Welcome to the Training & Tutorials page for Live Sound Reinforcement!
We pray that this page will be suitable as a valuable resource for those of us who wish to learn more about Live Sound Reinforcement ("LSR"). There is something for everyone, from the very basics to the very complex, as well as advice regarding paths of learning.
This page is intended to be a collection of links to free educational information for the LSR technicians and engineers of the WELS. ...except the textbooks do cost money, as they are hard copies. ...but it is a good idea to own and read at least one textbook. There is absolutely not enough room on this page to explain everything, so this page is limited to supplying links to externally hosted information.
Please commence usage of this page in the "ORIENTATION" section below. Expected total duration for beginners is about 3 hours (two sessions, 1.5 hours each). Expected duration for those who already have a basic understanding and decide to skip to the "Introduction & Prerequisite Skills" session is 1.5 hours. The content is very similar to a textbook experience, but it is free! This carefully-designed Orientation process establishes a solid foundation upon which beginners can build knowledge and upon which experienced techs can sharpen their focus for ministry. FYI, many topics throughout the Live Sound Reinforcement area of the wiki that have proven to be especially helpful to new audio technicians arehighlighted in red text.
Happy reading! Not to us, but to God be the glory!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE of CONTENTS
ORIENTATION
Session 1: Introduction & Prerequisite Skills
Session 2: Foundation
Next Steps
REFERENCE
Textbooks
Online Libraries
FORUMS
BLOGS
TUTORIALS & ARTICLES on Specific Topics
Acoustics
Amplifiers
Assistive Listening Systems
Audio Electronics Theory
Cables, Interfaces & Transformers
Custom Equipment
Electric Power & Grounding (120 Volts AC, etc.)
Maintenance & Repair
Microphones & Pickups
Mix Console Signal Flows
Mix Engineering
Signal Processing
Speakers & Loudspeaker Arrays
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORIENTATION (Start here!) - Grand total expected duration: 3 hours.
Session 1: Introduction & Prerequisite Skills - Session expected duration: 1.5 hours.
This session is intended for beginners, but may be a fun review for experienced techs too.
LSR can seem like a very complex field because almost everything that we deal with is invisible or abstract. Anyone who has worked successfully in the LSR field will tell you that reading is an important way to learn operations and theory. You are reading this website, so thank you for already having made some commitment to learning! This wiki contains links to videos and audio files. Hands-on experience during rehearsals and events is also extremely important, but it sure helps if the LSR tech already knows what to do before things happen, before walking in to setup for the event or worship service.
Please sign up for the video series via email. The author deserves at least that from his viewers, since these videos are free. However, it may take a couple days before receiving a link to each next video in your email. To speed things along, links to all videos are listed here.
Video 0 (4:03) Meet the Teacher & Intro to Live Sound http://www.proaudiodvds.com/free-church-sound-training/
Video 1 (10:51) Signal Flow http://proaudiodvds.com/church-sound-in/
Video 2 (13:57) Feedback, Gates & Compressors http://proaudiodvds.com/church-sound-fc/
Note: It is important to set your input gain ("trim") before setting any gates or compressors! Also, gates & compressors belong to the realm of signal processors that are called "dynamics processors", because their purpose is to affect how loud the signal gets ("dynamics", just like in music theory).
Video 3 (12:46) EQ (equalization) http://proaudiodvds.com/church-sound-eq/
Video link coming soon. Until then, you can check out these videos...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-74OEVUOKOw
http://www.productionapprentice.com/tutorials/lighting-grip/the-art-of-wrapping-cable/
Video link coming soon...
Thank you for becoming a hardcore wrapper. :o)
Video link coming soon...
Session 2: Foundation - Session expected duration: 1.5 hours.
This session is intended for techs who already have a basic understanding.
At minimum, a "basic understanding" means going through the "Basics" session, above.
Document link coming soon...
...as presented at the 2012 “Hearts & Hands of David” Workshop, sponsored by WELS members including the Koine band.
Craig has served as the sound engineer for the Koine band. http://www.koinemusic.com
Next Steps
That concludes our Orientation sessions, but you are free to continue learning. See you at setup!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFERENCE
Industry-Acclaimed Hardcopy Textbooks
Online Libraries and other Collections of Extremely Reliable Information (alphabetical order)
Overview: Detailed technical information about cables, interfaces & transformers, i.e. "transmission lines".
http://www.jensen-transformers.com/apps_wp.html
http://www.electro-voice.com/downloads.php?type=PA%20Bible - "The P.A. Bible".
