Free Book: A Tale of Two Mixers

There has been a whole lot of hubbub about several new, smaller digital mixers.

A very short book has been written comparing features on the most popular among them: to sort through the hubbub, and examine them in light of the real world. Part tongue-in-cheek, part real-world review, part spec comparison, it's a useful tool. And hey, it's FREE!

_____________________________________________________

David McLain, CTS | Technical Sales | CCI  SOLUTIONS

Be seen. Be heard.

PO Box 481 / 1247 85th Ave SE

Olympia, WA  98507-0481

Voice: 800/426-8664 x2155 / Fax: 360/754-1566

personal email: dmclain@ccisolutions.com

CCI Solutions online: www.ccisolutions.com

Church Soundguy blog: www.churchsoundguy.com

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twitter: twitter.com/churchsoundguy

Pro Audio Parade Music

I’ve been researching: How do you do pro audio for a Fourth of July Parade? In this case, we’re trying to give a bunch of dancers some dancing music and share that music with the audience, but we could be playing music on a float or a trailer. I know lots of churches who are involved in parades nowadays, and their entries always involve music. How do we make parade music so that everybody can hear it, and so it doesn't sound like garbage?

We’ve all seen the little battery powered systems; they’re great for a small group in a quiet environment, but they aren’t enough for sound in a parade: the high school marching band two blocks away will overwhelm it. Let's save these for mission trips or fellowship halls (they're pretty good for that!).

I consulted with Fred Tomke an engineer at QSC Audio. Fred knows his stuff: he’s been using his own K12 speakers on top of a bus in his own local Fourth of July Parade for a few years. OK, Fred, what do I need to power them properly?

It turns out that the only thing you need is a competent inverter for the vehicle. He uses a “basic 800 watt” inverter to power his (2) K12 speakers (1000 watts each), a small mixer, and a CD player. He says he’s never run out of headroom. “The secret is in the power supplies on the speakers: they’ll handle anything from 85v to 240v.”

To connect multiple devices (like the mixer, CD player, and multiple amps), just use a power strip. And we ended up using the smaller, broader-dispersion K8 speakers on this project: The smaller size made it easier to load onto their minivan’s roof rack, and the 105º dispersion pattern means more people alongside the parade route will hear it, even if you lay the speakers on their side (as any sensible minivan driver would do!). It still has the same 1000 watt amp built in, so “loud enough” is not an issue.

The little JBL EON210P system will also work nicely in this environment: a little poweredmixer and two 10” main speakers.

There is one important detail: don’t use an inverter that connects via the vehicle’s cigarette lighter. That lighter is limited, typically, to about 5 amps, and you’ll pretty much need all 6.7 amps that an 800 watt inverter can provide. Instead, use one of the inverters that connects directly to the vehicle’s battery, or extend to the battery with 10- or 12- gauge cables.

Oh, and make sure you vehicle is running. This kind of power consumption will drain your battery pretty quickly.

With this kind of setup, you can get loud enough that the parade officials will come tell you to turn the music down! Or you can use this system for your concert-in-the-park after the parade!

Happy Fourth of July.

Using the Presonus Studio Live Mixer

The Presonus StudioLive digital mixer may be the most popular small mixing board for churches this year. But as easy as it is to operate, it's not the same as an analog board.
Recently, Presonus's Rick Naqvi did a very detailed webinar on the board. It's an excellent source for learning how to use the new board.

Vocal Microphone Technique

It's always been amusing to watch the band set up. The guitarist brings his amp, a few pedals, and maybe a couple of guitars. The bass player brings his instrument, and often his own amp. The drummer uses the church's drum kit, but he brings his own sticks and takes the time to tune and position the drums to his liking.

But the vocalist just uses whatever mic is handed to them.

My experience has been that the choice of microphone for the vocalists, especially the lead vocalist, has a substantial effect on her sound in the house, her intelligibility, and even her confidence in front of a crowd. Using "whatever they give me" would be like the the guitarist playing "whatever guitar they hand me," whether it's a Fender Squire or a Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 guitar, or the sound guy saying, "Yeah, whatever. Behringer, Midas, Yamaha, Digico: they're all the same."

The point: if you're a vocalist, find a mic that really lets your voice give its best in your facility. If you're the sound guy, then give real thought to what mics sound best on which vocalist, particular the main vocalists. Try out some new ones if you need to, and teach your team that "This is John's mic!" Or encourage John to buy his own vocal mic.

