Learning the ropes...

[wutwuzdat]

Hi all,

This is my first post here. I'm really glad I found this site. A little about me... I'm 21 years old and working on a bachelors in Business administration. I play the classical guitar and I own a amp. That is as far as I had gone in terms of 'sound engineering' until about 6 months ago.

Some background... About a year ago my family and I started going to a new church. Up until that point the church was averaging about 15 - 20 people on Sunday. Now there is a new Pastor and we now are averaging more than 100 on Sundays! It's been amazing to see the Lord at work.

Anywho, the sound system we had was kinda old and the quality sounded about the same. They still recorded the services on tape. So about 6 months ago we bought a new sound board (Yamaha MG206C to be exact) along with half a dozen A-T MB 4k/c. We also bought a computer and are using the USB out on the Yamaha to record the services to MP3/CD (Audacity).

During this whole time I have become the go-to guy for all things sound (kinda ironic considering how little I know). The gentleman currently running the sound system is older, and has a hard time hearing some of the stuff that is going on. To be brutally honest, he has no idea how to operate the new soundboard. The sound we are getting is problematic at best. I have been experimenting with the board when I can and I seem to have a general idea of how things work. The pastor is realizing the problem and I have the feeling that I'm going to be the 'sound guy' in the very near future.

Now I come to my question... Are there any websites/videos that I can use to help me learn/improve mixing live sound? Also, can you guys offer me any tips or tricks that you've come across?

Thanks in advance

[2cool]

Hi, welcome I can give you a few answers. I am fairly new to this site as well. The guys on this site are AWESOME and they know there stuff. As a matter of fact they know more than you can handle. So just do what I do and ask them to 'Explain it step-by-step and simple' and they will. I have looked things up on YouTube which has some good visual stuff. But you can upload pic's here and give your spec's and.... The Answers will come! (and sorry to say it this way but these guys have already gone through some of the Drama/Issues you might/will/are. God Bless and my advice is to experiment as often/much as you can.

[Jeff92k7]

Before you even think about training and what changes you want to make, you need to handle the people issue. You need to find out for certain if this is what the pastor wants and then make sure that you discuss it with the gentleman that is currently volunteering. You may find that he is frustrated and is only doing it because he feels no one else will. What you don't want to do is start taking it over without discussing it with him first because you may end up having a people problem on top of your sond problems. Working in the tech area of churches is just as much a ministry as any other program, and in every ministry, people come first. The whole reason tech ministries exist is to make sure that people can participate in worship - help them hear the music, help them see the pastor, etc. If you forget about the people, you will not be an effective tech, no matter how much knowledge you gain.

That said, The best advice I can give is read, read, read, followed by practice, practice, practice. Read through the forums here. Read through the study hall material at www.prosoundweb.com. Read through any of the basic soundman books (yamaha makes a very well known one).
Follow up all that knowledge with practice. Go to the church sometime when no one is around. Play a CD and start turning knobs. Listen to what each one does. Test out and apply some of the knowledge from your reading.

I was in a similar position about 20 years ago. I loved fiddling with electronics and there wasn't really anyone else that wanted to run the sound. Now, nearly 20 years later, I oversee all of our tech ministries and I love every minute of it.

Jeff Foster
Technical Director
Northside Baptist Church
Carrollton, Texas
www.nsbcc.org

[Lambsmedia]

Check out ownthemix.com from Dustin at Buckhead Church.

[chevelle1970]

Look for this DVD (Live Sound Reinforcement) There is also a book with the same name. I have both and there is a lot of Info in them that has help me understand a lot. Also (Making the connection the fender pro audio primer)
this is a book that I was given from a sound tech in a traveling gospel band when I was new and this was my start in the sound system. hope they help

[wutwuzdat]

Thanks for the input guys, it's been helpful. I'm going to sit down with the pastor and another man who understands the situation and just talk about our options. Thanks for the info on the DVD/book. I had heard that Yamaha had a DVD about this kinda stuff but was having a hard time finding it. I'll have to get those.

[Live4the1]

I just recently found this site http://www.behindthemixer.com/ . There is some good info there.