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Quick Tips
The tips listed here are from the "Quick Tips" section in each issue of Sound Advice. New entries are made on a regular basis, so be sure to check back often! Use the index below to nd specic tips or just browse the entire list in the window at the right.

Microphone Usage
1 - 2 - 3 - 12 - 18 - 24 - 42 -

Wireless Microphones
2 - 3 - 24 - 35 - 42 - 67 -

#1 Do you use microphones on brass instruments? If you do, theres one rule that if followed will give you the most natural sound possible. Whats the rule? Its quite simple really. First of all, think about itwhen you listen to someone playing a trumpet or saxophone, where are your ears in relation to the instrument? Are your ears right at the end of the horn of the instrument? Id hope not! Youre usually at least a few feet away. So whats the rule when miking brass instruments? Place the microphone 2 to 3 feet away. If you need to mic several musicians seated close together, you can back off to 4 or 5 feet and use a single microphone. This will always give you the most natural sound possible. Top #2 When deciding to using a regular wired microphone or a wireless microphone, ask yourself the followingWill the person using the microphone need to move more than 20 feet? If you answer yes, you may go ahead and use a wireless mic. If the person will NOT need to move, then, by all means, use a wired microphone. Wired mics are easier to work with and cost a whole lot less. As Mark Jenkins at Internally Sound says, If it doesnt moveplug it in! Go wireless by NECESSITY onlynot for the coolness factor. Save yourself a lot of headaches and batteries and plug in all you can! Top #3 Always use windscreens on your vocal microphones. A windscreen is a special piece of foam that ts over the head of the microphone and prevents breath pops. Breath pops from popping Ps, booming Bs, and tingling Ts can be reduced. A windscreen also keeps your microphone clean. Can you imagine being a microphone and being within a few inches of someones mouth while they talk or sing?! Yuck! With a windscreen in place, all you have to do is take it off and clean it every once-in-a-while. When you buy your windscreens, consider getting several different colors so the sound operator can tell which mic is which from a distance. Top #4 When do you set up the sound system for a service? The best time to set up depends on whats required for the service. If only a few microphones are needed, you may be able to wait until an hour before the service starts. If your service includes lots of instruments and people singing or speaking, it would be wise to set up a day in advance. For example, if you have two services on Sunday morning, why not set up sometime Saturdayeven Saturday night would be good. This allows you to set everything up and make sure its all working properly instead of running around Sunday morning trying to set up last minute. Worse, youll know the system works and wont be running around trying to repair things right before the service! Coming in early or on another day requires more of a commitment, but it sure helps the service go smoother. Top #5 Many churches are fortunate to have very talented musicians at their church. Every once-in-a-while one of these musicians will feel they need to play very loud to be heard. If the musician has control over their volume (a guitar or keyboard amplier) things can really get out of hand. The sound system operator wont be able to get a good mix if the musician has turned up their volume so high it is louder than everything else. Experience with this problem shows its a situation not easy to deal with. Asking the musician to turn their instrument down usually doesnt work. It may go down for a while, but it always comes back up. Explain to the musician that you desire to make everything sound the best it can, and that they need to trust you to know what sounds best. As a second step, set up a microphone and a tape recorder in the middle of the sanctuary to record the service. Get together with the musician and listen to the tape together. (even better is a video camera!) This is usually pretty solid proof things need to be changed. Remember, youre both on the same teamdont ght back, work it out. If you cant do it alone, involve your music minister or pastor. Top

Microphones & Instruments

8 - 38 -

Blending Issues
5-

Sunday Morning Do's

7-

System Setup
4 - 6 - 65 -

Equipment Care
9 - 10 -

Mixer Usage
11 - 15 - 17 - 103 -

New Equipment
13 -

Floor Monitors
40 - 66 -

Must-Haves
16 -

System
19 - 20 - 25 - 28 - 32 - 37 - 65 -

Tape Ministry
21 - 22 - 26 - 33 - 39 -

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Connections
20 - 23 - 31 - 41 -

