Monday Contras Sound System

The Monday Contras committee members own and operate a sound system for our dances. In very rare cases we may loan such equipment to other qualified folk/dance community organizations for on-site use at the Scout House, please see a dance committee member regarding this possibility.

If you're a Monday Contras dancer and have an issue with the sound at our dance, please tell an organizing committee member! We do our best to make it sound as good as possible. Note that we can't make it match everyone's ideal volume level - all we can do is find a place where the majority of people are happy with the sound, which invariably means someone in the crowd might think it's too loud and someone else will think it's too soft (that's the nature of an average, but we aim to be not far skewed!). We have disposable ear plugs available if needed.

If you're a band member or caller booked for our series and have questions regarding equipment you need, contact us.

Note the following information is no longer current for our primary system which has been upgraded to a digital mixer and separate power amp since 2020. It does apply to our backup system.

System Basics

The equipment we have is centered around the Tapco/Electro-Voice 100M "Entertainer" powered mixer. There are two mains speakers permanently mounted to the proscenium opening of the Scout House stage to service the hall and two EV100S speakers used as monitors on stage. A small caller's monitor is available but not typically used. A series of wired microphones, microphone stands and associated cables are provisioned. We do not have extensive DI boxes, etc. so performers should bring any specific equipment they may need to connect to the XLR cables feeding the board or ask if we have what you need.

The user manual for the powered mixer is available on the Electro-Voice site here.

Bob Mills wrote an excellent guide on basic operation of a sound system for folk dance type events, titled "All Mixed Up" - which pretty much matches our equipment and how we set it up. Printed copies of the material are available from CDSS but Bob also hosts an online version on his site.

We run our system in MONO mode. Two speaker mixes are output - one for the mains (with the board connected via a speaker cable (not a guitar cable) to a 1/4" jack permanently mounted at stage right) and one for the monitors - which is daisy chained between them (again, using speaker cable - not guitar/instrument cable).

If you use our equipment, we expect you to return it in the condition and basic settings you found it in.

What this means:

Mixer dials, sliders and buttons, etc. should be returned to their standard (the way we left it/you found it) settings. Have a question as to what those should be? Take a photo with your phone before making any changes and simply return the settings to match the photo when done. Put the protective cover back on the mixer and return it to the proper position on the dolly.
All cords coiled as found and returned to the bottom of the tool box. We coil over-over, NOT over-under.
Any miscellaneous small parts returned to the red plastic small parts box, in the tool box bottom
Microphones off stands. Clips off stands. Microphones and their matching clips go into the vinyl zippered bags and those into the tool box top tray.
Microphone stands should be left fully collapsed/shortened, with the microphone attachment end put closest to the tilt mechanism, a.k.a. "up" and clamping screws tightened to prevent pinch injuries. Stands returned to their position on the dolly. Did you remove the mic clips?
Monitor speakers returned to their position on the dolly. The speakers are placed with their backs together - not facing each other.
Tool box closed up and returned to its position on the dolly and the whole storage set up buttoned up properly.

If you encounter any problems or weirdness with the equipment or lose/break something, report it to us immediately! We depend upon this equipment to be operational each and every Monday night for our dance community.

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