And of course, audio engineers love working with untrained vocalists, who sing away from the mic, lean into the mic for their loud notes, and cup the grille. The reality is that a good sound system will clearly amplify whatever sound (good or bad) that the vocal mic picks up. It is not to the vocalist's advantage to send a poor signal to the sound system.

Audix created this video, and they make some excellent vocal microphones (and some amazing instrument mics), including some at modest prices. Of course, they use Audix mics in these brief clips. But the techniques are appropriate for any handheld vocal microphone. 



Note: this post contains a video clip. If you're having a hard time seeing it, click on the title ("Vocal Microphone Technique") to watch the video on the post's home page. And if you want to share the video with your vocalists, use this link: http://j.mp/VocalTechnique.  

Two Days Discovering Nexo

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about Nexo speakers over the past few years. I’ve listened to various of their models, and I’ve been impressed enough to recommend them for a couple of rooms, particularly given the outstanding support I’ve been getting from them.
 
But I haven’t really known the Nexo lineup; until I hadn’t had opportunity to listen critically and extensively to their whole selection of speakers.
 
I have now. 

I spent Monday of this week designing speaker systems for rooms using various software, and I was liking the way the Nexo speakers worked in the planning: the plans looked good, but what did they sound like?

The Cerritos Center in the greater Los Angeles area is an awesome building. We'd be using their main room (what a beautiful room!) the next day to try out the Nexo line arrays.
 
I had a .dwg model of the Cerritos Center, so I modeled out what various speakers would sound like in there. The weekend is sponsored by Nexo, so I focused on Nexo boxes, in this case, line arrays (Nexo has several). I liked what I saw in the computer.
 
The NX1 software was easy to work with, so I imported some smaller real-world rooms that I’m working on in the real world. Yep. Looked easy. Looked like the PS series might sound good.

I have to admit, there’s a fair bit of skeptic in me. Any box that promises me a rectangular coverage pattern (in this case, Nexo’s PS series) had better do more than just advertise well! It needs to offer actual rectangular coverage pattern. And more importantly it needs to sound good! But they sure looked good on the computer screen: a couple of boxes and a sub in a room that seats 400.

Nexo's PS series
(Apologies for the cruddy
cell-phone-camera photos.)

 
Finished the designs, closed the computer for the night, and  headed out for dinner with 40 engineers and another dozen or so from Yamaha/Nexo (Yamaha distributes Nexo in the US). Got to know a lot of these guys as human beings. Not a one of them was a jerk (and that’s kind of rare, when dealing with representatives of high-end gear!). For a large number of them, church audio is in their blood, not just professionally, but personally: they appear to live out what they teach during the week. I took it as a good sign.
 
Next morning, we head over to the Cerritos Center, where I met with head of audio Jack Hayback, and head rigger & carpenter, Rogan Gerard. We talked shop of course, and they took us on a tour of the facility. Then we started listening to speakers. We started with Nexo’s PS series. The speakers hang very nicely, but we listened to them on a pole, just above head height.
 
I fell in love.
 
Let me just cut to the chase: I never knew “Sound on a Stick” could sound that good. I measured 112 dB at the back of the listening room, and I have to say, it sure didn’t feel like 112 dB. We were playing vocal tracks (I got so tired of “Bird on a Wire” this weekend! I still don’t know the artist.), and it didn’t sound like a PA playing. It sounded like a woman there singing to me. Singing well.
 
Randy Weitzel had put up a very nice drum kit behind the speakers, and brought in a fine drummer to show them off. We listened to the same drum kit: voiced the same as the original kit, with zero EQ, zero compression: same drum kit, but more of it. We listened with speakers, without speakers. Even the little 8” 2-way sounded way bigger than it was.

(Note: I’m not big on stage monitors, but the Nexo wedges [45N?] were clear, loud, and were so tight in their pattern that even the drum overheads were in the drum monitor!)

The boxes' horns reportedly put out square pattern: I didn’t measure the exact edges of the pattern, but it sure seemed square to me. The coverage was clearly narrower on one end than the other; I could hear that. The previous days' computer exercises seemed to match real world applications.

Then we listened to Nexo’s Baby Line Array: the Geo-S8. An 8” 2-way box, in a couple of 12-box arrays. Pretty good! Clear, articulate, musical, at 90 feet. Fifteen hundred seats of modest folk music would be a fine fit for the baby line arrays, or a few hundred seats of music with teeth! I had done a project with another small line array recently; I'll bet these could have served that room at least as well.
 
