Time for class . . .
Today's lesson:
How to get the most out of your system.
(Without destroying it.)
Sound System Things . . .
Wiring It Up . .
.
To some people, this is one of the
most troublesome areas of sound system use.
But, that doesn't mean that you cannot master this part.
There is definitely a right way and a WRONG way to connect
your equipment.
Here are links to .pdf files that will show you how to connect
your gear.
Sound System Interconnection
Grounding and Shielding
These easy to understand handbooks were furnished courtesy of the
Rane
Corporation.
Save them to your hard drive and then you will have them handy
for future reference.
Right-click on each of them, select "Save Target
As..." and save them wherever you like.
(After you save them, you might want to burn them onto a CD as
well, just in case ...)
TECH TIP: Print them both out and keep them with your PA or
studio gear, too!
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'll 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-Mailand 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, 
'nuff said?
Now, to the channel input gain controls.
First, turn all
input controls fully counter-clockwise (down).
Have your player, machine, 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, so much the
better.
Simply set the input gain until the overload JUST STARTS TO
FLICKER.
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, there is
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 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.
Is that what you've practiced so hard and spent so much money on equipment to hear?
(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,
but NEVER about 'em bein' too loud! Man, these things are
crankin'!"
Made me feel kinda good.)
Can we turn up the speakers now?(Well, not exactly!)
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!
