Lecture: 3 hours/week
In this course, students will participate in lectures and practical groups, working alongside the instructor with a small portable PA to gain experience of the basic principles and to learn how to deal with sound reinforcement in a range of small-to-medium-sized acoustic environments and for diverse applications.
1. Equipment setup
- FOH (front of house) mixer, power amplifiers specification (e.g., power rating, impedance; matching with loudspeakers), speaker systems (including line arrays), monitor sends, wedges, balanced and unbalanced cables
- The decibel and signal levels, voltage and current, signal levels and impedance, balanced and unbalanced connections, grounding, transformers, AC safety, power requirements
- Speaker alignment and placement, feedback elimination, monitor positioning, amplifier levels
- Digital connections and audio over IP
2. Microphones
- Instrument specific, hand-held, headset, lapel, boundary, radio microphones
- Direct Injection (DI)
3. Acoustics
- Room acoustics, standing waves, phase summation and cancellation, absorption, reverberation, critical distance, inverse square law
- The effect of audience on acoustics, seated and non-seated events, sound pressure levels and howl-round. Room modes
4. Assessing a Space
- Loudness requirements, feedback and potential system gain, acoustic/amplified hybrid situations, frequency response, time delay, speech intelligibility, critical distance, health and safety
5. Mixing
- Signal flow, gain structure, line levels, mic levels, pan, routing, EQ, DI, microphone choice and position for different instruments, aesthetics, styles and levels. Working quickly to create a mix and adapting to different genres of music
6. Sound checks
- Sound-check procedures, musician psychology, setting monitor levels
- Monitor position and spill, controlling feedback
- Adapting between the sound check and the live event with audience
7. Troubleshooting
- Diagnosing and dealing with common faults. Soldering, tinning, ground loops and lifting
8. Recording Live performances
- Taking a feed from the FOH console, interfacing with a laptop computer
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Specify, source and set up equipment appropriate to a range of small venues, taking into consideration the different acoustic, musical and social parameters involved;
- Set up and test a sound system for a range of small venue applications, showing due regard for health and safety procedure: SPL (Sound Pressure Level), lifting, electricity and crowd safety;
- Understand the basic signal flow of a FOH (Front of House) and fold back audio systems and be able to diagnose and respond to technical faults quickly;
- Operate a small vocal PA to create viable sound reinforcement over a range of contrasting material;
- Record and mix a live performance;
- Run a sound check with consideration for the performers’ needs and use both musical and sonic criteria to set up viable FOH and monitor mixes using audio processing, as required;
- Integrate the 4R’s (Respect, Responsibility, Relevance and Reciprocity) when working with Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Holders and community partners in live performance settings.
Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy.
The following is an example evaluation scheme:
|
Tests/Quizzes (minimum of 2) |
30% |
|
Midterm Practical Exam |
20% |
|
Final Practical Exam |
40% |
|
Professionalism Total |
10% 100% |
Professionalism is assessed on consistent attendance, punctuality, taking responsibility for deadlines, constructive and considerate interpersonal communication and contribution to class discussion and group work.
Instructors may use a student's record of attendance and/or level of active participation as part of the student's graded performance. Expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline.
This is a letter-graded course.
Textbooks will be assigned at the discretion of the instructor. The following texts serve as examples:
Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook (Hal Leonard Publishing, current edition)
White, P., Live Sound for the Performing Musician (Sanctuary Publishing, current edition)
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