Remote Support for a Silent Disco

Hi Paul. I run a silent disco. We are having problems with one of our transmitters. Can you help us? This is a bit of an emergency as we have a class on Monday. Jay

I received the above message from Jay and we arranged to connect at 10am the next morning for a remote support session.

We connected via a WhatsApp video call and Jay talked me through their silent disco setup.

• Wireless microphone and iPhone audio cable running into a small mixer
• Mixer’s output to a Bluetooth headphone transmitter

I could hear that there was an intermittent crackling coming through the headphones. There are lots of different types of audio distortion, and this one sounded like a damaged cable.

I talked Jay through the process of connecting and disconnecting each element of the system to try to find the problem. We soon identified that the fault was in their iPhone audio adapter and cable. The tiny components inside the USB plug had come loose from the copper wires that fed the signal to the mixer. This adapter would need to be replaced.

Since this was an emergency, I used Google Maps to help Jay locate a shop nearby where she would be able to get a replacement adapter that day.

In the end, the issue turned out to be a simple one to solve, but Jay was grateful that I was able to identify the issue and point her to a solution quickly. She knew how to operate her disco setup, but wasn’t confident working out which component was causing the distortion.

If you need any help with your silent disco setup and would like to arrange a video call with a friendly pro sound engineer, then please get in touch. I can also do on-site support in the London, UK area.