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| Hearing And Being Heard |
Date Posted:
1/1/2000
Author:
Stuart Townend
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Terminology
One of the more threatening aspects of PA for the uninitiated is the jargon. There's nothing worse than being outflanked by techno-speak! And yet the actual practicalities of how the whole thing works is not difficult to understand, provided you don't delve too deep into the theory of sound or electronics. Don't be afraid to ask your sound people what the terms they use actually mean. Ask them for a guided tour of how the system actually works, and ask lots of questions. I guarantee you will learn a lot of useful information, and your questions might even challenge your sound engineer to rethink why something has always been done a certain way!
Take particular note of how the eq on the mixing desk works. It is here that individual voices or instrument sounds are shaped by boosting or cutting certain frequencies. You might be surprised to learn how much a sound can be changed by twiddling a few knobs!
Foldback
This is one of the most neglected areas of PA operation, and yet for me it is essential for good musical teamwork. Foldback enables the band to hear themselves by means of a 'PA within a PA'. One or more lines can be run from the desk, via an amp to small speakers placed near the musicians. Each line can have its own mix of sounds, depending on what the listening musician wants to hear, and this mix will be different to what comes out of the main speakers.
Depending on the size of the desk, and the number of amps and speakers available you may be able to run several different mixes to different parts of the band.
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Stuart Townend sets out what every team leader needs to know about PA systems.
In an ideal world, worship teams could remain blissfully ignorant of PA systems and how they work: you could just leave it to the sound guys, safe in the knowledge that your carefully crafted band sound is being faithfully and accurately carried to the ears of your congregation.
However, the reality is rather different. Underfunding in PA equipment often means you have to make compromise decisions in terms of sound quality, what instruments get amplified and what don't, and so on. In addition, most PA people are not experienced mix engineers, and may need your input in order to understand what kind of sound you are looking for. In practice, it's a partnership between band and sound team, and your role is crucial in getting the best out of both sides.
Why get involved?
In many churches today the PA system is regarded as a necessary, if rather intrusive, evil. Now it's true that a poor PA can make your band sound awful! However, the best PA system (and operator) is one where you hardly notice the PA is on at all, because the band sound is natural and easy on the ear. But if you are going to get anywhere near this, it's going to take more than a whiz-kid on the mixing desk. You're going to have to make sure that the sounds created by your band are of a reasonable quality.
One major area of concern is the band's own amplification. A cheap electric guitar with a nasty little amp will always sound tinny and horrible. But even the sound of a quality acoustic instrument can be massacred if the player uses a cheap or wrongly-positioned pick-up. It is particularly true of acoustic guitars, where hundreds of pounds of nice guitar may be being conveyed to the mixing desk by means of twenty quid's-worth of pick-up. Worse still is the guitarist who insists on playing his acoustic guitar through an electric guitar amp!
Talk to your PA people about the sound of the band. Are there any areas where the original source sound is poor? What is the solution? It may involve experimenting with some different microphone or pick-up positions. It may involve an investment in new gear, either by the church or an individual player. Whatever the answer, it's an important part of improving the overall sound of the worship team as it leads the congregation in worship.
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