Upkeep
20 - 27 - 29 - 31 - 34 - 36 - 41 -

#6 When youre installing sound equipment, your rst job is to ensure all the controls are easy to reach. For example, its best to have a tape recorder up at eye level rather than down by your knees. Just as important, you must keep a distance between CD players or digital effects units and wireless microphone receiver antennas. CD players and effects units send out signals that can play havoc with your wireless microphone systems(s). Buzzes and bleeps like this can easily be avoided if you remember to keep the devices several feet apart. Top #7 Always, always, always do soundchecks! This cant be stressed enough. It doesnt matter if you use three microphones or thirtymake sure they work BEFORE the service starts. Theres nothing more distracting than a sound tech running up to the pastor during the service to change the battery in the wireless mic. Your pastor goes over his or her sermon notes, the musicians rehearse before the service...the sound team needs a chance to rehearse their part, too! If you dont feel you have time for a rehearsal, dont complain when the sound team misses cues or has other problems that could have been solved with a rehearsal. Top #8 When setting up microphones for instruments, be sure the microphone, stand, and cable isnt in the way of the instrumentalist. Mics too close to drum heads or cymbals tend to get hit. The stands you use to hold the mics for the string section may be in the way of their natural bow movement. Make sure no one can trip on the stands or cables either. When you set up mics on instruments, ask the player if its in the wayif it is, move it! They will appreciate your courtesy and concern. Top #9 Do you have trouble trying to gure out which mic cables are 30 feet long and which are only 20 feet? Take some time to measure each cable and then use a permanent marker to write the length on the male connector. Even better, devise a color-code system and color code the male plugs so that each color represents a different length. (Make sure you label the male connector so the color or number isnt seen on the platform!) Do the same with your monitor, speaker, and instrument cables, too! next time you need just 15 feet more youll know which cable to grab. Top #10 How are your wireless lapel microphones stored? Do you just wrap the mic cable and antenna around the belt-pack and toss it in a drawer? I hope not! The most inexpensive storage method is to use a rubber/plastic box used to store sandwiches. Use a hot glue gun to attach some foam to the inside of the box and the inside of the lid. Make sure its just enough to hold the belt-pack so it doesnt move, but not so much that its hard to close the container. Mark the belt-packs with letters or numbers, and mark the container, too. Handheld mics can be stored in larger containers, too. This method of storage keeps them dry and protected. Top #11 Most mixers have some sort of equalization control on each input channel. These controls allow the operator to adjust the tone of the microphone or other input source. How do you adjust your controls? Do you just ddle with them until it sounds right, or do you really know what those controls do and what youre actually doing? The equalizer (tone) controls on individual channel inputs are there to give the operator the ability to make up for shortcomings of the specic microphone or person speaking (or singing). The controls shouldnt be used to change the sound of a persons voice or instrument. The most common example is for people to turn up the low control to boost the bass on someones voice. This results in an unnatural sounding voice! Remember, the purpose of a sound reinforcement system is to reinforce the sound so that its just louderyet still sounds natural. Normally, all of the equalization controls should be set at (at zero, usually straight up). Take a moment to look at your mixer to see how your equalizer controls are set. If all of your channels show a cut or boost at one (or more) particular frequency, this is an indicator of other problems. Do you have a main system equalizer? If not, you should! If you do, maybe its adjusted wrong. Maybe your speakers are not right for the room, or theyre mounted in the wrong place. Maybe theres some acoustical problems in the room. Whatever it is, its time to have someone take a look at your system and determine the trouble. Top #12 So youre running the sound board for the daywell, actually, youre just sitting there listening to the pastor speak. All of a sudden, his speech is accompanied by loud low frequency popping noises! There doesnt seem to be anything you can do to get rid of them. Now what?! Does your mixer have a high-pass lter? How about a low-cut lter? Its usually a button located somewhere in the equalizer strip on each input channel (on the mixer). Press itthis should help reduce the popping noises that are created by excessive air (breath noise from the person speaking). This can be used on a lapel, handheld, or even a mounted podium microphone. All the button does is switch in a equalizer lter that rolls-off the low frequencies at a steep curve (often 12 or 24dB per octave). In speech, theres typically not much information in the very low frequencies, so the lter gently but rmly turns them down. Typical lters roll off at 80 or 100 Hz; some you can adjust via a control for best results. Check your sound board manual for more information! (Use of a low-cut or high-pass lter wont solve all of your problems. Proper microphone placement and use is required rst. Windscreens help reduce pops and breath noises too.) Top

