Planning well underway for the GPSLighting Birthday event, Generator booked, Son Et Lumieres are getting programmed this week, lots of ideas for food and drinks which will all be free. Along with a free gift for every attendee!
GPSLighting were proud to supply staging and lighting services for the County Mall Fashion Show Catwalk over the Mothering Sunday Weekend.
The Catwalk featured a make over for 4 special mothers by TV’s John Scott, makeover specialist.
Have a look at some pictures and video content from the get in days and show.
Work well underway on the Lighting and Sound for West Side Story coming up with City Youth Theatre Company Brighton.
Here are a few renderings from our work with the Director tonight…
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A few photos from our event at the Berkeley Hotel last night in London.
The London Season’s Catwalk and Debutante Banquet.
Lighting, Sound and Video Services for any event, contact GPS now.
www.gpslighting.com 0208 123 0409 enquiries@gpslighting.com
To see us in action, come and see one (or more!) of the following shows. This is also intended to be a plug for each of them – we’re really privileged to be working on some fantastic events and hope to help make them a real success:-
So that’s a run-down on what’s happening and if you’d like to take advantage of our fantastic service with your event in the coming months – then you know where to come. We believe there are no limits to what you can achieve when putting on a show and if you share that belief as well, then please get in touch.
You may have setup a home hi-fi from scratch or even plugged in a microphone to a mixing desk, turned it on and spoken into it. You may not have done either of these, but just grabbed a karaoke mic at a swanky bar or perhaps you’ve just sat and listened to some great live music, or maybe not so great?
In this article I’ll attempt to break down and give an overview to some of the main features of how Live Sound works, what’s involved and how to setup a system and mix live music. To do this, I’ll break it down into three parts, as follows:-
My examples will be based around setting up and mixing for a live band.
If you have a basic grasp of or are vaguely familiar with Live Sound then this article will benefit you a lot. If you haven’t done any live sound, then this will be a great introduction to some concepts that are good to familiarise yourself with. If you’ve done quite a lot of live sound, then hopefully this will be a refresher on some of the things that you already knew of course!
Part One – The PA System
So, what does a PA (Public Address) System or Sound Reinforcement System, as it’s sometimes referred to, actually do and what is made up of? Quite simply, a PA System addresses the public – more specifically in the form of sonic waves, or sound. This is a simple concept that most people can understand and accept. Simplified further, you stand in front of a pair of speakers and listen to the sound coming out of them.
Another way to describe it is that it amplifies a source and outputs it via a much louder signal to noise ratio.
PA Systems are typified through their use for speech, which can be found in various institutions and public buildings or for live music found in theatres, music venues and also open spaces such as music festivals.
A PA System is made up of a few different parts. Firstly, there will be some sort of input device, whether it is one, two or more microphones, a CD player, laptop, iPod/MP3 Player or an instrument – a keyboard or electric guitar, for example. These inputs are then transferred via a cable as an electronic signal.
Once you have your various inputs, these are mixed together – usually with a Sound Mixing Desk or Console and they are routed to a pair of Stereo Outputs – made up of Left and Right. These two signals are then transmitted along signal cables to an Amplifier, which drives the Speakers. The stereo signal is then output to the speakers along the cables and to the drivers, horns and tweeters which make up the parts inside the speakers, which in turn create pressure waves across the space outputting sweet, sweet sound and music to your ears.
Some of this you might already know and is quite straightforward, but as I continue through the article, it is important to distinguish between the different parts that make up a PA System – it really helps to know which piece of equipment is intended for which application.
PA Systems can get much more complicated as the size of each event grows however the basic system remains the same. There is the addition of more speakers and amplifiers (such as a monitor system) and of course the larger bands or musicals can take up a lot more to mix and of course there is a lot more to add in terms of extra sound processing equipment such as compressors, gates and equalisers.
Part Two – Signal Flow, Microphones and Line Level Input
In this part I’ll be discussing signal flow – this is the direction that sound usually flows along a signal line. From source, along a cable, through a mixer, into the amplifier and out to the speakers. I’ll break down and look over the different parts along the way and how these should be used.
A common place to start with signal flow is the microphone. A microphone converts sound into an electrical signal. It is a piece of mounted disk which vibrates as sound waves hit it. The signal is a make-up of how much the disk vibrates which transfers this amount into an electrical signal. There are different types of microphone – Dynamic, Condenser and Ribbon, and each one works in a slightly different way, but work around the same principal.
Tip: For the best possible use of a microphone (generally speaking) the closer it is to the source the better. Having a person stand 3 metres away from a dynamic microphone is pretty much useless.
