hour battery, and run the 744t off the npf-970 battery. I heven't had to go longer then a couple of hours on DC. But i tested the setup at home and i got quite few hours off the battery.

I only use the inverter when i need to go to dc.

The other day, when i hooked up to the power from the genny, it was way down at 97-98 volts. All my gear powered up ok, but i was wondering if i could be causing damage to my gear running it on such low voltage ? 

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The other day, when i hooked up to the power from the genny, it was way down at 97-98 volts. All my gear powered up ok, but i was wondering if i could be causing damage to my gear running it on such low voltage ? 

That's really odd that Mackie doesn't have a master insert point--that was something I use a good deal on the 1604.

I would not power any audio gear, esp. somewhat prosumer devices like a Mackie mixer, a DBX 1066 or the cheap LCD video monitors we use on location off a generator giving 97 VAC-- that is WAY out of spec for all your gear, not to mention HMI ballasts etc.  If the genny is that low the electric dept has a serious problem on their hands and should get to work on it.  I've gotten away with 105, but most pro video gear goes out of regulation below 110 v.  If the genny is that funky you might want to check its frequency as well and see if it is even close to 60 Hz.  In any case, if that's the only AC available you might want to see if production will rent you a little Honda 1k--that would at least get you back to something like 117 VAC.

Philip Perkins

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The other day, when i hooked up to the power from the genny, it was way down at 97-98 volts. All my gear powered up ok, but i was wondering if i could be causing damage to my gear running it on such low voltage ? 

That's really odd that Mackie doesn't have a master insert point--that was something I use a good deal on the 1604.

I would not power any audio gear, esp. somewhat prosumer devices like a Mackie mixer, a DBX 1066 or the cheap LCD video monitors we use on location off a generator giving 97 VAC-- that is WAY out of spec for all your gear, not to mention HMI ballasts etc.  If the genny is that low the electric dept has a serious problem on their hands and should get to work on it.  I've gotten away with 105, but most pro video gear goes out of regulation below 110 v.   If the genny is that funky you might want to check its frequency as well and see if it is even close to 60 Hz.  In any case, if that's the only AC available you might want to see if production will rent you a little Honda 1k--that would at least get you back to something like 117 VAC.

Philip Perkins

The genny was giving them problems that day. It was fine until they powered the 4k HMI. Thats when it dropped so low. it was only low for about 20 mins. But I was still worried. It doesn't seem to have caused any damage as far as i can tell.

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