Help/Advice needed on setting up home office network please

Question

Hi
I hope someone can help me with some technical difficulties i am having with a home / office network.
Computer equipment i have is:
2 desktop PCs on same floor  different rooms.
2 laptop PCs to be used wired in office and/or Wifi if possible any room
2 Apple mac Laptops to be used wired in office and/or Wifi in any room.
1 HP Laser printer with network enabled
1 TB HDD network enabled
1 Linksys WiFi extender unit
Connection equipment:
I have an NTL Cable modem
Linksys WR54G ver 2 router ( with the option of going to aLinksys WRT300N ver 2 router)
A Netgear Dual speed hub DS116
What i would like to do is have one office holding 1 desktop pc, 1 HP Printer and the other office holding the 2nd desktop PC with USB printer attached. I would like to be able to go Wifi around the house for all PC & Mac Laptops with the option of connecting them by wire in the office if required.
Idealy i would like to be able to share files, folders and printers between all units as well as all having internet access through the router's firewall.
I also use Zone Alarm Pro.
At the moment i have in one office the WR54G attached to the cable modem with one Desktop PC wired in to one of the 4 ports. in a 2nd port i have a cable going to the 2nd office into the DS116.
Connected to the DS116 is the 2nd Desktop PC, the HP Laser printer and the 1TB HDD.
The Wifi extender is in another room.
For some reason every now and then the whole system goes wobbly and seems to loose settings at which point internet access is denied and ihave to go back to 1 pc into the cable modem and starting rebuilding the network.
Can anyone give me an idiots guide to settin this kind of system up with specificsettings on each item if possible.
I would say i would also like to use 1 desktop PC for gaming now and then which at the moment sems very hit and miss with speed etc.
Any help warmly welcomed
Best Rgds
Kev

Answer 1

ryclark wrote:
Following on from Steve's advice I would probably not bring the unwanted channels all the way down on the faders, either in a live mix or if mixing subsequently in Audition, as it may change the background acoustic too much. Leaving a bit of the background mics faded up a bit helps to pull the whole recording together and also means you have a better chance of getting all the faders back up in time for when they are needed without missing anything.
I didn't actually touch on this at all - perhaps I should have. There's definitely more than one way to undertake this sort of operation, and it rather depends on exactly what equipment you have available. So far, we know you've got potentially 16 channels available, but have no idea how you were planning to cover the different aspects of it. For instance, I would always consider it worth it to have a pair of ambience mics up all the time - which would get around this particular problem anyway....
The other thing you really have to pay quite a bit of attention to before you start is making damn sure (the previous day) that everything is in good order, and it all works when connected together. And if, for instance, you're going to rely on radio mic feeds from clergy,  that you can tap into these without difficulty, etc. Make sure your mic stands are not falling apart, and that you've got all the right mic stand adaptors - amazing how many times people have screwed that one up! 
What this generally means is that even if you're familiar with the location, you still need to do a reccé just to make sure that everything in the venue is as you think. And if you can grab a dedicated assistant for the event, go for it. This can make carting stuff about a lot easier, and provide additional security for your equipment. And sometimes other benefits too, like tea...