Then we needed to pull these down so we could put up another array to test. We took down two dozen S8 boxes and hung two dozen S12 boxes in less than an hour. OK. I’m impressed. That was easy. Let's go to lunch.

Line Arrays:
Geo-D, Geo-T and Geo-12
(outside to inside)

 
After lunch, we came back and listened to the S12 boxes, the very boxes I had been using in the design software to fill the computer model of the Cerritos Center. It looked good in the model, though the room might have been a little toward the big side for these.
 
They fired them up, and behold: they sounded as the modeling showed: clear, articulate, in the entire room. Well, most of the room; the third balcony was a little weak, but the software predicted that. When we added the subwoofers, it was clearly nothing to complain about. Remarkably smooth. Remarkably even, throughout the room. I like those boxes. And yes, the room might have been a little toward the big side for these speakers. I will have no problem recommending these speakers for a medium size church, and they'll make it sound good!
 
We listened to the Geo-D boxes (it’s kind of weird, in that it’s pronounced: “G O D”). These are the main boxes for this room, and I can see why: effortless excellence. I walked the entire floor, and three balconies, and maybe a dozen of the loge boxes: the entire room sounded the same! It was a little (!) bit louder in some seats than it was behind them, but the voicing was clear everywhere. I’ve heard it said before, but it was true: there wasn’t a bad seat in the house! These boxes are amazing!
 
I had taken time to talk with Jack Hayback (away from the Yamaha/Nexo boys) about his experience with the Nexo Geo-D speakers, and how they compared to the two other brands before them. His eyes lit up! He had lots of good things to say, a number of stories, and he compared them to the two (other brands) that he had had before he got the Nexos. This was a sincerely happy audio guy!

More significant, the Lighting Director, John Palmer, told me how clear the audio was when he first heard them. (In my experience, it takes a lot for quality sound to impress the LD!)

Lastly, we listened to the Geo-T: the big dogs. These are the famous boomerang shape that you’ve probably seen on major arena tours around the world, and I can believe it. They shook me to my core at more than 100’, both in clarity and in the solidity of their sound. I can see why the Big Names tour with this gear.

Subs, in Cardioid (!!) configuration:
RS 18 & RS 15 

I suppose I should mention that all of the subwoofers for the line arrays – which were shaking my pant legs at 100’ – are cardioid subs. During the “fairly loud” cuts (think Sunday morning volume), we could hold a conversation on the stage behind the subwoofers. During the “concert level” cuts, not so much, but we were not overwhelmed on stage: I could have heard monitors easily. (The subs are even louder, about 3dB, in omni mode, but of course, much louder behind.) 

We actually spent the next two hours listening to this track and that (and “Bird on a Wire” on every speaker in the house!), listening loud, listening quiet, to all these speakers, not because we needed to, but because we wanted to. Big line arrays, sounding as good as I’ve ever heard, and more. I have never heard so much detail from James Taylor, Pink Floyd and even Rammstein, and several I don't know. I’m not used to describing Rammstein as “beautiful,” but I did this weekend!
 
It’s not hard for a big line array to play loud music well. But when they can play the same music softly and gently at 60 dB, with the same clarity as at 120 dB, then I’m impressed. It still had solid, believable 60 Hz bass guitar at 60 dB! I'm not used to that.
 
Summary: These are very good speakers. The entire lineup is worth paying attention to, and in my opinion, probably worth their not insubstantial cost. 

They are not the right speakers for everybody; they’re not inexpensive, for one thing.
 
Anything beyond the PS series probably need professional installation, and certainly need professional design. And while I haven’t seen it, I imagine there may be a  room that they just don’t fit well in. The PS series can handle aggressive worship music comfortably in a mid-size church, as can the Geo-8. The Geo 12 will do wonders in a large church. And if your room is big enough, the Geo-D will make it sing! The Geo-T is not, in my opinion, needed for anything much smaller than a stadium concert. 
 
But if you have some room in your budget for quality speakers, do NOT overlook Nexo.
 
(Obligatory plug: if you would like a speaker system designed for your room – and you have a budget for it, drop me a line, and we can talk about Nexo, or a dozen other lines. But we will talk about Nexo. At least for a little bit.)

Getting Started with Stage Design!

Veteran Technical Director and CCI Solutions Church Relations Director, Duke DeJong helps you get started creating modern worship stage designs.