Training
30 -

Misc.
14 - 42 -

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#13 When youre looking to buy a new piece of audio or music gear, dont buy something that hasnt been on the market for less than a year. This rule actually can be applied to everything you buy. Cars, computer operating systems, computer software, electronics, appliances, tools, etc. It usually takes a year or so for all of the bugs to get worked out of something. Often a year after a product is introduced, a new upgraded model is available that works better and offers more features for the same price! So have patience and let other people who dont know this rule of thumb nd the problems instead of nding them yourself. Top #14 The season of Winter brings along dry air and problems with static electricity. Think about itin winter you tend to get more shocks, dont you? A static charge can build up in your body when you shufe your feet on the ground or if youre wearing wool or similar fabrics. This static charge is then suddenly discharged in a snap! when your body contacts something conductive in contact with the oor. This includes door handles, le cabinets, even other people! You can also get a shock from touching a microphone or other parts of a sound system! Because most of the equipment is metal (and grounded), this is an excellent way to discharge the static electricity. The problem with this is that many of these static discharges result in pops and bangs over the sound system speakers. To help eliminate this problem, dont wear clothes made of wool; instead of standing on carpet, stand on a rubber mat; spray your clothes with a static guard (from a can); touch the microphone stand before you touch the microphone itself. Another option is to use 1/2 water and 1/2 Downy fabric softener. Put this mixture in a spray bottle and lightly spray the carpet around the microphones the day before the system is used. (Spraying ahead of time lets it dry a bit so its not slippery.) This solution is inexpensive and works really well most of the time. Top #15 A good habit to get into when plugging a microphone or any other device into a mixer is to set all the channel controls at normal positions. Set the gain (or trim) at the middle. Set all of the EQ (tone) controls to their at positions. Turn off any auxiliary or monitor sends. Decide where the channel should be routed to, and press the appropriate assign switches or adjust the pan pot. Taking time to do this saves you scratching your head wondering why things arent sounding quite right. Top #16 Do you have these tools at your sound board? If not, you should! small ashlight pads of paper pens or pencils masking tape (for labeling controls) decibel meter (if you church does music, you need this!) throat lozenges Bible (for when you forget yours) small garbage can or bagkeep your area clean! Top #17 If you play music before or after your service as background music, consider the following tips. Remember its background music it doesnt have to be loud. It only needs to be heard in the background. People shouldnt have to raise their voice to talk to someone else nearby them. If you use pre-recorded music, make sure you dont play the same tape or CD week after week. People noticeand it does get old fast! When its time to turn the music off, dont just stop the music or mute the channel(s). Fade it out gently, naturally. Top #18 How many times do people get up to a microphone and they cant be heard because they arent using the mic properly? Make sure you nd out whos going to be using what microphone each service. Pull each person aside and teach them how to use it; dont assume they know how! Taking a few minutes to train someone can result in fewer problems during the service. Top #19 Do you have a block diagram of your sound reinforcement system? A block diagram shows how all of your systems components are wired together. A block diagram is a must for a technician doing testing or repair work. It saves time when trying to gure out whats wrong. If you dont have some sort of block diagram, make one or have someone trace your system and draw one. Top #20 Regularly take time to check out your microphone and monitor jacks on the platform in your church. Make sure they are mounted tightly and are working properly. Regular maintenance insures there wont be any unexpected surprises in the future. Top #21 Make your tape ministry look classy! Use crystal clear tape shells and crystal clear tape cases to make your tapes sparkle! Add a colorful label, and youve got a really nice product to hand out to your congregation and their friends. Using solid black or white cassette shells and the fogged plastic cases makes your tapes look like theyve been around for years, even though you just made them a few hours ago. Clear tape shells & cases are available for the same price as the black & white tapes. Top

