Mono + Mono Main Mix Type?

[SDCyclist]

I am installing up a GLD 112 in a room that is set up (due to it’s geometry…) totally in Mono with separate subs which are also in mono. This setup doesn’t conform to any of the main mix types or pre-configured template starting points. What is the most elegant and least confusing way to accommodate this? I am afraid that a fair bit of time might be invested creating scenes and shows and volunteers trained and THEN it will be realized that we should have handled this detail differently in the beginning.

[GCumbee]

You can just leave it in LR but just keep everything panned to center. That is the most simple way.

[SDCyclist]

Thanks GCumbee. That was my first thought as well and to only connect the left (or right?) to the amps (which are all run in mono BTW). My fear with this is that someone will inadvertently adjust panning on a strip and create issues. I am also not sure yet what center weighted pan law this desk uses and how that might play into this type of scenario. I assume that it also burns another output socket/bus that could potentially be used for something else. And the way it would be represented on the board makes it appear as if there is actually stereo available, which to me “looks” less than elegant and might be confusing to a user. I am sure that this would “work”, I am just not familiar enough with the intricacies of this board and its software yet to decide yet if it is indeed the the “best” way. I am hoping that this has come up before with these in large wide room full mono setups and that there is a more elegant solution even if it is not necessarily the “simplest” one.

[jcarter]

In my church’s mono setup we have the mains on the desk set up as LR+Msum and then send the Msum output to a speaker processor that handles the cross-over between the top cluster and the sub. The major downside of that approach is that the LR+Msum configuration ties up four mix outputs despite the fact that we only use one of them.

If I’d ever get tight on mix outputs I would drop the Msum output and sum L and R together, either in the processor or amp if one of those can be used to safely sum them, or with a summing box (not just a wye tying L and R directly to each other… Rane has a good white paper with schematics for summing circuits at https://www.rane.com/note109.html ).

It’s possible to dispense with the main outs entirely and just run your mono main (and sub if you want) on one or two post-fade aux mixes but that might get a little confusing to train volunteers on.

[SDCyclist]

Thanks for the quick and detailed response JCarter. So it sounds as though there is likely no “elegant and in the console solution”. We aren’t using an external processor and would very much prefer to maintain individual control of the Tops (array clusters) and subs from FOH via the console. This would provide a convenient way to best adjust the subs for various overall volumes and types of program material. Physically summing the Main L/R to the tops may well be the best option. There is plenty of DSP in the amps but I think we really need to split out the subs at the console to be able to control them independently.

I actually ran across that white paper a few months ago and totally agree. Thanks for sharing so that others may also see it here and benefit from it as well.

I also agree that just using two mono auxes(tops and subs…) might be confusing but what if we named them MainT and MainB. Is there any other functionality that would be lost by doing it this way and setting the whole thing up kind of like a monitor board? I am still reading and getting all the finer points of this under my belt but don’t know what I don’t know yet, so to speak.

Thanks again…

[GCumbee]

With all due respect. You seem to be knowledgeable enough. I think you are making this way more difficult than it needs to be. It is a simple solution. Again. I don’t mean to be harsh. Sorry. As you say. Just DSP mult the inputs or I I first said. Just mono everything. Tell your folks to leave that alone.

[JLD]

Matrix may be an option.
Use only LR and then 2 or more mono matixes.
One for the main cluster and one for the SUBS (DSP in the amps but note, crossover point will change by level)
More matrixs for delayed fill speakers or separete control of different sections.

Hide the matrix way down on the last layer for the more inexperanced user to use only LR as the master.

[SDCyclist]

GCumbee,

Well it certainly wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been accused of overly complicating matters… But it also wouldn’t be the first time I have invested resources implementing a solution only to later discover that there was a much better way to go about it. As there are multiple ways to go about solving this particular dilemma, I was just hoping for some input on the ins and outs of each potential solution… and perhaps even a solution that I hadn’t considered at all. I do appreciate you taking the time to reply and certainly do agree that often, simpler is better.

[GCumbee]

I think you can handle this just fine. I have one LCR system with a 112. I set it up where they mostly just use the C for the center line array. The LR drives their old speakers on side walls. We thought they would run the stereo tracks through that but it hasn’t worked out that way. I find most churches just don’t get stereo. But being an old longtime studio engineer it’s how I am wired. :).

[ChillRobG]

I came here to see if anyone knows the pan law for the GLD, as an aside i would agree the best solution here is Mono Matrices fed from the LR bus.

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