MICROPHONES –
Each microphone has different directional properties which can range from picking up sound from one direction to all directions. An omnidirectional microphone picks up all noise equally from all directions, this is used a lot in studios to pick up the noise of the whole band through one microphone. This would not be used in a live performance as it would pick up noise from the audience. A unidirectional microphone picks up noise “predominately from one direction”, this would be used by a singer during a studio recording or a live performance, as it picks up their voice better than the other microphones. A bidirectional microphone picks up noise from two directions, this can be used for duets as it allows two voices to sing into one microphone. Many performers use this to add a emotional factor to the performance as they will both be singing next to each other.
My info on directional microphones came from- https://www.mediacollege.com/audio/microphones/directional-characteristics.html
LIVE SOUND
Wires- we learnt wires need to be handled with care, we were first taught how to properly pack them away without damaging them through a wrapping technique. We also learned how to set up the wires in such away its not a safety risk (tripping), we managed to keep them out our way using a device called the DS snake.
DS Snake- The DS Snake is an input device which connects to the mixing board through the ether cable at the side of the mixing board, You must plug some jack leads from the DS snake into the input ports of the AP to ensure a connection to the mixing board.. The DS Snake is used to manage the wires that are used on stage, and to reduce confusion of tangled and messy wires.
Mixing Desk- The mixing desk manages all the sound that is coming through the speakers thanks to the DS Snake. From the mixing board we can manage each channels (microphone plugged into speaker) volume when they are being played. We could also alter many other things such as gain and frequency settings. We had to raise the volts to 48 in order for all the microphones to work properly. The mixing desk is very important as it virtually edits the noise live. To ensure it is all done correctly we ask the performers to play their instruments as induvials to see if it was to quiet, if it was we would raise the EQ if it was too high we would lower it. When they are playing live if we hear even slight feedback we must act on it quickly by by turning down the EQ of the microphone that was the issue.
PA systems- The speakers (PA) act as an amplifier for all the noise that we make as a band after we have plugged everything in. The speaker is the most time consuming piece of equipment we have had to set up, because all the wires must be inserted correctly into the speaker or the speakers will either not work or emit an awful noise. To power the speakers on you must put the AC cable into the sub, when you do this the power can then be transferred to the speakers using speaker cables through the input or output channels at the back of the speaker. Once all of the wires are plugged in correctly you are able to safety turn it on. The noise gets transferred through the speakers and then to the DS snake, which then transfers the sound through the ether cable to the mixing desk. This then allows the mixing desk to alter the noise coming through the PA.
CHANNELS AND CONNECTING THE INSTRUMENTS
For the performance we had to switch to an unused channel which could pick up the instruments we were using electronically without interference with local radios playing. We plugged in the microphone and electric guitars into the DS Snakes output through the preamp. However the drum kit has its own microphones, each one is different depending on what part of the kit it is. The microphones work consist of condenser microphones which are aimed at the centre of the drums, the microphones then get plugged into the output on the DS Snake. The singers microphone worked the same way. Once all these instruments were connected to the DS Snakes output you will be ready to turn on all the equipment which will then transfer the audio of the instruments to the speaker, which will now be controlled by the speaker. So now you are done and ready to perform your songs with your band.