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#22 Consider using different colored cassette tape labels for different sermon series. This helps people know what tapes belong together and keeps the cassette tape ministry looking good! Top #23 If you need to connect the audio output of a computer into your sound system, be sure to use a direct box in the connection. This will help reduce the possibility of noise and hum. Also, be sure to plug the computer into the same power source (circuit) as the mixer and the rest of the sound system. Computers are known for putting out a lot of garbage into the power lines, not to mention poor grounding in the case. Using the same circuit and being sure the audio connection is balanced are the best ways to insure quiet, hum-free sound from the computer! Top #24 When giving someone a wireless lavalier (lapel) mic, be sure they know how to use it and where to wear it. Dont assume they know how, unless they use it every week. Position the microphone a few inches below the base of their neck. Make sure its centered, and not off to one side. If it is, there will be a dramatic volume change when they turn their head side-to-side. Top #25 Consider having a simple set of instructions available for your sound system. These instructions could then be used by someone who knows nothing about sound to at least get the system turned on and a single microphone or background music going. This would be especially benecial when theres an unexpected funeral or similar event when a sound volunteer cant be at the church. Top #26 If you record your church service, a tape deck with auto-reverse is a great way to help make a good recording where nothing is missed. Be sure the auto-reverse feature works by sensing the (clear) tape leader. Units that simply rely on reaching the end of the tape will lose up to 15 seconds of record time. An auto-sensing tape deck will only lose about a second of record time. Top #27 If your mixer dusty and dirty even though you use a cover over it? Cant seem to get the dust out from between those knobs, faders, and switches? Compressed air in a can just blows the dust to another place. A good way to clean such equipment is to invest in a 2-inch wide soft-bristle paint brushThats right, a paint brush! Using the brush you can actually brush the dust and dirt from one end of the mixer to the other end. If you use a small vacuum cleaner in conjunction with the brush, youll do even better! This technique is great for cleaning up any piece of equipment with knobs and switches that stick out. Try it on your keyboards and organ stops, too! Top #28 How do you turn on and off your sound system? Do you randomly hit power switches, or do you just hit a big Master switch? Does your system turn on with a loud THUMP!? It shouldnt. When turning on the system, always turn on the amplier(s) last. This will prevent the loud THUMP from damaging your loudspeakers. When shutting the system down, turn off the amplier(s) rst, then the rest of the equipment. When any piece of audio equipment is turned on, there is a momentary blast of electricity at its output. If an amplier is on, it will amplify that power and send it to the speaker system. That blast of electricity is enough to permanently damage a speaker. Follow the simple rule of Amps on last, off rst and youll protect your investment. Top #29 Everyday we use electricity to perform a multitude of tasks. Our church sound systems run on electricity, too. The electricity ows through the different electronic components, doing whatever the equipment was designed to do. While the electricity performs these tasks for us, part of it is being wasted as heat. Heat is simply another form of energy; some of the energy of electricity is completing a task, and some of it is used to create heat. Some components produce more heat than others. An integrated circuit doesnt create much heat, but the transistors and power transformer in a large audio power amplier sure do! These components heat up everything around themand often to a very high temperature. The problem is, some components lives are shortened when exposed to long term heat. The power transistors in ampliers tend to live half as long (as they should) when their temperature is 10 degrees F. higher. Thus, the life of a transistor can be shortened 50% if its allowed to run only 10 degrees higher than the optimum temperature. Knowing this, you should take more time to clean the air lters and make sure the fans are working on your power ampliers. Some ampliers dont have fans and need plenty of air circulation for convection cooling. If a piece of equipment feels hot to the touch, its probably running too hot and is either malfunctioning or needs more cooling air to operate its best. Top #30 Have you got a church library? Whether you do or not, start up a church-sound or church-technical library division. Fill it with books on sound and noise control and other technical areas like operation of the video projector or video equipment. Make the instruction manuals for your current equipment available, too. This will allow existing sound and technical volunteers the ability to check out these books and learn more so they can better their abilities and techniques. It also allows people who are thinking about helping out the ability to learn a little on their own before they commit. Consider adding books on music, instruments, drama, and other areas, too. Top

