Portable Audio System for Dances

Hey Folks, I am a Ward Clerk in a YSA Ward. We have some excess funds this year and we are looking at replacing the 20 year old portable audio system we have. I have never bought something like this in the past and im looking for suggestions. We want a system that dosn't require any seperate control system, and one that will accept the same XLR inputs the church's system uses. We are also interested in a Wireless Mic System (maybe something that just has a reciever and a Adapter that plugs into the XLR ports on our existing Mics?) that would work with both systems. So to the folks here, what would yall suggest we look at? Also does anyone know if the church has already picked a few systems out that they recommend?

I'm Reaching out to my Stake Tech Folks, but i dont know where else to start looking.

TIA,
Ryan Peel

A portable PA is one thing, but that "Dance" part could be an issue. No doubt the music in question is commercially copyrighted and would require some kind of license for "public performance". You might want to make sure that's been taken care of. (Handbook reference: 38.8.11 - Copyrighted Materials, 20.5.2 - Dances and Music which references a Performance Contract.)

Sorry.

You might want to consider hiring a DJ which makes the equipment and licensing their problem.

https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html

If I was at work then this would be a question for the law department. Clearly church dances have been playing pre-recorded music for decades with no-adverse copyright violation claims against them. That being said this is a complex subject and rather than interpreting the cited document myself I would seek guidance from council.

Anyone in this forum have a contact with church legal?

With respect to the original question, that of equipment to purchase. Here is a bit of what our stake does.

1. We have a simple Mackie mixer. This mixer has XLR outputs for Left and Right audio. It also has an output for a control room or monitor. This allows us to send audio to a subwoofer and to control the audio levels. As a mixer we have enough channels for a simple microphone (for announcements) and line in jacks for connection to the audio source. Modern devices also support USB and Bluetooth audio. There are many to choose from but see Onyx8 as an example.

2. We do not use a wireless microphone that comes with a "karaoke" type system. Each building should have a AudioTechnica System 10 wireless microphone. Our FM group says that this is standard. You can use that microphone or for simplicity just use a wired microphone into the mixer. Check with your stake tech team or one of the wards that meet in the building.

3. We attach the mixer to a crown power amplifier. We have three in a small rack, but there are lots of other choices here. Alternatively our young men's leaders like the Bose S1 Pro+ and have a pair of them. What they like is the ability to use it in the field (Pioneer Trek, YW Camp, Camp Helaman) since it is portable has a built in amp, and is battery powered. They also use it for dances but I find that those speakers (with built in amplifiers) are being pushed to the max for that application. This is supplemented with dedicated subwoofers. I am sure that you will have many other recommendations from this forum.

4. Our biggest challenge is security. Many of the buildings in our region have been broken into multiple times. Audio equipment is prized by the thieves. In the latest round they broke into the room that historically housed this gear and broke the door, lock, door frame, and the sheet rock adjacent to the door. When nothing was found they proceeded to break the lock off of every other locked door in the building. Time are a changing and our church buildings are not immune. I would recommend purchasing the minimum necessary to accomplish the job. Borrow what you can and if you have old hardware then make do with what you have.

Good luck.

I don't think the Copyright issue is a real issue for us. Our stake has done dances previously, I asked the folks who ran the music then. They said since the event is truly a public event, we are not making any money, and since the church is a non-profit that we dont need to worry about that as much. of course we will make sure for any future dances that we are not breaking any copywright rules.

The contact for church legal is in the previously mentioned section of the general handbook for more questions on those topics.

Thank you for the audio suggestions/examples, I'll be reaching out to my FM rep and Stake Tech team. We want to use the mic for things other than just dances, it would be espically helpful for 5th sundays and EQ where we meet in the GYM and it is often hard to hear the speaker.

Im not aware of our building having a wireless mic, all of the mics I know about are Sennheiser branded, but are all wired. I found the Sennheiser EW-D 835-S Set which seemed well rated and I know the mic will be good since it is what we already have. That audio Technica system is about 1/2 the price, maybe that is a better use of our funds. I don't like that its on 2.4 Ghz frequency, our building is right next to a student housing apartment complex and there is a lot of interference on that frequency. that is one of the things i like about the Sennheiser model I mentioned earlier.

We have a "karaoke" style system with a integrated wireless mic, but none of us can get the mic to pair with the speaker, and its rather underpowered for most things. All of those style systems I have used have always had issues, I want what we have to be easy. One shouldn't need a Degree in Computer Science to operate it.

We are tring to only get what is needed, the main issue is the old hardware is, well, old and it does not work very well anymore. I dont think a battery powered system will work for us, we need it to be able to sufficently fill a room wth ~250 people and we rarely are in a location where there is no access to electricity. I found the Bose F1 Model 812 as seeming to be a potential good option, but i really dont know what kind of wattage I should be looking for. maybe 1000W is a crazy large number, maybe its not enough and we need 2 of them.

I havn't started looking for subwoofers, I was kinda hoping the sub built into the Bose F1 would be sufficent. As that is one more piece to complicate things.

Any Thoughts form yall?

Thanks for listening to my rambling and scatter brained thoughts, hopefully I presented this in a understandable way.

jetrp1 wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2024 8:17 pm They said since the event is truly a public event, we are not making any money, and since the church is a non-profit that we dont need to worry about that as much. of course we will make sure for any future dances that we are not breaking any copywright rules.

I believe their reasoning is flawed and largely based on popular myth. There are a number of resources available that go over the details. Here's one: Do DJ’s Need a License to Play Music in Public? As far as I've heard, the church does not have a Public Performance License, so anyone DJing would need to obtain one.

The church mostly relies on the exemption for music during religious services, but that's not going to apply to a dance.

jetrp1 wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2024 8:17 pm The contact for church legal is in the previously mentioned section of the general handbook for more questions on those topics.

Excellent advice.