A short primer on making gain setting adjustments in your sound system.

The rhythmic rap of voice through microphone, traditionally offered by public address announcers, performers, engineers and others indicates the sound check is underway. In the music industry there is a common misconception that sound check is the time set aside for band rehearsal. Wrong! Sound check is the engineer%u2019s time to properly set levels, eq each instrument and voice, and adjust the mix for the mains and monitors so everyone can hear well. Only after that is accomplished, and the engineer is confident all levels are correctly set, is it time for the band to play a full song. Although this section involves the band playing full songs, it is not yet time to rehearse. Attention should be placed on the needs of the engineer, to insure that nothing is clipping, distorting or causing feedback.

If the sound check is to work properly you should have at least one 31 band 1/3 octave equalizer on each monitor send. Even if you are in a large building with a Sound Web, Media Matrix, or other computer controlled processing it is imperative that you have access to some kind of eq for the monitors. Many recent installs have steered away from giving the engineer access to eq%u2019s. On one hand I can understand this because an eq in the hands of an untrained person can cause more harm than good. On the other hand, it%u2019s like trying to drive a car with access only to the gas pedal and not the brake. You can slow the car by reducing the flow of gas, but access to the brake gives much greater control over your vehicle. A professionally installed system should sound fine without any additional eq; for the most part the eq I am discussing would only be used to cut frequencies for feedback purposes.

First turn off the mains and let%u2019s work with only the monitors. Find your quietest singer and boost the aux send on his/her monitor mix until their wedge barely begins to squeal. Have a volunteer wear earplugs and talk into the mic. You will notice the mic gets hollow sounding just before the feedback starts. That%u2019s also a good indicator, during a performance/service, that something is about to squeal. This is very subtle and requires intense listening, but once you figure out what it sounds like it%u2019s pretty easy to discern. Bump up the send until you hear the first squeal then bump it down just enough to eliminate that squeal. Whether or not you have perfect pitch, a little common sense helps you zero in on the problem frequency. Think of the graphic eq as a piano. Lower notes are on the left, higher notes on the right. If the feedback sounds like a bass guitar, it%u2019s going to be a slider toward the left end of the eq; if it sounds like a flute or soprano singer it%u2019s going to be more toward the middle or right of the unit. Since you%u2019re close to the point of feedback pick a slider that you feel is closest to the feedback note and turn it up 3 to 6 db. If you hear the same feedback pitch then you nailed it. Turn that slider down to about %u20133d on the eq and you just took out your first notch. If you weren%u2019t so fortunate, return that slider to zero and try the next one up or down from that point until you find the problematic frequency. Once you find it, notch it out a bit. Now turn the mic up a bit more until you hear another frequency, which may be the same one again. If that%u2019s the case, make a little deeper notch. Continue until you hear about two or three notes at the same time. When you arrive at this point you%u2019ve reached the limit of your current setup. Make a mental note of the aux send position; not turning past this spot during the service should prevent feedback.

OK, I know what%u2019s coming. Some will ask %u201Cwhat about these feedback buster units?%u201D They are a very good, if not better way, to accomplish the same thing. However, read the manual and discover they are doing the same thing we%u2019ve accomplished with a lot less brainpower since they are pretty much automatic. Also, they use much narrower notches than you get with the 1/3 octave eq. Translation? They do a much better job of killing feedback without really changing the sound of the wedge. I%u2019m not one of their biggest fans (I%u2019m more of an %u201Cold school%u201D guy who wants to control it myself), but they are great tools that most volunteers can learn to operate quickly and with great success.

Instant replay: we%u2019ve rung out each of the monitor sends; noted the aux send position when we heard the last feedback; should have noticed the band%u2019s arrival. Time now for the actual check. Ask each musician on stage to give you a sample of his/her inputs to the system. Have them choose one of the loudest settings they will likely use in performance. Note this level with the mains and monitors off. At this point you may need to ask them to turn down a bit and allow you to put it in the monitors. If their stage volume from their amp is too loud you can%u2019t effectively blend the sound without having to turn everything else up to the volume of their stage sound. You don%u2019t necessarily need an extensive solo, just a short sample of what they will be playing. Keep in mind they probably won%u2019t play/sing at the level they%u2019ll be using during the service. The singer/musician may not be comfortable hearing him/herself all alone. Minister to them. Encourage them. Most will come to value this time as much as you do. They get a chance to hear how they sound in their monitor and you get your chance to hear them by themselves.

Some engineers start with the vocals but my preference is to start with the drums; it really doesn%u2019t matter. Inform the artists that you%u2019ll be setting some things and the system will be silent for a few moments. Turn down their main fader and aux sends; have them start their signal; hit the solo or pfl button on their channel strip. This will make your main meters reflect the input to that channel. You%u2019ll want to turn up the gain until you get the meter to about zero db. Now you%u2019ve hit another point of disagreement among engineers. Depending on your skill level, and the skill level of your performer, you may want to give them a little more room, in case they get really loud during the service. The last thing you want is for them to distort the input. Once the levels are set, with all the outputs down, you can start turning up the monitor send. Ask them to offer some signal when they think they have enough of themselves in their monitor. When you bring up the house fader, and cover up the sound coming from the stage, that will be your minimum volume setting. As I bring up the fader, I try to listen for the point that the sound doesn%u2019t seem to be coming off the back wall of the platform and for it to enter the main PA.

Keep the goal in sight. Don%u2019t get each instrument to sound as huge as possible, just ensure you can get them all to mix together well. Making the electric guitar sound huge and really full might cause conflict with the bass guitar in the mix. We%u2019ll spend some time next issue discussing how to eq everything so it all fits together. For now, search for a natural sound%u2026 imagine you are sitting in front of the instrument/singer without any PA or amplification.

Do this for each instrument, each vocalist. After you have set all the gains individually you may want to have your vocalists give you a sample with all of them. I%u2019d put on my cans (headphones) and cue up the monitor send. Don%u2019t worry about the house sound at this point; just get your singers happy. Listen to what their mix is giving them and blend it like you would the house. Listen for each singer to be clearly heard in the mix. If you do that there won%u2019t be one person overpowering the monitor mix and you%u2019ll alleviate the requests for more of me, and me, and me, and me. You really need to mix their monitors for them; make sure all parts are heard and evenly mixed. Now turn up the house and mix them out there. Work through each section of the band just like this until everyone is happy. Now go for a full song and mix the house so that all parts are clearly heard. After the song, ask each musician to let you know what%u2019s going on in his or her mix. Now that everyone is playing, adjustments may need to be made.

The goal with all of this is not to frustrate anyone, but to give everyone an equal chance to hear him or herself, and hear a full mix. Once you get through this, and you may have to do it a few times, you%u2019ll all be happier and communication should be much better. Remember to work with your platform team; you are a part of that team. Provide what is asked from you and you deepen the bond of trust. If a request is unreasonable, help them understand by explaining why it is unreasonable. Shouting back and forth from the booth to the stage is a big no-no. Talk to them, in a kind and considerate manner, through a mic that goes to the stage monitors. Do not get frustrated; remember to make it fun. If you are stressed out, maybe it%u2019s time to get some fresh blood to give you assistance; often, many college students would love to help. Get them on board; consider making one of them a stage manager. You can talk to them though a com system or walkie-talkie and let them be your voice on the stage.