Churches across America both big and small are looking for ways to enhance their worship spaces with color and texture. I love this trend because it brings more visual artistry to the church and it helps our relevance to the younger generations who continue to become more and more visual. For churches looking to enter into the world of stage design, here are a few thoughts to get you started.

Finding Resources!

The key is to find out what your resources are. I'm a huge fan of LED and intelligent lights but most churches aren't able to start with those. Many churches have a few spare dimmers and par cans lying around and that can be a great way to get you started. Pick some colors you like, put those gels in your lights and aim them at something reflective. You've now added color to your stage.

Let there Be Light!

Next, find out what type of materials you have to light. I love a stage with darker colored walls so I can put something that lights well in front of it, helping any over flow light to disappear. Some of my favorite things to light include various fabrics like Poly Muslin, Poly Sheen and Spandex (must be fire retardant), Coroplast and even Bubblewrap.

Reflective Properties!

Really anything that reflects light has potential as a design element. You can make great structures out of metal, wood or even PVC and then cover them with something light friendly. The opportunities are endless and to get started you should see what materials people in your church have access to or the ability to work with. Whatever you have access to should dictate what materials you start with.

Wrapping it Up!

If you can't come up with an original idea, find some designs from other people that look like something you can do a variation of and simply try it out. If it works first try, awesome! For most of the designs I've done I will see elements I like somewhere and then I do a little tweaking and adjusting to make it something that works right for my space. If something doesn't work just right one week, try tweaking it for next week. The key is to use whatever resources you have access to, find a concept you like and try it out. If you ever want to bounce ideas off of someone or need some ideas to get you started, let me know.

Duke DeJong
Church Relations Director
CCI Solutions

Duke has more than 12 years of experience as a technical artist, trainer and collaborator for ministries. Duke travels around the country for CCI Solutions and is available to help your ministry. Join Duke on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ccisolutions.

The Art (and Necessity) of Compression

By Duke DeJong
Church Relations Director, CCI Solutions

A while back, I got the rare opportunity to work with the youth band at our church. These guys have an incredible heart and passion to worship and have loads of raw talent which translates into a powerful time of worship. When they lead, as a worshipper I feel free and emboldened to praise God the way He created me too. When they lead, as a sound man I have to work as hard and quick as ever to create a decent mix to help facilitate that worship.

More Compressors Please!

 
As is the case with most youth bands and even many churches, they are not using state of the art or high dollar gear for their services. Now don't get me wrong, they are not operating with the bare minimum. The system includes an Allen and Heath console, JBL speakers and subs, and solid system and signal processing. What I longed for that night was individual compressors.

Keeping the Vocals on Top!

 
Maybe this never happens to you, but in a mix including 3 vocals, an un-caged drum set, two electrics, acoustic, bass, and keyboard, I had a hard time keeping the vocals out on top to lead the group in worship while keeping the music strong. The vocalists on the team are gifted in leading worship, but for a variety of reasons (key of the song, dynamic range, mic etiquette, etc) their volumes were all over the place that night and the second I took my finger off their faders I would either lose them or have way too much of them. With 7 stage monitors, acoustic drums, 3 amps and a very small stage, I was dreaming for a few compressors to help me layer the mix the way I wanted.

Sound Man's Most Useful Tool!

 
The compressor is one of the sound man's most useful tools - yet I am always surprised how few people seem to understand and know how to effectively use this critical piece of gear. I would like to help a few more of you get comfortable using compressors.

So What is Compression Really?

 
The clearest definition of compression that I've ever seen is this: "Compression is the art of making louder parts of a composition appear softer, and conversely, the softer parts appear louder." That night, if I would have left the lead singer's fader in one spot for the entire night his volume alone would have ranged anywhere from 85 dB to 120 dB. Alright that might be an exaggeration but he got loud. When he was closer to the 85-95 dB volume he could barely be heard over the drums and guitars. Neither end of the spectrum is really acceptable in a good mix, so compression comes along and makes it possible to narrow down that volume range to make things more mixable.

Example of How an Audio Compressor Works

 
Let's say I have a 20 dB range between a vocalist's quiet singing versus their loudest singing. With a compressor I can take that 20 dB range and make it as small as a 1 dB range, but since I don't want to eliminate the artistic dynamic range that the singer is using to create the mood or feel of what they are singing, I can get that range down to a very manageable 5-8 dB that will make mixing significantly less complicated but still leave some of that dynamic in place. So how do we get our compressor to do that? With some understanding of the compressor's settings you can be on your way to a smoother sound and a less stressful time behind the board.

The Control Elements Found on an Audio Compressor!

