Article 0-01
Why you need an EQ ?
An 'EQ' or 'Equalizer is a simple volume control, it controls a number of small slices of the frequency spectrum.which can be divided into 5, 10 , 15 or 31 segments depending on the unit you buy. You can get a mono 31 band (31 individual little volume controls for 31 'slices of the frequency spectrum which starts normally at 20 Hz and goes up to 20,000 Hz , the upper limit of human hearing , although in reality no one actually hears 20,000 Hz but more of what and how it affects slightly lower frequencies, but that's for another topic entirely) or a stereo 10 band (left and right channel equalization) But no matter the number of bands they all work the same way, some better than others and only experimentation can show which brand you'd prefer..
But why have one at all? Well.. indoor environments are never sonically perfect, which is to say, no room you are in will ever deliver your music or voice or any sound to your ears with every frequency at equal volume. Hard surface will reflect and re-enforce High or 'treble' sounds., carpets and drapes will absorb those sounds, people in a room will absorb sound in different ways, as will furniture absorb or reflect different frequencies pretty much making a mess of what would be the 'ideal' 'FLAT frequency response!
When a sound system is on, and pumping out loud music (live or recorded) all the above mentioned factors change how we hear what we hear as the waves travel to our ears. In order to try to get the sound back, to a closer to 'FLAT' response we have to negate the the reflected/reinforced sounds and boost the 'absorbed/quieter sounds This is the reason for EQ's !
A well 'tuned' room can be a pleasure to listen to music in, a poorly 'tuned' room can be excruciating. Sound engineers spend a lot of time trying to get that right, and a long time learning how.
Basically we all start out by simple trial and error.. what sounds good when we move a fader up and down on an EQ ! Later, if we get serious about being an engineer, we learn the physics involved. All you need to do, is get an equalizer and experiment with it., learn what different frequencies sound like when boosted or cut (turned down) when you do that enough you develop a memory for what frequency is what, and when you hear it not sound right in a room, it becomes easier to address the problem.
In extreme instances (which happens a lot) a certain frequency will be so loud it will be heard by the microphone producing the sound and begin a loop process, gaining volume as it hears itself over and over, this happens very, very quickly, so quickly that we hear it as 'feedback' or as the Brits say 'howlaround' . Eq's can defeat this problem by picking the frequency that starts the 'feedback' loop and cut it back just enough decibels to make it stop.
Equalizers should be placed after your 'source' ie: mixer, tape deck, DJ console and before the power amps. If your set up includes frequency dividing networks (cross overs) the EQ is placed before the cross over
Eq'ing a room, a speaker, or microphone is and can be an art form , people are out there making a living at it, but with simple experimentation, you can tune your system to sound like the pro's !!
So, come in and buy one.. we can talk you through the set up if you need it!
Article 0-02
Reverb / Delay / Effects / Good Idea? Bad idea?
As a working audio engineer I hear many a vocalist / musician right after sound check come up and ask if I can make sure they have a lot of reverb or delay on their vocal or instrument. I generally say , "Sure, no problem" and then as the performance progresses, I back way off on the amount of 'effects' I am using.. Medium to small rooms have their own 'effects built in (depending on number of people in the audience absorbing sound with their bodies) The reflections inherent in most medium size clubs or venues pretty much handle any 'reverb' you might want. As a matter of fact, an engineer will sometimes have to find ways to minimize the 'reverb' / hollow sound effect in a room through EQ'ing (see previous article)
Lets have a quick review.. Reverb effects, are sound reflections of a 'short' time duration that cause a sound to seem as if it is in a much bigger room . Delay effects are longer 'reflections (think yelling into a large cave and having to wait to hear the entire word bounce back to you)
Why use effects? Mostly to 'enhance' a vocal or instrument performance by making it seem 'bigger' than it is. Problems arise because their is a fine line between just right, and too much effect. Reverb, when used in excess will place your vocal so far in the background it becomes difficult to bring it up in the mix without approaching 'feedback' territory. Too much delay can confuse a mix, not only the audience but the performers as well. Often you spend time applying equalization to the actual effects because it can quickly take over available frequencies where important vocals and guitars live!
