Learning Sound Reinforcement

[banjoboy]

I have a small system which includes a QSC Touchmix 8, QSC 10 mains, Alto 12 monitors, and numerous dynamic and condenser mics. I know QSC has some instructional videos. I chose the QSC board because it supposed to be user friendly. Other than trial and error, is there anything out there that provides instruction to newbies, like books, videos, etc?

[Dave Sheets]

Volunteer to help a good sound person in exchange for some pointers. There's always a lot of labor in set-up and take-down, where some help is appreciated.

[Josh Levine]

There is probably a facebook user group for that soundboard. I have a Soundcraft Ui16 and there is a great group for that. I would definitely set up your rig where ever you practice and try pressing buttons etc, mess with mike placement. That will be huge and just push all of your mics/pickups until they feedback, set the gain at the right levels, just to see how it all works. Learn how to turn down levels quickly when you need to. Then slowly add on some of the other more advanced features once you have the basics down. I've recently went down this path and all you can really do is research, look at youtube videos, and do trial and error. There may also be some live sound engineering workshops on youtube.

[almeriastrings]

QSC have a very friendly and active Facebook group for the Touchmix and K-series speakers. Worth joining. There are also a number of books well worth reading to get the basic theory down, e.g., this one, which is a really thorough intro and covers everything very clearly.

[TonyP]

I personally benefited the most from threads over the years of information I got here on the Mandolin Cafe. Mainly because just like our preferred instrument, our sound needs are more specialized than the mainstream. My best friend is a pro FOH ( front of house) soundman and while he could probably drop it down to low enough gear if he walked in on our setup, it would not be how he would approach the gig. He never uses condenser mic's on stage because of the huge rigs and sound pressure levels on stage he deals with as the normal. A stage full of amps and a drummer is not what we deal with, or I deal with.

I spent a lot of time helping him over the years and honestly not much applied when I decided to take the sound bull by the horns. I do love the idea put forth of having the sound system as part of practice but that adds a dimension that is not practical for the bands I was in. You needed a place where you could get loud and the extra time to set up and tear down. This became a stumbling block, but if you can do it, it's great for everybody because playing through a system is far different than practicing acoustically in a circle.

[pops1]

Developing your ear for feedback frequencies is important and can be done best by experimenting. Turning the knobs and hearing what they do, several times, will help you be familiar with your equipment. Not to say reading and working with someone isn't a plus, it is, but learning on your own will help you retain and use that info on the job where it counts. Doing this in many different rooms will help even more.

[Mandoplumb]

You asked about books, read every one you can, talk to every sound man that will talk to you but remember sound reinforcement is very personal. Decide what you want with your band and work toward that try anything and every thing that you read or hear disregard things that contradict what you want to sound like. The very basic are the same in all situations but beyond that there is no way but trail and error. The best compliment I ever got on my PA was that it didn't sound like a pa. The man said it sounded like he was sitting on the porch with us an hearing everything "live". That is what I strived for little to no effects, EQ to control feedback not to enhance vocals or instruments. What you or the next band wants may be very different, nit her is wrong just different.

[Folkmusician.com]

The vast majority of mixing comes down to EQ. I would spend some time learning basic EQ for each type of instrument. I assume this board will save presets? If so, save one for each instrument. You can do this ahead of time, then when the band is rehearsing, slowly tweak the presets. Get all of your EQ down before starting on any dynamics or effects.

Once you have a good mix, save that as a preset. Now you have a good starting point for the live gigs. You still need to be familiar with the interface so you can fix issues on the fly. Sitting on the couch going through menus and making quick changes is good practice.

[Willie Poole]

The best thing I have found is to have everyone stay out of your way and quit asking question and trying to "help"...I had one fellow that was connecting the monitors up and he ran one end of the cable back around and plugged it into the other input jack on the same monitor....What I do try and do is give everyone in the band a job to do and show them the way I want it to be done then I set the controls like I want them, my mixer has a graphic EQ so I turn it up until I get a slight feedback and on the mixer a light will tell what frequency it is so I crank that one down slightly...We played in a place that had a cathedral ceiling last week and I had a hard time figuring out how to set things up with the sound echoing back but I finally got it to where it sounded good, and when we play there again I will know what to expect...

Willie

[mandroid]

Books on Sound Reinforcement ? one of many https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...ement-handbook

[Mandoplumb]

If you read folkmusican's and Willie Pool' last posts you'll see what I mean in my last post. Neither of them is wrong, they are focusing on different things. Again I say the most important thing in running your own sound is get it firmly in your mind how you want the sound to sound, then learn to make it sound that way. I have played thru systems that had a sound man running it that forgot more than I know about PA's but stilled liked my way better because it was what I hear in my head for our band.

[ukenukem]

Volunteer at a large modern church. Although they tend to EQ a bump around 50hz for chest thump (learned that from a 20 something sound engineer).

My motto is this "It's sound re-inforcement, NOT sound forcement!"

[banjoboy]

Is it Ok to use the main out right to daisy-chain two mains and then use main out left to daisy chain monitors? That way the band will hear the same thing as the house, right?

[Folkmusician.com]

Yes and no. You can do it that way, but you normally want a separate mix for the monitors.

[almeriastrings]

What Robert said... you could look at it this way... what your mains carry will be tailored to "sound good" (EQ, etc.), what your monitors carry should be tailored for CLARITY above all else. So, quite different criteria. This means both the mix and the EQ would typically be totally different from FOH (Front of House or 'main' speakers). You would use the AUX outputs on your mixer to feed the monitor mixes.