Before you begin to perform mixes or even be a part
of the sound crew at ICOM, it would be helpful to
know what actually is the objective of sound reinforcement
and also have a basic idea of the setup at the recital
hall. Sound reinforcement is all about reinforcing
the band on stage to a bigger audience in a given
venue or in other words amplifying the stage levels
through loudspeakers. Depending on the size of the
venue- a medium-sized hall to a larger one or a recital
hall to an outdoor venue- you, as an FOH engineer
or sound crew have to ensure that sound is audible
throughout the venue and is also pleasant to listen.
A
few pointers
1. FOH mixing
requires an alert engineer who
can maintain calm throughout the event while providing
a clear, controlled & pleasant mix.
2. Alert sound crew who keep a
watchful eye on the stage during the event.
In the case
of the recital hall, the following are the main
components of our setup: FOH station & Outboard gear
1. SPIRIT LIVE 4
(24 channel mixer by Soundcraft)
2. KME CA6 3-Way active speaker system
3. Klark Teknik 31-band graphic equalizer
4. Drawmer DL251 compressor
4. Yamaha SPX 1000 (2units)
Recording
setup
1. Pro Tools LE Digi 001
2. Mac G4
FOH
station
There
is also a patchbay, a device where signals can be
routed to other points in an easier manner rather
than physically going behind a particular device
and patch each time you want to send a signal to
some other device. A patchbay is a very important
section of audio setup, if any connection is loose
or faulty, the flow of audio signals could be disrupted.
You can easily recognize a patchbay the moment you
see a big den of cables all dangling from points
very close to the mixing board. This is also the
point where outboard gear is normally stacked as
rack units below or above the patchbay. Here's a
picture of one patchbay below along with a picture
of the patchbay section in the Recital hall.