Another place where the source starts is a line level input. I’m referring to an instrument that has a direct input into a mixer (rather than via a mic), such as a keyboard, acoustic guitar or other electronic instrument. Other line level inputs are items such as a CD or DVD player, or Laptop, iPod or MP3 Player. They work in the same way that they submit an electronic signal, usually analogue. Instruments are usually connected via Direct Injection (DI) Box, which matches the level of the instrument to the Pre-Amplifier (Pre-amp) on the mixer to minimise noise and distortion
Once your source has been converted into a signal, it commonly travels along a balanced or unbalanced cable – an XLR or Jack cable is the most common. The cable then plugs into a Pre-Amp, which is part of a channel strip on a mixer. The Pre-amp converts the signal into a level for further processing. This is the next step in the chain.
On your mixer, the first controller knob will be the ‘Gain’ – found at the top of the channel strip – increments are in decibels. The best way to describe Gain is as a gate – you control the amount of level, or noise, coming into the channel. Obviously, for a small sound you’ll need to adjust the gain setting (or “open the gate”) quite a lot, and vice versa for a large sound. Line level inputs usually have a constant high level for which you won’t need to adjust the gain very much at all.
To get the best Gain setting for the mix, you want to be aiming for an input level of around -18db, (depending on your desk) – this is where it is ‘clipping’ the yellow led indicators. To view these on your mixer, you usually have to select the Pre-Fade Listen button, or PFL and they can be found to the right above the Master Output.
Tip: After you’ve set your and are happy with the Gain – don’t touch it again (unless you really need to!) This will cause more problems if you begin adjusting it. If you’re not getting enough level, go back down the chain towards the source and see why – there are other parameters to adjust.
Once you’ve set your Gain (for a more comprehensive and detailed article on gain structure click here http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr98/articles/gainstructure.html) and are happy with it, the next basic step on the mixer channel is the Equaliser – or EQ.
The EQ is the main “brain” in adjusting the sound to make it sound as best as possible. The most common is 3-band EQ, found on Analogue desks, which makes up of a High, Middle and Low – this can be easily compared to settings on a hi-fi amplifier (Bass and Treble). Each EQ controller adjusts the frequencies according to that band – use them to Cut or Boost the signal at that frequency. So if you’re input, be it a vocalist or guitar, is sounding “tinny” or high, you might want to cut the High band. The same goes for it’s sounding very “boomy” or low.
Here’s a great tip for a good mix: For any instrument or vocals that isn’t providing bass, cut the Low band almost completely – this will help to alleviate any “popping” or “booming” that might come from it. I do this cut, or place a High Pass Filter (filtering out everything very low) on almost everything that I mix, apart from Bass Guitar, Kick or the Left/Low end of a Piano/Keyboard.
Once you’ve played around with the EQ settings and are happy with it, you can then adjust the Pan setting if you need to. Adjusting the Pan is changing the signal to the left or to the right outputs. This is usually kept in the centre so that both Left and Right are outputting equally – apart from Stereo inputs, such as a Keyboard – in which case you should split the Pan to Left and Right for their corresponding channels.
There are many variables when working through signal flow – it can get quite complicated. However, it is designed so that you have the most control possible over the sound inputs – this is a clue for you to use as much as necessary so that you get a great sound – take advantage!
Part Three – Getting a great mix.
So your band is all plugged in and you’ve set input levels set on the gain so that everything is coming in at a similar level. You’ve EQ’d it so that the best sound possible is coming from each instrument and in your headphones they’re sounding great. So what next? The mix!
The first thing to do is set your Master Fader – found on the left of the desk and it’s the main one which controls the whole output of all of the inputs – usually either Yellow or Red. Best practice is to take this up to 0db and it’s what I aim for every time I create a mix. If setting it to 0db is too loud, then it’s probably because your Amplifier levels are set too high. The reason why I take it to 0db, is because this gives you the most amount of adjustment on each of the parameters i.e. you can make a change and really notice the difference. It gives you far more control over your mix than if you’re outputting at a very low level.
So you’ve set your Master Fader to 0db, leave it there. Next you can start bringing in the band. The best place to start is the drums and bass instruments as this gives a good base setting to add the other instruments and vocals over the top. Again, you want to be aiming to hit roughly 0db for each fader.
Bringing each fader up one by one, you should start to get a good picture (of the sound – yes that’s right, sound can be visual!) of your mix. Get your band to keep playing and make any necessary adjustments and you’re there. You’re mixing all of the inputs, it’s sounding great and you can be pleased with that. Don’t stop making adjustments until you’re entirely happy with the mix.
The advance stages from this is adding Compression, using Gates and of course, setting a monitor mix. Monitors are most important for anything live and it’s important to learn this craft too once you start doing more.
Keep practicing and doing and familiarising yourself with all of the equipment that you use – the better you know it, the better you’ll become and before you know it, you’ll mixing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury!
Today at GPS, training.
Staring at the beginning with some small moving lights, Martin MiniMacs
