1st Edition

The SOS Guide to Live Sound Optimising Your Band's Live-Performance Audio

By Paul White Copyright 2015
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    If you’ve ever handled live sound, you know the recipe for creating quality live sound requires many steps. Your list of ingredients, shall we say, requires an understanding of sound and how it behaves, the know-how to effectively use a sound system), and the knowledge to choose and use your gear well. Add a dash of miking ability, stir in a pinch of thinking on your feet for when your system starts to hum or the vocals start to feed back, and mix.

    In practice, there really is no "recipe" for creating a quality performance. Instead, musicians and engineers who effectively use sound systems have a wealth of knowledge that informs their every move before and during a live performance. You can slowly gather that knowledge over years of live performance, or you can speed up the process with The SOS Guide to Live Sound.

    With these pages, you get practical advice that will allow you to accomplish your live-sound goals in every performance. Learn how to choose, set up, and use a live-performance sound system. Get the basics of live-sound mixing, save money by treating your gear well with a crash course in maintenance, and fix issues as they happen with a section on problem-solving, full of real-world situations. You’ll also get information on stage-monitoring, both conventional and in-ear, along with the fundamentals of radio microphones and wireless mixing solutions. Finally, a comprehensive glossary of terminology rounds out this must-have reference.

    Preface

    Chapter 1 — Drivers and Loudspeakers

    Chapter 2 — Practical PA Systems

    Chapter 3 — Live-sound Monitoring Options

    Chapter 4 — Audio Mixers

    Chapter 5 — Microphones

    Chapter 6 — DI Boxes

    Chapter 7 — Other PA Components

    Chapter 8 — Equalisers And Effects

    Chapter 9 — Managing The Backline

    Chapter 10 — Radio Microphones And Guitar Systems

    Chapter 11 — Microphone Choice And Placement

    Chapter 12 — The Role Of The Mix Engineer

    Chapter 13 — The Technical Stuff

    Glossary

    Biography

    Paul White is Editor-In-Chief of Sound On Sound. Trained in electronics, he has been recording music since the 1970s. He also performs and mixes live gigs, and is the author of a number of music recording textbooks.