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#31 Take time to inspect each cable, connector, and adapter you use. Theres nothing worse than to nd out last minute youve got bad connectors or cables. Make sure the cables work and are not frayed (or damaged from a hungry vacuum cleaner!). Check the connectors to insure theyre in good condition and their strain relief is tight on the cable. Check your adapters (including DI boxes) for loose connectors, frayed cables, and to make sure they work. Too many a DI (direct inject) box have I seen thats unusable because it has loose connectors (some without nuts even!). Taking time to check these things over and repair, replace, or at least set them aside will be to your benet. Top #32 Besides using colored shrink wrap to color-code your cables, try using the colored nylon ties available at almost all hardware stores. These ties can be found in many colors and lengths very inexpensively. Use the different colors to mark the youth equipment and main-church equipment, or use the different colors to show the length of a cable. Whatever your use, be sure to put the colored tie on the male end of the cable so people cant see it when the cable is being used! Top #33 Do your recordings of church services and events sound as though youre actually there? If not, you may not be recording any (or enough) of the natural sound in the sanctuary. That is, the sound of the congregation and instruments you dont have microphones on. Give this a tryset up an extra microphone somewhere out of the way on the platform and aim it toward the congregation. Now, set up your mixer so you can send that microphones signal only to the record tape deckbe sure it doesnt go to the main house speakers! Now, using a pair of headphones, balance the sound on the tape so theres just enough of the live, natural sound of the room that the recording comes to life! Youll be amazed at how much better your recordings will sound! Top #34 How often do you check up on the condition of your microphone stands? Never?! You should make it a habit to check all of your microphone stands, boom arms and mic clips on a regular basis. Be sure the threads are good and not cross-threaded, check the boom arms to make sure all of the knobs and nuts turn properly and tighten fully. Look at the microphone standsdo they wobble or is the height adjustment clutch worn out or stripped? Taking a little time to check the little things can make everyones experience better.
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#35 Are you familiar with the sound of an old battery (or a dying one) in a wireless microphone transmitter? When a wireless transmitter isnt getting enough power from its battery, the sound will become distorted and scratchy (among other things). Know how to recognize when its the system, the wireless equipment, how the mic is used (or worn), or if the problem is just the battery. Top #36 Clean your microphone windscreens on a regular basis. A simple mixture of soap and water will clean them up nicelya nal rinse in a non-staining mouthwash can help them smell good and further sanitize them, too! Before you put the cleaned windscreens back on your mics, be sure theyre good and dry so you dont damage the microphone. Top #37 Keep backup equipment on hand. If a cable or microphone becomes damaged or lost, youll have a backup to take its place while you repair it or look for it. Extra equipment to have includes: Microphone cables Instrument cables Speaker or Monitor cables Hand-held microphones Wireless microphone system (if you normally use a wireless mic) Fuses for each piece of equipment Top #38 If you mic instruments on a regular basis, it may be wise to take a picture of each setup you use. This way, almost anyone can look at your collection of photos to see how to correctly mic various instruments. Be sure to shoot the pictures from several angles so the exact placement can be seen. This is a big help to sound techs who rarely need to mic instruments on a regular basis. Top #39 Have you taken time to listen to the recordings youre passing out at church? Whether you record just the sermon or the entire worship service, the quality should be really good! If you cant stand to listen to the recordings youre making (because of the lack of quality), how can you expect other people to listen to them? Many people depend on being able to pick up a copy of the service on tapeteachers not able to attend the service and home or hospital-bound people are just a few. Is the tape noisy with hiss or hum? Do peoples voices seem to change pitch as they talk? Hows the musicis it clear and does the tape playback of it sound as though youre actually there, in the service? A church tape ministry can be very powerful if the quality is there. Top

