Original post from 2014
It seems I haven’t written in an age, mainly because I hadn’t anything worthwhile to say, today however is different and hopefully it will be informative without being complicated.
Unable to attend the second DJ workshop hosted by the wonderful Oxford Swing crowd I though I’d offer my advice on sound and setting up, aimed at beginners. Now I’m painfully aware that different people have different views on what is a good sound and how to set up so a disclaimer.
This is what works for me, it has rarely let me down and I’ve been doing this on and off for a long time.
Basics:
Look after your ears.
Once they are damaged that’s it. Partial deafness and tinnitus only gets worse. This is something I wish I’d known at 17! (amongst other things) The Big Country gig in 1986 still rings in my ears occasionally still it was a good night.
Invest in some ear plugs (I use Elacin ER20) when going to loud gigs or dances, etc. They will reduce the volume and stop the horrible ringing the morning after and because these are attenuators you can still hear the full audio spectrum (more or less). I carry a pair to every event I attend, small rooms get loud quick.
Everyone is a critic. (see disclaimer)
Sound is subjective, people hear it differently due to; age, loud gigs, the temperature, the room you are in, where in the room they are standing, how much they have had to drink.
Be aware of this, if 5 people come up and say that it doesn’t sound right then it may not sound right.
Find a piece of music you know really well and use it as a baseline at every venue. (if you can)
I use ‘All this time‘ on Sting’s All this time CD. The things about it that make it my set up track are:
Excellent production, it’s fantastic.
Large dynamic range
Clarity in every instrument (lots of them) including male/female vocals and some of the drum sounds are incredible.
Space, the songs have space, where only one instrument is playing, loud and quiet.
I’ve listened to it a lot and where possible I never set up any system without it. I use other tracks off that CD, Joe Jackson’s Different for Girls and Slow Song (Live LP version) and then a mixture of swing (or my favourite track of the moment) just to make sure that there is a well balanced sound across different styles and era’s.
I don’t use swing (especially older material) to set up. When you listen you’ll know why.
Be prepared!
Arrive early and make sure you know the equipment and who to ask questions about the equipment. Have spare cables, of every description. There’s nothing worse than turning up with a cable that crackles, if this happens bin it or learn how to solder. Get a decent pair of headphones.
Play, seriously spend time and play. Listen to music, lots of music, listen to what changes when
you turn it up/down
change the bass/mid/treble
you move your head
you walk around the room
you have had a couple of pints (or similar alcoholic beverage).
Train your ears to notice the subtle differences. Rooms where at a particular spots trumpets will give you haircuts. Corners where there is no bottom end. Each room is different and then, fill it with people and it changes even more. It’s complicated!
Instruments and frequencies
This handy picture shows which instruments are in which frequency bands. It’s worth knowing which instruments fit where (geek out time) and below the piano keyboard are definitions that people use to describe sound ‘features’. It’s a memory game, and from now on I’ll be taking a copy of this with me as my memory seems to be full of other stuff.
So how does this relate to the knobs on the mixer/desk amp you are using?
Good news: It does
Bad news: They are all different.
Don’t Panic!
The more knobs you have the more you can change, obvious isn’t it. A warning you can twiddle too much and make a bad room worse, it takes practice, lots of practice, A good starting point is never rely on anyone else’s settings. Listen first to what it sounds like, if there is a local tech ask their advice. If all else fails set everything ‘flat’ and start from scratch.
31 Band Eq: The best.
Allows you to change individual frequencies. Look at the image above, each peak and trough is a slider you can change. Ultimate control.
15 band Eq: Good
As 31 band but half of the controls.
Parametric EQ (I know techie speak but be patient)
Allows you to pick a frequency and change it. Comes in various ‘flavours’ 4/3/2/1 band. It is often combined with Low (bass) and Hi (treble) to achieve a reasonable sound.
3 band
Allows you to change Low (Bass ~ 100hz), Mid (1Khz-2Khz), Hi (treble ~ 10Khz). This has some eq but is restrictive as each control affects a large range (Low ~ 50hz-800hz) (Mid ~800hz-5khz) (Hi ~ 5Khz- 20Khz)
If there are any less than this use something on your laptop/tablet!
Some set ups allow for combinations of the above, for example 31 band EQ on master outputs and parametric eq on individual channels.
Gain (Volume and signals)
A very basic rule is the louder the source the better the sound will be. However, it can be too loud and that’s bad, you get distortion and may even damage speakers.
Here is a brief reason why, the louder the input signal the less noise (hiss) there will be by the time it reaches the speakers (dependent on equipment and music).
So a rough guide:
Turn your laptop/tablet/source up to 90% (not 100% as this may add distortion)
On the mixer turn the input gain up to a point where the signal is not ‘clipping’ on most desks they have vu meters (flashing level leds) get the leds so that no red/yellow appears (usually 0db).
Be aware that altering the EQ will change the input level.
If there are channel faders these should be at approx 0db and the master out faders at 0db (this may not be feasible). If it’s too loud turn the amplifier down. If it’s too quiet you need more speakers and amplification.
Only ‘turn down’ signal at the very last point! This isn’t always possible but try, it makes a huge difference.
General running pointers
All music is different
You WILL have to adjust levels during the set
Songs will be different volumes
Dancers will become noisy and quiet, adjust accordingly
Be polite when people ‘offer’ advice
Listen and walk the room several times during the set
Listen to lots of music
Train your ears to hear instruments
Train your ears to hear frequencies (dedication needed)
Misc
You can download apps to generate frequencies for training so you can ‘learn’ what different things sound like. It takes time to learn but it’s worth it.
You can also download apps to display frequency plots. On tablets and phones these will give a very rough approximation of what’s going on and can be helpful in finding feedback and particularly loud ‘troublesome) frequencies.
However use your ears they are the best tool you have!
There are lots of resources out there on the internet look them up. I started in 1986 by doing and then got hold of a copy of The Sound Reinforcement Handbook by Yamaha. I learnt so much from this book, but not as much as by mixing for bands, corporate events and festivals.
Very rarely do people notice a good set up and compliment the sound engineer (you should do it’s incredible difficult) but everyone notices bad sound!
A quote I heard many years ago: “I only make this shit louder” and it’s true for live and pre-recorded music, if the source is rubbish you get louder rubbish.