Overview: Technical "white papers" for learning detailed information about specific topics.
http://www.rane.com/library.html - The venerable "Rane Notes", i.e. white papers.
http://www.rane.com/digi-dic.html - Searchable dictionary/glossary.
Overview: Specialists in microphones and IEMs (In-Ear-Monitors).
http://www.shure.com/americas/support/downloads/publications
http://www.shure.com/americas/support/training/materials
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FORUMS
In a forum, you can discuss and explore solutions with other people. These are good places where you can ask questions to experienced audio engineers who care (not that the authors of this wiki don't care - we simply are not as available as the forum participants).
No matter your type of question, it is expected that you first give the situation your best effort before consulting a forum. People who answer your questions are volunteering their time to help you, so please respect their time. Forums are especially helpful if you don't know where or how to look for particular answers.
It is probably not a good idea to use this WELStech wiki as a forum to fix problems, due to the small amount of traffic here. The forums listed below will get your questions answered much more quickly than your fellow viewers of this WELStech wiki (possibly infinitely faster...). These websites also have some good blog-like or magazine-like articles.
http://soundforums.net (respectful & reliable)
http://forums.prosoundweb.com/ (respectful)
http://www.soundonsound.com/forum (website is mainly geared toward recording & musicians)
(This is the same Forums info as printed on the Troubleshooting page.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLOGS
Dave Rat
http://www.ratsound.com/cblog/ (older site)
http://www.daverat.blogspot.com/ (current site)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUTORIALS & ARTICLES on Specific Topics
Acoustics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoacoustics
"Your P.A. is RUINING your Sound"
http://avgenius.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=48&Itemid=61
Amplifiers
Audio Electronics Theory
Cables & Interfaces
(i.e. Path of the electrons as they happily carry The Word from your microphones to your loudspeakers)
The classic "Mackie Hookup Guide": http://www.mackie.com/pdf/vlzproseries_hu.pdf
See page 3: http://www.mackie.com/pdf/vlzproseries_hu.pdf
http://www.prosoundweb.com/tags/tag/bill+whitlock
http://www.tfwm.com/TFWM-Audio-Newsletter-Articles-070412-Choosing-Cables-by-Bill-Whitlock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9M45U87ybg
2010 USA Federal Law: FCC re-allocation of RF bands!
FCC = Federal Communications Commission. The advent of digital television broadcast, plus growing need for other wireless communications, led the FCC to re-allocate some portions of the RF spectrum for different types of use. Especially if any of your wireless systems operate at 698 MHz or higher, you need to learn more about these issues. Also, check out Todd A. Boettcher's PDF "Is Your Church or School Legal?" (attached, below) and Martin Sprigg's WELStech blog post regarding this: Is the FCC coming after your church?
Custom Equipment
Electrical Power & Grounding (120 Volts AC, etc.)
(i.e. "Mains power", electrical power from the wall outlets, what powers all your equipment, 120 V AC, etc.)
Confucius say, "Make sure there is enough toilet paper before you sit down."
Maintenance, Repair & Assembling New Cables
Some experienced techs prefer to purchase a 1000' reel of mic cable and make all their own cables. Jimmy Holub of CrossWalk Church, Phoenix, AZ, did this in year 2000 and, as of year 2013, still has never had a single problem with any of those cables.
6. The Mix Console
(mixer, board, desk, etc.)
If you are interested in learning how to work with a worship band, but you do not have a mixer with at least 12 mic inputs, then it would be a good idea to download and read this manual for the Mackie 1604VLZ Pro compact mixer. This manual has been used as a textbook by thousands of people all around the world. The authors of the manual keep it entertaining. ;-)
http://www.mackie.com/pdf/1604vlzpro_om.pdf
7. Mix Engineering
http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/monitors_for_a_singer/live/P1/
http://www.audiocourses.com/2012/02/10/audio-compression-tutorial-made-easy-by-producer-karen-kane/
9. Basic Mathematics & Electrical Theory for Audio Technicians