Over the years I have mixed with less and less effects (unless the effect is an integral part of the original recorded version of the song., think Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses) I have discovered that less truly is more, especially with talented vocalists, a tad too much reverb can take the edge off an 'edgy' performance and soften the emotional content.. the other side of the coin is that just the right amount can make a performance stand out. it's a trial and error process you can only learn my mucking it up a few times.
The upshot being, no matter what you are applying effect to, error on the side of caution, apply it in small doses, A good rule of thumb is if your attention is drawn to the effect while listening to the performance, you have too much effect on it!
Power Amps / Speakers What's the Deal
We
get a lot of customers asking what is the best amp to use to power
their speakers. most folks think "OK, I have a speaker rated at 200
watts, I am going to buy a 200 watt amplifier"
Well., OK, but not a good idea!
A
little thing called 'Input Distortion' can blow up a speaker as fast as
too much power will and we see that happen a lot.., When an amplifier
reaches it's max output it starts to send out a complex sine wave that
speakers simply cannot decode and that turns into heat in the voice
coil! Burning up a speaker.. not too mention heat backing up into the
amplifier itself..
Picture
a Volkswagon Beetle tryin to tow a yacht on a trailer, sure you can do
it, but the Volkswagon will be working very hard, burning gears, and
performing very,very badly to just get a little motion out of the
trailer, Now put a nice diesel truck in the scenario pulling that
trailer it won't even notice the yacht and you will see a huge jump in
performance.. it's the same with an amp and a speaker, a higher powered
amp will tow that speaker comfortably with no lag or lack of
performance and no build up of heat..
Rule of thumb.. if you have 200 watt rated speaker , run it with at
least an amp capable of putting out 350 watts.. You need the 'headroom'
.. sure you can still blow the speaker with operator error and if you
do, then it's time for a 500 watt speaker and 750 or 800 watt amp !!
Selling Your Band / Being in a Band
in addition to being a professional sound engineer since long before
the advent of the steam engine, I was a guitarist/writer in many a rock
band. We stumbled our way into becoming fairly adept at marketing
ourselves and when I say stumble, I truly mean many mistakes on the way.
First and foremost, it's a business and should be handled like one.
When you are young and in a band, it's pretty much the farthest thing
from your mind, doing business , you are mostly starstruck at the
possibilty of being a rock star. This is definitely a path to ruin!
Putting aside the egos is step one, realizing soon after that you are
only as good as your weakest link is step two. Shure you started the
band with your best buddies, but that doesn't mean that you all have the
same talent level, determination or people skills to make a go of a
band. This, leads to hurt feelings all the way around.. sad but true.
Stating early on that whatever band you are joining or starting is and
will be run like a business can save a lot of heartache down the road.
And nothing can make a dubious talent either quit or work harder, than
the truth !
If you are not a seasoned musician with a lot of
gigs already under your belt, you will need to practice.., I mean by
yourself and with a band.. the only way to improve is practice, there
are no shortcuts, period. Seasoned , working professional musicians play
a lot, and have a vast song catalogue to call upon, so their need for
practice is not as urgent as the 'kids' in the garage.
Next,
get a demo! Not a band practice with two mics up recorded to a boom box,
get one even semi-professionally done.. That's not all.., that demo
needs to be added to a 'Promo Package' !! You need to include your
'playlist', the demo, simple photos, black and white still works best
for the initial promo material.. don't spend a lot of time on individual
biography, club owners truly don't care about your pedigree.
Your demo and package will end up in the trash if it is not simple,
straightforward and 'clean', with a good logo, a good name (always a
tough thing, naming a band) and a decent sounding recording.
