Connect a translation rack to an audio mixer

Choose the speech feed

Use a feed containing all speech that needs translation, with its level controlled by the audio team. Start by listing the stage and audience microphones. Include remote contributors only when they belong to the programme. Make separate decisions about videos, walk-in music and announcements: not everything heard in the room necessarily belongs in the translation feed.

The rack specifications describe one jack input for a microphone signal or a mix of several microphones. This is an integration starting point, rather than a universal wiring diagram for your particular mixer.

Confirm compatibility before connecting

Ask the provider to identify the chosen output characteristics and confirm the rack input requirements. Shure distinguishes microphone and line levels: these are not interchangeable. Connector shape establishes neither signal level nor pin assignment. Do not order an adapter solely because its plugs appear to fit.

Agree the complete connection, any necessary adaptation and who will adjust it. Do not infer diameter, balanced wiring or stereo operation from the word “jack”. Write down the confirmed arrangement so another technician can reproduce it without making assumptions.

Listen to a real sequence

Ask someone to speak as they will during the conference, including natural changes in intensity. The audio team checks the outgoing feed while another person listens to a translated output using the audience listening equipment. Include the transition from a stage microphone to an audience microphone.

Example acceptance sequence: the moderator introduces a guest, the guest answers, and someone in the audience asks a question. All relevant speech should reach the system without an improvised connection. The technical rehearsal guide helps organise this check and assign someone to report what was actually heard.

Keep a usable connection sheet

The sheet should support a crew handover as well as the initial setup. Use the labels visible on the equipment and mark both ends of the connection. Once approved, report changes to the mix or cabling to whoever monitors translation. Leave the sheet where the team can find it during the session.

This avoids discovering during questions that an audience microphone heard in the room is missing from the rack feed.

• Identify the mixer output and included microphones.
• Confirm compatibility and adapters with the provider.
• Label both ends of each relevant cable.
• Listen to every planned type of speaking turn.
• Record the adjustment owner and recovery procedure.