News, Tips, Tricks, Advice, and Tools.

Page 2

Sound System Things

Speakers and Cabinets . . .

Just because there are four speaker jacks on your amp,
that doesn't automatically mean that you can plug in four speaker cabinets.
There is a definite right way and a WRONG way to connect speakers and cabinets.

Speakers (and cabinets) are generally rated at 4, 8, or 16 ohms. This is called their 'impedance'.
The term 'ohms' (impedance) is used to describe the 'load' that a given speaker will put on the amplifier.
When you add more than one speaker or cabinet, there is a mathematical formula to find the 'safe load'.
(And some of you thought you'd never need 'math' to play music! Surprise!!)

". . . hey, wait a minute, I already read this . . ."
See, there's more in common between players and engineers than you thought.

If any of you would like to have a chart to make this even easier,
send me an e-Mail and I'll send one out.

And, of course, if you don't pay attention to this,
well, you know what will probably happen, right?   

Gain vs. Volume

For the cleanest sounds,run the Master (or volume) control somewhere between 75-90%.
Increase the control until you hear hissing or hum increase a lot. That's the 'background noise' level.
Lower the control until the noise just goes away.
Do this on all of the channels and masters
(Main, Monitors, Sub-Masters, etc.).
Now you're ready to set the channel input gain.
(Sometimes called Trim or Sensitivity.)

If you're not sure about this, call your technician,
or send me an e-Mail and I'll try to help you.

It's really not too difficult, though.
One thing before you start .....
use headphones to make the above setups.
That way, just in case you hit the wrong button or turn something up too far, you won't ..... well,
  enough said?

Now, to the channel input gain controls.

First, turn all input controls fully counter-clockwise (down).
Have your player, or whatever your input source start playing.
SLOWLY bring up the input trim control until your meters are active.
If your mixing console has channel overload lights, cool.
Simply set the input gain until the overload JUST FLICKERS.
Then, back it off until the overload stays off.

If not, then (again with headphones) check each channel by ear.
And don't use those $10.00 'phones.
You've spent a small fortune on all of the rest of your gear,
don't get cheap here!

Now, have the band play a couple of tunes (or parts of them).
Don't worry about the vocals yet.
Get a good mix goin' in the headphones for the instruments.
Not blastin', just a good, solid mix.
Now bring the singer(s) into the mix.
Remember, the vocals are supposed to be 'out front',
not buried in behind the drum mix!

When you bring up the house(front) mix, you'll start with the vocals.
Then bring in the instruments (guitars, keys, horns, ets.).
Next comes the drums (except for the kick[s]).
Last comes the bass and kick drum(s).
They should be just about even.

(Do you want the singers to be heard, or just the kick drum(s)?)

Try it this way, you'll never do it any other way once you do.

There, maximum clarity, maximum input, maximum sound.
(Same procedure goes for your effects and equalizers.)
Keep the tone controls on the channels at '0' to start.
Remember, they are subtractive controls.
(Reduce anything you have too much of.)
They cannot and do not 'boost' anything but noise!
(See below)Simple, right? Well, thereis one little hitch . . .

As the show goes on, musicians naturally start playing harder.
This means that the signals to the board will get louder!
The engineer must stay aware of this,
and turn back (reduce) the input gain on any channel
(or effect or equalizer, master, etc,) that starts overloading.
THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!  We've all seen .....
that 'soundman' ..... who has every red light on the board lit up.
Standin' there like he's really got something great goin' on.
Actually, he's an idiot. Red lights mean danger, distorted sound,
and ... eventually, equipment failure.

And think back to the remarks that you got from the crowd .....
"... is that guy deaf back there at the board ...?"
"... it's so distorted that ya can't understand the vocals ..."
"... the band was pretty good but the sound(soundman) sucked ..."
And don't forget that your singer blew out his voice because he couldn't hear the monitors. Oh, and two horns got fried .....

Is that what you've practiced so hard and spent so much money on equipment to hear?  Probably not, right?  Nope?  I didn't think so.

(I love hearing one of those mixing geniuses tell me "... can't get anything outta these monitors..."! I've run monitor mixes so strong
that players have asked me to turn them down! One guy with
a pair of full Marshall 100 watt stacks said he was gettin' a sunburn from the monitors!!! The lead singer walked over laughin' .....
"Dude, he always crys about the monitors, everywhere we go,
but NEVER about 'em bein' too loud! Man, these things are crankin'!"
Made me feel kinda good.)

Equalization

EQ's are a subtractive device. That means .....
they are for lowering certain frequencies in a pre-amp or mixer.
THEY CANNOT CREATE A SOUND ON THEIR OWN! (Boost?)
The 'smile face' you've all seen on EQ's only means that . . .
the 'engineer' has no clue as to how to use it.
No control (slider, fader, etc.) should ever be above '0"!
Anything over '0' adds noise !!

This is extremely important in P.A. and monitor sound systems.
Every mix has too much of something to start with. No way around it.
"...Too much bottom end ...", "...too much high-end ...",
"... mids are honkin' ...". Use an EQ to lower those trouble spots. Result . . . Cleaner sound, cleaner mixes, better sound.
Simple, isn't it?
And when you overload amps and speaker systems long enough and hard enough,
well, you know . . . .    

Can we turn up the speakers now?
(Well, not exactly!)

Well, you're almost ready.
First, bring all masters down to zero.
This is very, very important .
Next, turn on the P.A. amplifier(s).
Now, take a break for a few minutes.
This will allow the P.A. amp(s) to stabilize.
(Same is true for all amps on stage.)
Never just turn on an amp and go to it . . .
that's just asking for trouble.

Turn up the input controls on the P.A. amp(s)
(same procedure as above for the least noise).
Back to the board. Bring up the masters to about half-throttle.
Don't start on max!
One of the players might have turned their amp up a little. (Or a lot!)
No sense blowin' something out right off the bat, right?
By the end of the first tune, everything should be very close to the ultimate mix.
Fine tune as needed and adjust volume to the room's needs.
By the third tune, you should be crankin'.
From there on, just watch the input levels,
Keep an eye on the stage, {for cues from the performer(s)},
and have a good time!