If you have dates that you already played, include them only if they
were bigger venues or opening for a bigger act. Again, most club owners
don't see as impressive your gig at the VFW or the bowling lanes.. and
for them.. it's always what we call 'the tale of the tape' ! Meaning
they care more about the number at the bottom of the register tape when
they close the night out. Nowadays, being in a band means being an
entertainer, not just an accomplished musician (thanks to MTV and
American Idol)
Lastly, if you 'feel it' don't give up, ever.
Learn from your mistakes., move on., learn again from your mistakes.,
just like old west gunfighters, there will always be someone faster or
better, just strive to be you! Whether it's covers or originals, once
you achieve a certain level of musicianship, put your spin on the music
you play..
All Those Buttons and Lights and Knobs , Oh My!!
Many customers, and folks getting started in audio work or those
trying to just make their church sound better often lament about the
number of buttons, switches and lights on a mixing board and it sure can
be intimidating to go from your home stereo setup to a 16 or 32 or 40
channel mixing console and try to figure out just what the heck is going
on! People in the store will look at a console and they will balk
simply because of the apparent complexity, but fear not, it is truly not
all that bad!!
The first thing I tell a prospective buyer,
when this happens, is, "Don't look at the entire board" In truth if you
have a 24 channel or 16 channel mixer, all you need to do is learn one
single channel. just one channel strip from top to bottom and you will
have the rest of them because they are simply 'clones' of each other !
With the exception of the output section or 'stereo channels, which can
be a little different, they are all the same.
So, pick a
channel, anyone of them, start at the top and work your way down. First
knob you'll see, the 'Gain' knob or 'pot' (short for 'potentiometer')
This controls how much of the sound you are letting into the channel, it
is the initial master volume and everything below this will get
affected if you make an adjustment later on. It is critical, to watch
your meters at this point (set them to Pre fade mode or PFL) and not let
the signal coming in hit the 'red' lights ! Anolog mixers are slightly
more forgiving in this respect, and once in awhile you can 'nudge' into
the red on an analog console, where should never enter the red zone is
when dealing with any digital console or digital processor! they HATE
the 'red' and will distort very badly when it happens. (and remember,
when first setting a channel make certain the fader at the bottom is
always all the way down, you will bring this up only after you have the
incoming volume checked and the channel assigned to an output).
Now you have the amount if incoming volume you want, depending on the
make of the console you will either see AUX SENDS (generally 4 to 6
knobs) or "EQ" lets say your board has AUX next inline .. these 'split'
the signal you just adjusted for volume and sends that clone of the
channel sound to an output jack on your mixer. The reason being, you may
need to send that channel sound to a separate device or speaker, like
monitor wedges for artists to hear that channel coming back to them
onstage. gain, depending on the board, you can do this 'split' 4 or 6 or
8 times, and some mixers give you the choice of sending it before it
gets to the 'fader' control or after.. genarally, monitor speakers and
mixes will be much better if it is 'pre fader not post, that way when
you adjust the sound of the 'House spekaers' that sound going to the
monitors will not go up or down as you adjust the channel fader. Sound
effects, if used are better getting the signal 'post' fader, it just
makes the sound of the effect (reverb/delay/etc) more natural.
Now we get to the EQ section.. Eq (short for Equalizer) is where you
adjust and fine tune the 'tone' of the sound coming through the channel
Now, an entire book can be written on how to EQ a voice or instrument so
we will not get to in depth, suffice to say, this section is where you
can boost or cut the 'Bass', 'Mid-range' or 'Treble' of whatever is
input to that channel. and it really is the most subjective part of the
entire mixing process and is most dependent on a persons personal taste,
ears, skill or lack thereof!
Now, don't forget to
'assign' the channel to an output, there will be a set of buttons near
the 'fader' which can send that channel to the Main Left and Right
Output, ot Mono output or to Sub-Groups'
Next week, we'll get into the different types of "EQ's there are out there and what they do !!