WHAT IS A WATT?

AS FAR AS PROFFESIONAL AUDIO IS CONCERNED IT SHOULD MEAN

WATTS R.M.S. PER CHANNEL AT THE RATED IMPEDENCE OF THE SPEAKERS

SOME MANUFACTURERS ARE STILL TRYING TO FOOL US WITH BIG NUMBERS BY QUOTING WATTS PEAK, AMERICAN WATTS, MUSIC POWER, WATTS DIN OR SOME OTHER UNIT BUT PROVIDED YOU STICK TO THE R.M.S. STANDARD YOU CAN'T GO FAR WRONG.

IF YOU BUY FOR EXAMPLE A PAIR OF SPEAKERS THAT ARE RATED AT 200WRMS AT 8 OHMS AND YOU POWER THEM WITH AN AMPLIFIER CAPABLE OF DELIVERING AT 200WRMS AT 4 OHMS YOU WILL NOT GET THE FULL POWER OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM.

IF HOWEVER YOU USE A PAIR OF SPEAKERS RATED AT 200WATTS MUSIC POWER INTO 4 OHMS AND AN AMPLIFIER CAPABLE OF DELIVERING 200 WRMS INTO 8 OHMS YOU WILL DRASTICALLY OVERDRIVE THE SYSTEM AND WILL EASILY SUSTAIN DAMAGE TO BOTH THE SPEAKERS AND THE AMP.

SO THE CORRECT SYSTEM WOULD BE SPEAKERS RATED AT 200WRMS AT 8 OHMS AND AN AMP RATED AT 200WRMS PER CHANNEL INTO 8 OHMS

IN FACT IT DOES NO HARM TO HAVE THE SPEAKERS RATED AT A HIGHER POWER THAN THE AMP.

LIMITER

THE SOUND IN LIVE P.A. SITUATIONS IS NOT AS SMOOTH AS THAT OF MOST PRE-RECORDED PROGRAM MATERIAL AND CAN PEAK WITH VERY HIGH POWER LEVELS WITHOUT IT BEING OBVIOUS.

AN ESSENTIAL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT IN ANY P.A. SYSTEM IS A STEREO LIMITER.

THIS PIECE OF EQUIPMENT IS RELATIVELY LOW IN COST AND PROTECTS YOUR GEAR AGAINST OVERLOAD FAR FASTER THAN YOU COULD WITH THE FADERS ON THE MIXER. IT SIMPLY DOESN'T LET THE SOUND GET ANY LOUDER WHEN IT REACHES A CERTAIN PRE-SET LEVEL.

MIXER

THE MIXER CAN BE A CREATIVE TOOL OR A NIGHTMARE DEPENDING TO YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS IT. IT'S A BIG SUBJECT WORTHY OF ENDLESS DISCUSSION BUT I'M GOING TO RESTRICT MYSELF HERE RATHER THAN GOING INTO A FULL BLOODED SPEECH.

ASSUMING THAT YOU KNOW A LITTLE ABOUT MIXERS AND HAVE USED ONE BEFORE THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW SIMPLE HINTS ABOUT GETTING A GOOD SOUND.

• ALWAYS HAVE A GOOD PAIR OF SEALED HEADPHONES HANDY TO CHECK OUT THE INDIVDUAL CHANNEL SOUNDS AND PARTICULARLY THE FOLDBACK MIX
• INPUT LEVELS FROM THE MICS AND INSTRUMENTS SHOULD ALWAYS BE AS LOW AS POSSIBLE. IF YOU WANT DISTORTION USE AN FX BOX.
• FADER LEVELS SHOULD NEVER NEED TO BE AT THE TOP...NONE OF THEM, NOT THE CHANNELS, THE GROUPS OR THE MASTERS
• RED LIGHTS ARE BAD, BAD, BAD.
• ALWAYS START WITH A MONO MIX. YOU CAN MAKE IT STEREO LATER.

SOUND-CHECKING

WHEN YOU HAVE FINALLY SET UP AND YOU ARE REASONABLY HAPPY WITH YOUR QUIET SOUND ON STAGE, IT IS TIME TO GET THE VOLUME AND SOUND YOU LIKE.

1. TURN UP BOTH THE FRONT OF HOUSE PA AND THE STAGE MONITORS.

2. RAISE THE LEVEL AND SET THE TONE OF THE VOCAL MICROPHONES AS MUCH AS YOU CAN WITHOUT FEEDBACK. THEN BACK THEM OFF A TOUCH. THE VOCALS SHOULD NOW BE LOUD ENOUGH ON STAGE. IF THEY ARE NOT, THE BACKLINE IS STILL TOO LOUD.

3. RAISE THE BASS DRUM MIKE THROUGH THE FRONT OF HOUSE SPEAKERS UNTIL IT IS AT APPROXIMATELY THE SAME LEVEL AS THE VOCAL MICS.

4. BALANCE THE REST OF THE DRUM KIT. SNARE FIRST, TOMS SECOND, THEN CYMBALS.

5. BRING IN THE PERCUSSION

6. THEN THE BASS GUITAR. THE LEVEL OF THIS IS NORMALLY GOOD AT ABOUT THE SAME AS THAT OF THE BASS DRUM

7. THEN GUITARS (THIS IS WHEN THE GUITARIST SAYS HE'S TOO QUIET AND YOU SAY HE'S TOO LOUD) FOR HINTS ON REMEDYING THIS HAVE A LOOK AT THE GUITAR SECTION ON THE TECHNIQUES PAGE. DON'T FORGET THAT ACOUSTIC THAT ONLY GETS USED FOR ONE NUMBER.

8. THEN THE KEYS. MAKE SURE THAT THE KEYBOARDIST HASN'T GOT ANY OF THOSE HIGH POWER "WHEEEOW" SOUNDS IN STORE TO BLOW THE PA.SYSTEM. IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO CUT THE TREBLE ON THE KEYBOARDEST'S CHANNELS A BIT TO PROTECT THE TWEETERS ON THE PA. ALTERNATIVELY, IF USING A COMBO OF SOME SORT TO PLAY THROUGH, MIC IT UP (HE'LL HATE THIS AND TURN DOWN ).

9. NOW USING YOUR SEALED HEADPHONES TO MONITOR THE APPROPRIATE FOLDBACK MIX BRING THE LEVEL OF THE INSTRUMENTS THROUGH THE FOLDBACK SYSTEM AS IS REQUIRED.

IT'S WORTH NOTING THAT THE FOLDBACK MIX SHOULD NOT CONTAIN TOO MANY LOW FREQUENCIES SINCE WEDGES NORMALLY CUT OFF AT AROUND 80Hz. A LOW CUT IS A GOOD IDEA FOR ALL EXCEPT THE DRUM FILL.

THIS IS A ROUGH ADAPTATION OF THE METHOD I USE IN SMALLER VENUES. OF COURSE YOU WILL HAVE TO ADAPT IT DEPENDING ON THE SET-UP OF THE BAND.

FOR MORE USEFUL INFORMATION ON RECORDING VISIT http://www.homerecording.com/