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#40 Do you use monitors at your church? That is, speakers on the platform so people on the platform can hear themselves and the music they might be singing with? How many monitors do you have? Two? Three? Four? More than that? Do they all plug into the same place? Are they powered off the same amplier? You have to be very careful when daisy-chaining monitors so you dont overload the amplier. Most monitors are rated at 8-ohms (an ohm is a measurement of electrical resistance). Two monitors load the amplier with 4-ohms, three monitors loads the amplier with 2-ohms. Most ampliers will shut down or overheat if they see anything less than 2-ohms. Make sure youre not overloading your amplier! Top #41 If youre going to solder connectors, dont use a soldering gun that provides instant heat. Such tools tend to apply too much heat, melting wires and connectors, not to mention making a poor solder connection. Stick with pencil-type irons for all of your work. Top #42 How many microphones can you safely carry in your hands while transporting them to or from storage? Dont nd out the hard way! Its best not to carry them loosely, piled on top of each other. Doing so can result in a trip to the repair shop. If you put them in your back pocket, be sure the connector end goes in rst, and the head of the microphone hangs outtheres plenty of dirt and grim in your pockets that can ruin a good microphone. Also, be careful so you dont sit on them (trust me, it happens)! If you need to carry more than 4 or 5 microphones at a time, get smart and use a microphone carrier or even a nice padded box. Of course, the more microphones you carry at once, the more careful you need to be so you dont end up damaging all of them Top #65 If you use monitor (and/or speaker) cables with the typical 1/4 connectors on each end, consider marking them so people know they are monitor/speaker cables, and not instrument cables. Monitor/Speaker cables are made up of a pair of large-gauge wire, while instrument cables are made up of much smaller gauge wire and are shielded. The confusion comes when they both look the same from the outside and use the same connectors. Using an instrument cable in place of a monitor cable will cause a signicant loss of amplier power. Using a monitor/speaker cable for an instrument (guitar, keyboard, etc.) will result in hum and even a radio station or two being picked up! So, color code those cables or label them in some manner so theres never any doubt what type of cable youve got in your hand. Top #66 If you use monitors, be sure you set your house (main sanctuary) volume levels rst, and then your monitor levels. The biggest complaint is that the people on stage hear no low end. Monitors are not designed to reproduce very low frequencies. Fortunately, low frequencies travel in all directions, and so the main house system will supply all the low end thats needed. (Besides, you have to be at least one-fourth the distance of the wavelength from the speaker to hear it. The lowest note on a bass guitar has a wavelength of 34 1/2 feet. You need to be at least 8 1/2 feet away from the speaker/amp to be able to hear the sound properly.) Top #67 When using wireless microphones and installing new batteries, its a good idea to check the batteries with a tester. Everyone has heard the horror stories of the sound person who was running late, tossed a new battery in pastors mic, only to nd out it wasnt any good. Every once in a while a battery manufacturer lets a dead or partially charged battery slip through. So, save yourself the grief and check them out before hand.
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#103 If you play prelude or postlude music before and after a service, be sure to fade the music in when starting it. Instead of just hitting the stop button when youre done with it, fade the music out slowly. Taking a the time to fade it in and out makes for a more professional service. Top

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