For those of you that have been following along with our lessons, here is our next instalment.

Soundboards can control the content your listeners hear. Taking the time to make sure it is EQ’d correctly can make a drastic difference on the way people hear and perceive music. Understanding signal path and how a sound current travels to and from a mixer is a good thing to understand as well.

Looking at a mixer can be quite intimidating too. Its really not. A single channel mixer serves the same purpose as a 100 channel mixer. Once you learn one of the channels on the mixer, it means you’ve learnt them all on that particular mixer.

Mixer parameters are all relatively the same. From each model to the next. Once you have the basic grasp on the mixer channel itself, you typically wont have issues with various different mixers.

As Sean said, when doing a sound check, make sure to venture into various parts of the room. Bass is almost always louder in corners because bass waves are longer and get caught between 90 degree angles. Getting proper sound levels really does depend on the room and the way the room is shaped. Non-square rooms are ideal. But finding that perfect sound just takes practice and experience. Everyone hears things differently and thats out of your control. Use your own ears and trust your judgement when testing the acoustics in the room.

Taking the time to make sure a room sounds good can be the difference between you getting referred for another gig and not. Its worth showing up the extra hour to make sure the quality is there. Not just for your own sake, but for the sake of the event. In the end, just have fun with it and go along with it. Enjoy yourself.