7 Things Every Live Sound Engineer Should Know by Michelle S Pettinato
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7 Things Every Live Sound Engineer Should Know by Michelle S Pettinato © 2019+ Copyrighted Content by Michelle S Pettinato Cover Design and Layout by Grapevine Design No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without express permission in writing from the author, except where brief passages are quoted for the purposes of review. 7 Things Every Live Sound Engineer Should Know Introduction Welcome! I’m excited to be sharing the information in this eBook with you. Mixing live music has been my passion for a long time and I’ve been fortunate to make a career out of it for nearly 30 years! During that time, I’ve met a lot of people interested in learning live sound but having no idea where to start. “What do I need to know”, they always ask? There is just so much to learn- from a wide range of audio consoles to system processing, so many different microphones, speaker systems, wireless systems, in-ear monitors, plug-ins, and that’s just technology! What about EQ techniques, power requirements, dealing with RF, how to get rid of feedback, how to choose the right microphones, how the whole sound system goes together… I’ve also encountered those who have been mixing sound for live shows and events but struggling to achieve their desired results, because they lack knowledge of the core principles. They just can’t quite get the vocals loud enough without feeding back or their mixes are lacking clarity and definition, everything is just muddy sounding or the instruments are all fighting for the same space. Mixing live sound can present many challenges, from finding your way around an unfamiliar console to choosing which microphone to use. Then there are things like bad room acoustics, feedback, and knowing how to get good sounds. © Copyright 2019 Michelle S Pettinato For those who are just starting out in live sound and mixing, the vast amount of equipment can be overwhelming. It seems as soon as you master one piece of gear there is something new to learn. There are so many different consoles, how are you ever going to learn all of them? How do you hook up the system correctly? How do you build a great sounding mix? What do these plug-ins do? First, relax… You don’t need to know everything straight away. Quite honestly, there will always be something more to learn. Technology and gear is constantly changing and it can be hard to keep up with. The best sound engineers are the ones who never stop learning. It’s easy to feel like you’ll never learn it all, and while it can be difficult to know just where to start, there are some basic principles that every live sound engineer should know. This eBook will present these 7 very important fundamentals. Having a solid grasp of these principles will make it easier for you to: Understand how all parts of the sound system work together. Be more comfortable when working on an unfamiliar audio console. Be able to quickly control and eliminate feedback. Build better mixes and get good sounds. Work more efficiently. Have more confidence behind the console. © Copyright 2019 Michelle S Pettinato A little about me… I have been working professionally as a concert sound engineer since 1992 mixing international recording artists, many of which you probably have heard of. I’ve been on tour with them all over the world, doing sound for their live performances in everything from small clubs to stadiums, and some other really strange places. Before I set foot on my first tour bus, I had been working in live sound for several years. I worked in the A/V department of a large entertainment complex, in nightclubs, mixing local bands, and for a small sound company. Prior to that, I had attended two technical schools to get an education in audio engineering. You see music and audio were my passion since I was a child and I was determined to make it my livelihood. During my first few years of working in live sound, I was soaking it all in. Even though I had learned the theories and foundations of doing audio in school and even having had ample hands on experience, putting it all together in practice was another thing altogether. When I first started mixing bands, I had no idea how to EQ the various instruments. How do I make this kick drum sound less like a cardboard box and more like a drum? How do I keep the vocal from getting lost under the guitar? I remember the first time I ran monitors for a local band. I understood the concept of what I was doing and how all the equipment worked but lets just say my execution was off the mark! Luckily, I had the support of some very patient colleagues who were incredibly generous with their knowledge. © Copyright 2019 Michelle S Pettinato Now after all these years of mixing live music I want to share my knowledge with you. If you’ve downloaded this eBook, it tells me that you are not just interested in doing live sound but you care about doing it well! Mixing live sound isn’t hard but doing it right and doing it well can be. Almost anyone can get sound through a mixer. As a matter of fact, almost everyone and their brother has claimed that they ‘used to do sound’ at some point in their life. How well they did it is a whole other story. Hey, I’ve swung a hammer or two but I would never claim to be a carpenter. There are some very important principles and techniques that everyone mixing live sound should understand. It can be painfully obvious when the person doing sound does not understand them. These principles and techniques lay the foundations of being able to do live sound well. I am happy to share them with you. They have helped me be at ease no matter what console I was mixing on, even if I had never used it before. They have helped me to get great sounds and build well-balanced mixes. These techniques allowed me to pull a mix together very quickly and solve problems expeditiously. They are also crucial in dealing with feedback or avoiding it altogether. © Copyright 2019 Michelle S Pettinato So what are these 7 things every sound engineer should know? 1- Signal Flow- How the signal gets from the source to the PA and through the console. 2- Proper Gain Structure and Gain Staging- How to get the best signal. 3- Frequencies and EQ techniques- Carving out your sound and why you need to EQ the PA. 4- How to Choose the right Microphone- Mic Placement and proper mic technique. 5- How to use Dynamics Processors- Gates and Compressors are your friends. 6- Basic Troubleshooting- What to do when the something goes wrong. 7- Great Sound Starts at the Source- Garbage in, garbage out. Let’s get started! © Copyright 2019 Michelle S Pettinato Two of the most important things to know are signal flow and proper gain structure. 1- Signal Flow Signal flow is the path of the audio signal from its source to its output. In mixing, is how the sound gets from an instrument on stage to the audio console and what path it takes through the console before finally coming out of the speakers. Reasons you need to understand signal flow: To properly connect all the various pieces of your sound system. To troubleshoot problems in a logical manner rather than just trying random things. To be able to work quickly and efficiently on any audio console (also called mixer, soundboard, or desk). To achieve proper gain structure and gain staging, both necessary for getting good sounds and the best performance from the sound system. To know how the signal gets through the audio console and how it is affected at each stage. © Copyright 2019 Michelle S Pettinato Let’s break these down one by one: Proper wiring of the Sound System Sound Systems are comprised of many different pieces of equipment, including but not limited to loudspeakers, crossovers, amplifiers, signal processors, audio consoles, microphones, DI boxes, sub snakes, splitters, etc. There is a specific path the audio signal needs to take through this equipment for it to function properly. Knowing signal flow allows you to correctly wire all these components together. You need to patch the inputs on the stage to the snake, the snake to the consoles, the console to the system EQ and processors, the processors to the amplifiers and finally the amplifiers to the speakers. Along that path, you may find sub-snakes, devices inserted on channels in the console, and console outputs routed to things like monitor mixes. When you understand signal flow, you can easily visualize how all these pieces go together. Effective Troubleshooting When something in the signal path fails or breaks down you will need to troubleshoot the problem so you can fix it as quickly as possible. If you are mixing a live show and suddenly the vocal drops out of the PA, what do you do first? No- the correct answer is not -‘PANIC’. You remain calm and work through the signal path in a systematic and logical order. Is it patched directly into the console? Is there anything inserted on that channel? What is the path from the vocal mic to the console and from the channel in the console to the Stereo Mix? Knowing this signal path, you can quickly find the problem and remedy it.