Using SPM’s to monitor party lines is a really useful way of keeping rehearsals flowing and complaints of “the comms aren’t working” (when it’s actually someone not wearing there headset) to a minimum. My suggestion is that every area (FoH, Gallery etc) that has comms, should have an SPM monitoring the main SHOW or PTB party-line.
Another use case is where stage hands/local crew are relying on following the show. Budget doesn’t allow for them to all have wireless comms but an SPM with a low level of the Program mix and either the main SHOW PL or a direct call from the Showcaller/floor manager allows them to monitor what’s happening and be ready as things change.
It’s also really convenient as a comms engineer to have an SPM for each of the main sources you’re monitoring. Placing them in an array in front of you speeds up isolating what chat is coming from what party-line and makes it easier for your brain to concentrate on one conversation if you happen to hear something that may turn into a problem you have to deal with.
That’s the WHY, this is the HOW:
To achieve the above setup with an ODIN frame, each of these would require their own AIO and each AIO would need an ALPHA that is set as a party-line listener.
In addition:
I used 14-16 as they default to AIO in the port allocation table. Obviously you’ll have to sellect the correct port type, IE OMNEO if it’s being routed remotely through a Dark88.
It’s also worth noting that, whilst this is useful for business only party-lines during rehearsal and closed show environments, once there are members of the public, certain types of client or any other circumstances you might not want the people around them to hear what’s being discussed, turn them off.
There may be, in certain corporate environments, genuine reasons why, at no point does any of the comms chat want to be heard by anyone other than the intended recipients. Best to check with the PM first.
A good indicator: is the sound FoH engineer wearing their comms headset? If so, the risks outweigh the benefits.
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