This was for the level 2 group performance of the song “Crazy”. In this rehearsal I spoke to the members of the band to ensure everyone was happy with the levels of their performance and their sound. All of the levels can be seen above in the screenshot, with them being altered by request or the confidence of the player on the instrument. the rehearsal was a success.
29/09/21 – Today I managed the live sound for 3 bands performing, the level 3’s on first year and both of the second year groups also. 8 songs were performed successfully. During the session we linked up all of the instruments, the amps and sounds in the performance to the mixing desk, where I then managed the levels, effects and EQ’ing for every instrument directly. To make sure we knew where everything was going, we made sure to double check all of the XLR cables from the stage box and kept track of what each input was, by putting tape under the channels on the mixing desk and writing down what each input was connected to, in order to control levels and effects better. One of the hardest points of this was managing the effect levels for the vocalists, where when some singers weren’t as comfortable in their performance and their vocals weren’t as full, more effects and delay would be required for them. An issue we had today was the bass guitar amp wasn’t correctly feeding into the right space, and was causing humming in the background as the guitar was going straight into the DVI box rather than the amp. This was fixed just by correcting the cable arrangement and making sure everything was going into the correct place.
06/10/21 – Today I did live sound again for the first year and second years, more specifically I did the sound for the First year level 2 group, and both of the levels on the Second year groups. A big take away from today was how to control low frequency feedback more correctly, using the GEQ. This is an EQ for the whole master, in order to stop feedback we turned this option on, on the mixing desk and turned down the level sliders under the lights that were blinking red, indicating they are peaking and being too loud, feeding the audio back. Another thing that went wrong and to remember and consider is checking that ALL cables are plugged in, and everything has power going to it, this almost ended badly as the stage box was not powered until the very end of the setup, only after we couldn’t get levels from the drummer. This will be fixed next time by double checking everything goes into the right places. Another issue with the stage box that we corrected was other people putting the XLR’S to the speakers, into the input instead of the output. This was quickly corrected as we noticed it. One thing that went well today was the monitor experience for the performers, in sense of communicating with the band and asking them specifically what they want, and giving them what they want to hear.
08/10/21 – Today I managed the rehearsals for the first year level 2 group, performing a set of three songs. All of the rehearsal went smoothly, capturing video of the rehearsal and end product of the songs. One of the things I learnt today was how to use the Gain controller on the mixing desk, This can be used to increase the volume of channels when they are already at their max, but still not loud enough. This was used in a situation where the singer was not projecting and performing loud enough into the mic. A thing to keep in mind while controlling the gain is that sometimes the high frequencies feed back, so you have to be gentle and take care while raising the gain on channels.