During the live sound workshops, we learnt how to set up a PA system for a live performance. This included the mixing desk, the dSNAKE, speakers, and more. In our first lesson, we learnt how to properly wrap up wires so they don’t get damaged and learnt some general health and safety tips (eg. don’t use damaged equipment, watch for trip hazards, don’t lift things that are too heavy for you). Whilst the other band were setting up the instruments and amps, we learnt how to set up the PA system.
In our first week, we learnt that the mixing desk was where we controlled the sound coming from the speakers. This is connected to the dSNAKE via an ethernet cable which is plugged into a socket for power. The dSNAKE allows you to plug every XLR cable into that instead of straight into the mixing desk so the wires don’t get too confusing. We first plugged the subwoofers on each side of the stage into output channels 7 and 8 using XLR cables. After plugging the cables into the subwoofer outputs, we then connect the above speakers up to the subs so when sound comes through them, the higher end frequencies go into the top speakers. This is to ensure the subs do not get blown by the high frequencies and vice-versa.
To power all the speakers at once, we put the AC cable into the sub. The power from this speaker can then be transferred to the speakers above using speaker cables via the input/output channels on the back of the speaker. Once they all have power, we can turn them on. When the signal was complete (we hadn’t got to plugging the instruments into the dSKANE yet, but), the instruments plugged into the dSNAKE would go into the mixing desk via the ethernet cable where we can change the levels etc. and then it would go back through the dSNAKE, into the speakers where the lower frequencies would go to into the subwoofers and the high frequencies would go into the top speakers.
In the next live sound workshop, we started off jogging our memory by setting up the PA like we did the week before to ensure we remembered everything. After this, we learnt how to connect the microphones and amps up to the dSNAKE. The drum mics are done in a specific order; bass drum, snare, high tom, low tom, overhead right then overhead left. After this, the rest of the instruments are plugged in from the right of the stage to left. In our case, this was an electric guitar, bass guitar, two vocal microphones and, finally keys. It is done in this order so if something goes wrong with a microphone, we know exactly which one to plug out without having to trail the wire back!
The last thing we did was learn how to use the mixing desk. We learnt how perform soundchecks to set the levels of each microphone and amp to make sure nothing would be too loud or quiet for the performance. We did this by pressing PAFL on the channel we wanted to test and hired the EQ. For the compressor microphones, we had to put phantom power (48 volts) on them so we could hear them. We could tell when it was loud enough when the light meter at the side went into the orange section. After setting all the microphones and amps, we then lift the master volume so we can hear what we have done and tell the group to start playing.
During their performance, we had to look out for the light meter going into red as this can damage the speakers because it is too loud. We got a bit of feedback from a microphone during the song however we managed to fix this very quickly by turning the EQ of the problematic microphone down. Other than that, I believe we all understood how to work the mixing desks and what to do if something goes wrong in the performance!