Mixing techniques?

[pianomandan]

I was taught that there's no right way. If you're in charge of the board, do what works best for you. If you're using somebody else's board, do what they do. Personally, I prefer to set the gains at the beginning of practice so that all of the sliders are at 0, then go from there... it just makes for a nice starting point when you do things. That said, the sliders quickly get moved around (especially as singers get warmed up and/or tired). Unless something extreme happens, I try to avoid messing with the gain when we're live.

I don't get to run the board much anymore, as I'm stuck on stage.

[Ron J.]

Originally Posted by JHVideoGuy

This topic has been discussed in several other places on line (CSC and SynAudCon mailing lists to name a few). The best explanation of how to properly set the gain structure for you console is from Bill Johnson. It's the 1st article "The Target Gain Method".

Basically he talks about setting the maximum gain per channel as to not overload the busses in the board. He explains how to go about this. I don't know how this applies to VCA consoles as the busses are not signal paths. I guess you'd figure it out as to not overload your main. And I don't think you can overload a buss in a digital board since it's just numbers once it's passed the head amp. But I'm just speculating here.

-dave

This is the method I insist our sound crew uses. This gives us a base line for the crew to start at. We use this method during practice and unless absolutely necessary adjust the gain during the service. But when we use Bill Johnson method we have not run into many situations where we need to adjust the gains during the service.

[tedanderson]

Originally Posted by Drew Ryan

The one thing that they don't tell you is the 0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0 equals more like +9dB than 0dB.

That's that new math!

[joshuacrispin]

It differs based on the system..especially the console used...and etc etc etc..
But the pro standard is to set signal gain to the boards optimum S/N Ratio, then adjust faders as needed/per system/console design.

[wschill]

I tend to avoid adjusting the trim pots whenever possible, and in general, set up the board n the following fashion:

#1 Set the trim pots so that the incoming signal is just below clipping when the singer / instrument is playing with maximum volume. Repeat for each channel.
#2 Adjust the sliders to +10db (max) and make certain that the channels do not feedback. If they do, I decrease the trim ever so slightly to remove the feedback.
#3 Set the sliders back to 0db and check that the sound is appropriate.

By following this procedure, I typically end up with most channels in the range of +/- 5db of 0 db. Under certain circumstances, I may have to adjust the subs down a bit to lower instrumentalists a bit farther, but it tends to work pretty well.

I've also gotten sued to the capabilities of each of our microphones, and generally have found that, at least for our board, there are certain locations I can always set the trim pots to and not cause a problem. In fact, unless someone else runs boards and adjusts the trims, I usually have very little setup to do unless the system is being sued in a drastically different setup.

[Rickcperry]

For what it's worth... I will CUE or SOLO a channel with the fader all the way down. Crank the gain amp up until I get around -16db on the channel (Yamaha LS9/M7CL) This leaves me a little headroom but gets me a nice signal. I will do this for all channels on the initial sound check/setup. I then push the faders to about -5 db and tell them to play a song. I am usually close enough to nail the mix within a song or two. From that point on I just tweak EQ's and compressors.
I am lucky to have a separate monitor console so that if I want to tweak a headamp gain, I can without problem. On Aux monitor setup's, If I HAVE to tweak a gain I will correct it on the aux channel before going any further. IE- If I crank the gain +3 db on the head amp, I will drop -3 on ALL aux outs on the channel strip. This usually works without problems when running wedges. If you are running In Ear setups you may get comments like, It got real loud for about 10 seconds but then went back to normal. Is this normal? Don't lie to them, admit what you did so that in the future they will know what you are up to.

[liko81]

My understanding was that the "unity fader" mixing method was a combination of an easy way to balance the system for novice users to come in behind, and a way to work around older mixing board circuitry that colored the tone at settings other than unity.

As a method allowing novice users easy access to the board, it's OK. The advantage is that there is one common setting for each fader that places that source at an acceptable level in the full mix, while still allowing volume adjustments should anything need tweaking. That makes it far less daunting for a new person coming in. The disadvantage is that if you ever need significantly more, you can't really get it with the fader (which usually maxes out at about +6dB, which is an appreciable but not always useful volume boost). Now you have to boost the gain setting, and now 0 isn't the "normal" level for that fader anymore.

The better solution is to use the gain controls for their proper purpose, making sure you get a healthy, clean input signal level for the mixer to work with, and then if you want to denote a "normal" fader position to avoid a newbie fading in a little too much from fully down, you can do so with a bit of label tape or a P-touch label on a magnetic strip (depends on how much clearance the faders have over the mixer surface).

As a method to work around cheap fader circuitry, its time has come and gone. Even the cheapest mixers out there nowadays use relatively transparent designs for the fader controls, so you can be confident that boosting the fader will give you more of everything evenly.

[wogster]

Originally Posted by liko81

My understanding was that the "unity fader" mixing method was a combination of an easy way to balance the system for novice users to come in behind, and a way to work around older mixing board circuitry that colored the tone at settings other than unity.

As a method allowing novice users easy access to the board, it's OK. The advantage is that there is one common setting for each fader that places that source at an acceptable level in the full mix, while still allowing volume adjustments should anything need tweaking. That makes it far less daunting for a new person coming in. The disadvantage is that if you ever need significantly more, you can't really get it with the fader (which usually maxes out at about +6dB, which is an appreciable but not always useful volume boost). Now you have to boost the gain setting, and now 0 isn't the "normal" level for that fader anymore.

The better solution is to use the gain controls for their proper purpose, making sure you get a healthy, clean input signal level for the mixer to work with, and then if you want to denote a "normal" fader position to avoid a newbie fading in a little too much from fully down, you can do so with a bit of label tape or a P-touch label on a magnetic strip (depends on how much clearance the faders have over the mixer surface).

As a method to work around cheap fader circuitry, its time has come and gone. Even the cheapest mixers out there nowadays use relatively transparent designs for the fader controls, so you can be confident that boosting the fader will give you more of everything evenly.

What I do, I have a two part process, during rehearsal or sound check, set fader at unity, set gain to get a good level. During the service, I leave the gain alone, and use the fader to adjust. This means that if a novice is running the board, or I need to accomplish 4 tasks at once, I can set the faders at unity, and know that it will be at least listenable, until I can get back to the board and adjust the fader.