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Tip of the Week

A Tech-y Twofer: Gate Filters and Sidechain Processing

In the June and July issues of FRONT of HOUSE magazine, On the Digital Edge columnist Steve La Cerra serves up a tech-y twofer. In June, La Cerra focused on how filters and key inputs can be used to enhance the function of a noise gate. In July, he follows up with a discussion of sidechain processing, proving once again that an investment in audio knowledge can pay off with significant enhancements in audio quality that you can achieve with no extra charge for additional gear.

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Bringing Sound where it Doesn’t Belong

Doing shows in established venues requires attention to details, but all bets are off when the client wants an event at a “creative” space – whether a downtown street plaza, national park or abandoned missile site. In his July 2024 “FOH-at-Large” column, Baker Lee looks into the logistics of unconventional gigs.

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Power to the People

Folks often talk about redundant console power supplies, but you’re far more likely to need a redundant AC power SOURCE to avoid resetting your console after a power loss or some moron pulling the plug. A console may reboot in a minute or so, but that feels like hours when the sound goes out at a show. For less than $100, an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) can sidestep that situation and give you surge protection too – along with peace of mind.

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Understanding Gate Filters

Two gate features that are eminently useful but often overlooked or misunderstood are the filters and key inputs. Whether hardware- or software-based, all gates incorporate a gain control device and a detector. The gain control device varies the gain of the audio signal, while the detector is sort of a remote-control signal that opens and closes the gate by telling the gain control device what to do; the detector signal could be the same sound as the one you’re trying to gate, or a completely different signal.

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Assistive Listening Technologies: The Right Thing to Do

Across most of the U.S., the legal requirements for providing assistive listening technologies do not apply to religious entities, with the exception of California and Texas, which legally require religious entities to adhere to federal law. That said, are we really so callous that we must be forced by law to help ensure that everyone in the room can hear our presentation clearly? Of course not, and we all know that providing the necessary solution is the right thing to do.

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Taking a Sip from the Information Firehose

While subgroups, VCAs and DCAs are just a few of the many tools used to accomplish the mission of a great mix, another piece of essential information I often share with my young engineers is that just because an option is available on a console doesn’t mean one is obliged to use it.

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Optimizing Wireless Performance within Houses of Worship

Once upon a time, live sound was much simpler than it is now. We put mics in front of our vocalists, plugged their instruments into DIs, fed the signal via snake to our mixer, and mixed the signals for our congregation and musicians. Nice, simple, analog signal flow — no crazy wireless or digital signals flowing everywhere over Ethernet cables. It was simple, it was easier… but nowhere near as good as it is today. Yes, we have to deal with digital networks and the increasingly complex world of wireless (which is becoming more complicated all the time), but the benefits are worth every bit of struggle we face.

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Using Generators at Festivals

Once you’ve made sure that the generator you’ve chosen will meet the needs of your system, there are a few other things to consider. First, it’s important to respect the starting power by not firing up the entire P.A. system or amp rack all at once. And though it should go without saying, here I am, saying it: generators should be used only outside in unenclosed areas, at least 20 feet from any other structures.

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Signing Up for a Career, and a Lifestyle

Before diving into the more abstract subjects like algebra and calculus, students should also be offered practical instruction in doing taxes, mortgages, interest rates and a study of credit card fees and management. In the same way that I feel certain applied math is overlooked in schools, I feel instruction in certain touring practicalities gets overlooked. While the study of gain structure, the use of dynamics or the flying of a speaker array should be mandatory knowledge for a young engineer, it should be as equally vital to know how to juggle your marriage or kids in the middle of a six-month world tour.

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Calculating How Much Power You’ll Need

Figuring out what sort of generator you’ll need first requires determining how much power your P.A. will consume (don’t confuse this with the audio output of a power amp or powered speaker). A visit to the manual or rear panel of your gear can provide a lot of information, and what you are looking for is “maximum power consumption.” This information can be listed in amps or watts; if you need to convert one to the other, use the formula (above).

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When Making Your Church’s Move from Wedges to IEMs, Don’t Cheap Out

When replacing traditional monitors with IEMs, it can be hard to overcome the institutional and individual resistance to change. If our seasoned musicians and vocalists have adopted the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” stance, we might timidly present the idea of IEMs, and just dip our big toe in the water — buying a cheap system in case the old-timers decide they hate it. However, if they were already predisposed to hate it, and the system is cheap, it’s not going to work well: The old-timers are REALLY going to hate it and now have a legitimate rationale from which to argue against the new paradigm.

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