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Author Topic: Am I setting up my board correctly  (Read 1942 times)

John Warren

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Am I setting up my board correctly
« on: November 24, 2005, 03:06:20 AM »

I am new at this with no formal training, its a small church.
I set the lead vocal on top
Blend the back up singers and they are just under the lead.
The instruments are not overbearing, are clean and clear.
The monitors are lower then the mains.


I set the mains where a person can hear themselves sing in there own ears.
However if the song is very upbeat and the people are really getting into the song, I nudge the the volume up ever so slightly during each chorus, this seams to really work great and is enjoyable to watch them from my booth in the back as they get into the worship songs. Then return the mains back for the next song.

I happened to cover the board for a weekend while the sound-man was on vacation, after he came back he did not want to do this anymore. It was a bit stressful and felt like a job and not church at first, but now its better and I really want to do the best job possible.

On thing is for sure, if all goes correctly, no one knows Im there...LOL  Any critique's are welcome.  
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Tom Young

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Re: Am I setting up my board correctly
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2005, 08:12:56 AM »

First of all: attempting to convey to someone how you mix (how something sounds) in writing is virtually impossible due to the limitations of our (yours and the readers') perception, communication skills, etc.

That being said, your description appears to make sense. I would be careful about boosting the chorus or one song versus another (especially in church) and partly because this is a musical/performance function and we are usually better off leaving that to the musicians or music director to employ changes in *their* dynamics.

Regarding the perception of the congregation and what you do, you are right: in live sound when we are doing it "right" all that we can expect is for there to be no reaction and no comments on the part of the listeners regarding what we do. Our goal is to be transparent. Another way of thinking of this is that when no one complains, we have succeeded.  Every once in a blue moon we may get a qualified compliment but other than that we must be happy just to know that we have done as well as we can.

Welcome to live sound.
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Tom Young, Church Sound section moderator
Electroacoustic Design Services
Oxford CT
Tel: 203.888.6217
Email: dbspl@earthlink.net
www.dbspl.com

John Warren

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Re: Am I setting up my board correctly
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2005, 03:29:40 PM »

Tom...Thank You very much, Your points are well taken. This forum and site is fantastic.

Take care...John.
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Ivan Beaver

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Re: Am I setting up my board correctly
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2005, 06:55:44 PM »

Tom Young wrote on Thu, 24 November 2005 08:12


Regarding the perception of the congregation and what you do, you are right: in live sound when we are doing it "right" all that we can expect is for there to be no reaction and no comments on the part of the listeners regarding what we do. Our goal is to be transparent. Another way of thinking of this is that when no one complains, we have succeeded.  Every once in a blue moon we may get a qualified compliment but other than that we must be happy just to know that we have done as well as we can.

Welcome to live sound.

How true!  I talk about in my classes about how thanksless running sound is.  You don't do it for glory, you do it because you like it and get personal satisfaction about a job well done from it.  Very often there are any thanks, but complaints are easy to get.  Everybody wants something different. Like the old saying:

IT'S NOT MY JOB TO RUN THE TRAIN, THE WHISTLE I CAN'T BLOW,

IT'S NOT FOR ME TO SAY HOW FAR THE TRAIN'S ALLOWED TO GO,

I'M NOT ALLOWED TO BLOW OFF STEAM, NOR EVEN CLANG THE BELL,

BUT LET THE DAMN THING JUMP THE TRACK AND SEE WHO CATCHES HELL.

 

 

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Can I have some more talent in the monitors--PLEASE?

Ivan Beaver
dB Audio & Video Inc.

JIMGUNDLACH

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Re: Am I setting up my board correctly
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2005, 07:01:48 PM »

Spot on!  There are technical issues you did not address.  The gain structure of the consol needs to be right.  Generaly, the masters should be at what the manufacturer indicates as "standard". This is usualy about 2/3 up.  The input faders should be about 2/3 up.  Then set the channel input gains to achieve "0" on the output meters.  Set the power amplifier gains for the loudness you want in the room.

There is a lot more to it than that but, it's a good start.  When the input faders are "about right" in the 2/3 up position, they are easy to operate.  At the top end of the faders a lot of movement makes subtle change in level.  If the fader is in the lower 1/3 of its' range, a little movement makes a big change in level and it is very hard to make esthecicly pleasing adjustments.  If you run any of these settings way from where the belong you risk noise, clipping, and a bad mix.
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Tom Young

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Re: Am I setting up my board correctly
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2005, 07:09:06 PM »

Amen and amen again.

I will add that I have never sat at a mixing board (in a live sound event) and thought: "this is perfect". Nor has anyone I have ever run across in this field felt that way.

There is no such thing as perfection in live audio. Moments of "greatness" are when you know you are doing as well as you possibly can or possibly as well as anyone could..... under the conditions you are faced with.

That is what makes live sound infinitely rewarding: knowing that we always have some area or another that could be better. And so we continually strive to overcome the obstacles and unravel another of the complexities we are faced with.
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Tom Young, Church Sound section moderator
Electroacoustic Design Services
Oxford CT
Tel: 203.888.6217
Email: dbspl@earthlink.net
www.dbspl.com

Ivan Beaver

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Re: Am I setting up my board correctly
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2005, 07:26:09 PM »

Tom Young wrote on Thu, 24 November 2005 19:09

Amen and amen again.

I will add that I have never sat at a mixing board (in a live sound event) and thought: "this is perfect". Nor has anyone I have ever run across in this field felt that way.

There is no such thing as perfection in live audio. Moments of "greatness" are when you know you are doing as well as you possibly can or possibly as well as anyone could..... under the conditions you are faced with.

That is what makes live sound infinitely rewarding: knowing that we always have some area or another that could be better. And so we continually strive to overcome the obstacles and unravel another of the complexities we are faced with.

I have gotten the "perfect" snare once and only once.  It was my rig and I got the right combination of reverb/placement/actual snare/mic/eq etc.  I have gotten good sounds lots of times, but only once have I gone WOW THAT IS PERFECT.  I know it can be achieved, but I have yet to do it again, and that was years ago.

The other thing that many people suffer from is striving to get it "perfect".  At a certain point you just have to STOP adjusting as you are going to mix yourself into a hole and throw the band into it-along with yourself. Many people don't realize that they could simply just step out of the hole, so they keep "digging" to get out the bottom, and the hole just keeps on getting deeper.
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Can I have some more talent in the monitors--PLEASE?

Ivan Beaver
dB Audio & Video Inc.

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Am I setting up my board correctly
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2005, 07:26:09 PM »


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