Dirt Cheap High School Theater Sound?

Posted by Cliff on Tuesday April 30, 2002 @05:30AM from the improving-sound-quality-on-little-to-no-budget dept.

Mainframe asks: "I am a student at a small (550 student) private school in Connecticut. I'm trying to bring theater here to a more professional level on a budget that is for all intents and purposes $0. I'm the sound tech, and at the moment we have a reluctantly two channel system with an amplifier and an 8 channel mixer. No CD player, no effects boxes, although everything is rack-mounted. Is there any software package that would make it simpler for me to run a show off of a computer? I need something that would allow me to play sound effects, mix in ambient sound, and perhaps even act as an effects processor for reverb, delay, etc through sound in/out. Right now I have an iBook running OSX doing effects, but it's hacked together using iTunes and a spectacular piece of software called Playthrough FX. OS is not an issue, since we have a robust IT department, so getting a PC with Windows, Linux, Unix, or a Mac with OS9 or X is not a problem."

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Your solution by Takeel · 2002-04-30 06:12 · Score: 4, Informative

Run Pro Tools Free on your iBook; get it from Digidesign's website. As the name implies, the software is free. It meets all the criteria you've mentioned except for live mixing, and it can do that as well if you install it on a G4 minitower and add some of Digidesign's hardware.

Congratulations, you just got some potentially expensive consulting for free. :)