Remote interpretation: a technical checklist before the event

Before the test

• Share an up-to-date programme with rooms, languages and times.
• Identify the production contact and the interpreters' coordinator.
• Prepare computers, power supplies, headphones and microphones.
• Check access and codes for the correct room.
• Send speaker materials to interpreters through the agreed channel.

Do not wait for the first connection to discover a missing language or that a booth has another room's code. In VoxVent, descriptive event and room names help identify the context; codes remain the reference for access.

Stage audio and video

• Every planned microphone reaches the original audio feed.
• Audience questions and video contributions are included in the test.
• Levels are intelligible without clipping.
• The booth can see the necessary video reference.
• Remote contributors have a return feed prepared by the sound engineer.

Have people speak through the actual signal path. Playing a file directly from a computer does not test all the microphones, the mixing console and the destinations that will be used during the event.

Booths and audience

• Check A/B assignments with each interpreter.
• The production team can identify microphone opening and closing.
• Test relay where required.
• Listen to every language on an audience device.
• Prepare links, headphones and joining instructions.
• Check phone use and possible interruptions on the intended devices.

Tests must cover the networks that will actually be used. The maximum stated in a licence does not replace testing of event capacity and connectivity.

Returns and unexpected issues

• Every physical output matches the intended language and destination.
• Check autofloor channels and service channels separately.
• Set languages without a physical destination to NO OUT.
• Share the procedure for reporting problems with the team.
• Agree an alternative for loss of connection or source.

Record the result and anything still to be checked. Writing “not tested” is useful: it lets the person in charge assess a concrete limitation instead of confusing a prepared configuration with a tested feature.

Add a MAIN and backup rehearsal

With the new VoxVent backup builds, start MAIN and its transmission before connecting the reserve to the same room. Prepare the same signals on both computers, verify that the backup is ready, then rehearse manual handover and loss of MAIN with an interpreter and an audience listener.

The reserve uses the same licence. Physical outputs stay operational: the sound engineer manages the mixing console. Full handover testing is still in progress; agree a tested setup before your event. Read the backup setup guide →