Running Sound: Know the Basics

http://www.musiccleveland.com/PA_System_Basics.html

This past summer I got the most experience I've had running sound. I didn't necessarily run a board for an extended period of time, but I did get to set up a system and see how it works. My home church had to set up and take down every Sunday and so as I helped my friend (the sound guy) set everything up I paid attention to how he did things and worked the room to get the best sound out of it. During the week when I would have worship practices I needed to set up a system myself, so that helped me get very familiar with how things worked. Although I may not be able to mix well and EQ rooms right now, I have enough knowledge to step up if need be.

Basic System:
- mixing board
- amps (supply power for speakers, instruments, mics, ext..)
- speakers
- cables (mics, instruments, speakers,ect..)
- microphones/instruments

Setting it up:
1) Make sure all power is OFF
2) Plug necessary cables into the input/channels of the mixer and then into the designated microphones/instruments
3) Plug speaker cable into the output socket of the mixer
4) Plug other end of speaker cable into the input socket of the speaker
5) Plug the amps into the mixer board (if you have them) and then you will plug the speakers into the amps
6) When turning it on: Mixer first, then amps, then speakers.
7) When turning it off: Speakers first, then amps, then mixer

That should be a how to on a basic PA type system with instrumentation. If there seems to be some iffy things then let me know, after all I don't know it all. I would also suggest running through these steps with your whole worship team so that everyone has an idea of how to set it up and turn it on to get things rolling. It can't hurt, but only help.

My goal is to grow in proficiency with sound so that if I ever need to step up and run it, I can. Hopefully this helps those who may not have understood before and gives you an idea of the basics.

God Bless!