Audio Info & Education

Once you’ve assembled the pro audio or bass rig of your dreams and racked it in a road case for good measure, it’s time to think about the best way to keep all your valuable equipment powered up and protected.

In the last segment, we discussed the basic functions of mixers and why they are essential to a live sound setup and the everyday gigging musician. In this piece we will discuss the different types of mixers available and help you decide which one is best for your setup. 

A good mixer is an essential component of a live show. Even though the band and audience members alike may go the whole night without even seeing the mixer, this little piece of equipment has a big role in providing the best possible sound to the stage and the house.

Whether you’re jamming with a garage band or playing stadiums, it’s essential to protect your hearing. Our hearing is one of our most valuable tools we have as musicians, and once it’s gone it’s gone for good. In fact, if you leave a gig with your ears ringing, permanent damage has already been done to your hearing. Furthermore, if you constantly expose yourself to excessively loud volumes over a long period of time, you may develop Tinnitus, which is a constant ringing in your ears. In severe cases, that ringing may turn into buzzing, humming, or even singing sounds. Any kind of additional voices in your head is definitely something you want to avoid.

Throughout the course of my career in audio production I have provided audio systems for hundreds of indoor and outdoor events. While the tools I utilize are often very similar, the approach I have towards each situation can vary significantly. Let’s take a look at what goes into the logistics behind each and what you can do to improve your audio quality in each situation. This article will deal with preparing for an outdoor show and how to decide what speakers to use.

I am frequently asked “which are better, active or passive speakers?” The short answer is “Neither.” The real answer is dependent on many variables. My production company currently has inventory of both active and passive speakers. We use both very frequently and often at the same events. Here are a few ideas that you might consider when choosing between active and passive speakers.

Knowing how to properly set the gain on each channel of your mixing console can go a long way in ensuring an optimal live or studio mix for your band. The gain knob, also referred to in some instances as the trim knob, is the first point of amplification and entry into your mixer. The term “trim” is also used, because it relates the high gain of the microphone pre-amp and the knob’s trimming back this gain. The purpose of the gain knob is to control the input volume of any instrument or microphone that you have plugged into that channel of the mixer or console.

While there’s no doubt that intentionally adding some echo or reverb to your band’s vocals can be a nice effect, the overbearing natural reverb and echo that results from the acoustical properties of certain concert halls, churches, and other venues can be a huge problem for your band’s overall sound and result in an unintelligible mess! If your band is all mic’ed up through the PA, playing and hearing mostly echo instead of instruments can make it really difficult to perform well, let alone stay in time and in tune with one another.

The standard three band equalization system has long been a mainstay of mixers and guitar and bass amplifiers. Even minor adjustments to an amp’s bass, midrange, and treble controls go a long way in shaping your tone. These EQ controls, sometimes called Low, MID, and HI on mixers, are very common, intuitive and effective. However, in a dense band mix, some extra flexibility may be needed to dial in your amps tone or fit each player in their spot for a cleaner mix. Many guitarists can quickly address these issues by engaging an equalizer pedal or toggling to a different pickup. However, using and understanding an amp or mixer with a mid sweep can open new doors of tone shaping without having to add any additional components to your setup.

If you’ve been around a mixing board, recording interface, guitar amp or a PA system, you’ve probably dealt with balanced and unbalanced inputs or outputs (although you might have not noticed the differences immediately)! This article will discuss the basic differences between the two connection types and what they mean for your pro audio rig.

A blown speaker is arguably one of the worst things that can happen to your pro audio rig, whether you are a sound pro, bassist, guitarist, or DJ. It may be a freak feedback, clipping amplifiers, or poor AC power, but it can happen to the best of us. Knowing the basic steps of what to do next after blowing a speaker will help you get your rig up and running as soon as possible. Here we are only looking at “abuse” causes of failures and not factory defective speakers. A defective speaker failure is diagnosed by looking at the speaker internally and is caused by misalignment, poor gluing or fragments in the coil gap. These failures are very rare and look much different than a blown speaker.

One of the biggest choices musicians and pro audio enthusiasts make when purchasing speakers is whether they should spring for passive or active speakers. Just like with any equipment, the right choice comes from a combination of understanding the main components of each and finding the one that best suits your application. This basic guide will cover the main differences between active and passive models and help you choose which one is better for your needs.