Threshold

 
In simple terms the threshold is the point where the compressor starts to do its thing. Since there is a wide range of compressor and mixer brands I'm going to talk about these settings more generically as opposed to using the numbers on the knob. If the input meter on your console (let's say negative infinity to +15 dB) matches that of your compressor, things will be a little clearer as the numbers will match. You must first set the gain (or trim) of your channel on your mixer (on my regular console that is around +3, or typically where the green lights first turn to yellow or maybe the yellow light just starts to glow on the meter). Now if your numbers match, and your vocal meter is showing signal between -5 and +10 dB, I'd start with my threshold set close to 0 dB. If your numbers don't match, once your gain is set turn your threshold knob and find the area where the gain reduction knobs just come on. Begin with your threshold there and if you find it's not compressing frequently or soon enough you can lower the threshold from there to make it kick in sooner.

Ratio

 
This one is a relatively simple concept. The ratio simply says for every x dB the source goes up in volume, the compressor will only let the output go up y dB. For example, if you set a vocal mic with a 3:1 ratio, for every 3 dB the vocal increases coming into the board, the output will only increase 1 dB. You can think of the ratio as setting the size potential of the source. If you want it to be able to go bigger, you can leave your ratio smaller. If you want it to stay a little smaller, or perhaps be more under control, you can set your ratio higher. I tend to start with a ratio of 3:1 for most vocals and guitars, and often times I will go 4:1 or even 5:1 on drums or very dynamic guitars. My preference is to start low and if you need more compression (less range) you can always increase the ratio. The reason it is my preference is simply this, I don't want to take away any more control from the musicians than is absolutely necessary to make the mix work well. If I start it at 5:1 when 3:1 will do and don't adjust it down, I may be holding that source back. If I start low and it's still too big, I can easily adjust my ratio up.

Attack

 
The attack is how quickly the compressor responds to the volume change. A slower attack will sound a little smoother, rounding out the sound of your source a little bit and in essence making it sound a little "fatter". A slower attack will generally be less noticeable which can be good for vocals and some thin or scratchy guitars. Setting your attack to a faster setting can be great for instruments such as drums or any other very aggressive instruments. A faster attack will give an instrument more of an aggressive, pumping feel, and potentially bring out more of the high end edginess. The ultimate decider on where to set this is by listening. I tend to set vocals a little slower, guitars in the middle, and drums faster to start. From there, if you need a little more aggressiveness or snap you can speed up the attack, and if it needs to be a little smoother or fuller you can slow it down. As in all things with sound, let what you hear guide your settings and adjust until you are happy.

Release

 
The release is the back side of the attack, and sets how quickly you want to release the compression once that loud burst is over. As with the attack, a slower release will sound smoother and less noticeable but could end up taking some of the aggressiveness out of aggressive instruments by compressing them when they don't need to be. I again will tend to start a little slower for vocals, middle of the road for guitars, and faster for drums. You'll want to again experiment with where to set this by listening to the sound. If the source sounds like it is pumping a little bit, slow the release down to help even it out a bit. If it feels like you might be losing something on the next note/beat, you likely need to speed the release up a bit. Again, let the sound of the source guide you to where it should be set. Listen and adjust until it sounds right to you.

Output

 
Most compressors have an output to help boost the volume of the end result, and here's where I tend to see a lot of mistakes made. Now that you've taken that 85 to 105 dB vocal and compressed it down to a manageable 85 to 93 dB, you may need to increase the output a little to get it over those guitars and drums. Instead of reaching for the gain or trim knobs (which would then bring more signal into the compressor and would change how you've set your compressor), if you add 5 dB of gain to your output you just took that 85-93 dB and made it 90-98 dB.

Especially Useful in Worship Environments!

 
Compressors are a huge help to the sound man and used right they will help you get great sound out of your sources and give you the ability to get the mix where you want it. Compressors are especially useful in the worship environment where the voice of those leading the worship must always be present but not piercing, where more and more guitars are being used to lead the music but can't overtake the vocals, and where many churches use acoustic drums.

Wrap Up!

 
I truly believe that no one setting is right for any vocal or instrument. If you start with a lower basic setting and then adjust based off of what you are hearing, your compressors can give you a great edge to get your mix balanced and layered according to plan. Just remember, you don't want to compress something more than you need to. If you're having trouble keeping a source in it's place in the mix the compressor is the tool to help you make that happen.

Duke DeJong
Church Relations Director
CCI Solutions