Hillel was a revered Jewish scholar who lived during the first century BCE (before common era) and BCA (before common audio). In the Talmud, which (simply put) is an explanation of the Torah, there is an account of a man who wanted to convert to Judaism. He went to Hillel and, showing a bit of skepticism, told him that he would accept Judaism only if a rabbi would teach him the entire Torah while he, the potential convert, stood on one foot. Hillel rose to the task, and said: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this — go and study it!”
Back At It
Anyway, despite Covid not being eradicated, monkeypox coming to get us and the possible threat of a looming recession, it feels like we’re back. Business in May and June has been booming, and live events are once again in full spring bloom to the point that, at times, it’s difficult to keep up. It’s still difficult to get certain gear and, even if it can be obtained, there is usually a required wait time of a few months. The cost of everything has risen, and it only cascades as everyone raises prices to keep up. What we do has stayed the same, but how we do it has been altered ever so slightly to make it feel that we are now in a parallel universe from the one we left before our two-year hiatus.
Good help has always been hard to find, and now it’s even harder. While there are those who couldn’t wait to return to work, there are others who have decided to leave the business, change their lives or — not unexpectedly — demand more money if they do decide to work. It seems that the delicate balance we all previously depended upon is now off-kilter, with all the weight shifted to one side.
The New Abnormal
Getting everything back in balance will take a while, possibly after loading the scale with a counterbalance to even the weights. As it is, we are still in unknown territory, while we stumble around trying to find the proper equilibrium required to transform our “new abnormal” to a “new normal.”
I have been fortunate to hire a few good workers to replace the ones who fell into another work life during the pandemic or decided to embark on new adventures. The difficult part in finding qualified technicians is that some of the older technicians would rather freelance than be tied down to a single company, while many of the younger techs come from communications programs or are schooled in the art of studio mixing. All of which is fine, but doesn’t necessarily lend itself to the world of live sound, where it’s a good possibility that one will be paid for carting and babysitting the equipment.
The operative idea here is that they will be getting paid for their efforts and, every so often, they’ll actually get to mix. I realize that for most young engineers this type of work is only a stop on the way to becoming a full-fledged working engineer, and if I can move them along quickly in their pursuit, I might be able to get a few good years out of them before they disappear into the ranks of seasoned techs.
Gaining Knowledge
I enjoy teaching and watching the light come on for my students as the knowledge gets transferred from my old and tired brain to their young and energetic minds. What I tell them, while making them stand on one leg, is this: “Low input, high output!” That is the whole of live audio mixing — the rest is the explanation of this, so go study it! While this is pretty rote stuff for the experienced engineer, one would be surprised at how many engineers with decent jobs are still spinning knobs and struggling with gain structure. Granted, I am not the sage of audio, nor is this advice of biblical proportions, but it has certainly worked for me and many others, especially those who have entered live audio via the studio path.
Rather than sage-like advice, one can think of “low input, high output” as an overview and reference point as one goes about honing the fine details of live mixing. Of course, the devil is in the details and challenges abound as one gets deeper into the mix, but broad strokes can be helpful in creating a conceptual approach to the job ahead. Some other broad strokes that I teach my students are to think of EQ as volume. As EQ points are changed, either up or down, it is either adding or subtracting volume on a channel or mix. Think of the input trim not as gain, but rather as sensitivity, especially with a microphone. This trim, or sensitivity, is the first point of low input. The less sensitive the microphone, the less it’s picking up extraneous sounds onstage, thereby giving the engineer more control of the output and less chance of feedback.
Gain — Not Just for Laundry
Gain is the loudness of the input on the channel. It controls the tone, but does not affect the loudness. Volume is the actual loudness of the output on the channel. It controls the loudness, but not the tone of the audio. Thus, low input, high output.
What I do to achieve the proper input on a vocal mic is to mute the channel and, with the PFL on, give a good “Hey” or “Ha” into the microphone. My goal with this exercise is to get the input signal to not pass -12 or -18 on the channel — or wherever the unity may be. If there’s a need to EQ the channel strip for microphone clarity, then repeat step one again after the EQ is complete to get back to the unity input. Once this task is complete, the channel fader can be placed at unity, and said engineer is on their way to a low input/high output mix.
Of course, none of this works as well if the speaker system is not properly rung out and “the devil is in the details,” but before you go wrestling with the devil, remember the mantra, “Low input, high output!” That is the whole of live audio mixing; the rest is the explanation of this — go study it!
