Week-end at Fitzwilliam

Not only I recorded the concert of the Fitz Chapel Choir, but also I was asked to record speeches and song done during the meeting and dinner afterwards. For this purpose, I use site microphones (some thin AKGs mounted on the lectern at the moment) and a Marantz hooked to the mixing table.
The problems I encountered were: Marantz decided to switch itself off with no reason while College Master had a speech during the dinner. I switched it back on, and when it did the same thing a couple of moments later, I just gave up. Apart of that, the recording during the dinner went well.
While recording speeches in the Auditorium, I discovered (too late, unfortunately, to invent some workaround) that the mixing desk (make & model to come) is extremely noisy - I picked up a lot of ground hum, which might be a problem when it comes to mixing.
I will not continue this subject as I do not intend to use these recording for my assignments. I just thought that it might be interesting for you to read :)