Operating Your Sound Equipment
OPERATING YOUR SOUND SYSTEM We have discussed how to check a hall to determine whether it is possible to get good sound coverage in it; we have talked about how to set up your sound equipment to get the best sound coverage possible; this time let's talk about how to use that sound equipment, once you have set it up.
Your microphone--what it does and how to use it:
The microphone has a diaphragm which when vibrated by the sound of your voice striking it, generates electrical energy and feeds it to your amplifier. Unfortunately, it also picks up all of the other sound waves that strike it. How do you hold a microphone so that only your voice goes into it, and not the other sounds that you don't want to pick up? Up close to your lips. Forget about all of the people you see on TV with a mic. clipped to their neckties or held 8 inches away from their lips. That won't work for you! Why?
Two reasons. First: The law of inverse squares, if you hold your mic. a half inch from your lips it receives a given amount of sound energy from your voice. Move it twice as far--1 inch--does it receive half as much energy? No--only one fourth as much! That extra half inch takes away three quarters of the efficiency of your sound system! Second: When you move the mic. away from your lips, you must turn up more power to be heard, and more outside sound enters the mic.. When sound from the speaker enters the mic. it is fed back into the amplifier, and in a split second it builds into the earsplitting screech we know as feedback. Feedback is always the result of poor microphone technique: not working close enough to the mic..
Form the habit of holding your mic. correctly and it will soon become second nature to you.
Now that we know how to hold a microphone, there is more that must be learned, involving projection and enunciation. Did you ever hear somebody use a mic. and you couldn't understand a word they said? The next speaker uses the same mic. and he doesn't sound any louder, but suddenly every word is clear? There's more to it than working close to the mic..
How loudly should you speak into a microphone? If you are sitting at a table that is six feet in diameter and you project enough so that someone sitting across the table can hear you clearly, that's about how much you should project into a microphone. You don't need to shout: In fact, doing so can overload a mic.. Form the habit of projecting your voice into it. Again, it will become automatic in a short time.
It is quite possible for people to hear you clearly, and still not be able to understand what you say; a loud mumble is still a mumble! Many of us don't open our mouths very much when we speak. Most of us are not consciously aware of the locations, inside our mouths, where we form our words. How we enunciate is very important.
Here's an experiment you can do yourself: It won't take much time or trouble and it will prove all of the things we have been saying. It is also good practice at forming the correct habits. Set up your sound system at home. If you have a tape recorder, so much the better. Plug it into your amplifier so you can play back your experiments and listen to the results.
Let's take some words; they don't have to make sense: shuffle, step slide. Set the mic tone control at normal an turn up some volume. Say the words in a normal voice, holding the mic. about an inch from your lips, and listen carefully. Now hold the mic. so it touches your lips and say them again at the same volume. Now move the mic. an inch to the side and say them again. Notice how the sound drops off. Mic. technique is important!
How and where you form your words in your mouth is also very important. Try this: Say some words into the mic. as you would normally say them. Now, consciously try to form the same words as far back in your mouth as you can and say them into the mic.. Now, consciously try to form each sound of each word as far forward in your mouth as you can, and say them again. The difference is amazing! When you are using a microphone, try very hard to form your words as far forward in your mouth as you can, using your lips, teeth and the tip of your tongue. This kind of practice pays off. In a very short time it becomes automatic and you couldn't mumble if you tried! Try smiling as you speak--the words will form in the front of your mouth and you can hear the improvement in clarity.
Here is one more test: Say the same words again, this time turning the mic. tone control towards bass. Notice how the sibilants disappear, and you sound as if you had developed a lisp? Now turn it towards the treble. The sibilants come back, but your voice sounds less mellow. If you have to choose between sounding mellow and being understood, which do you pick? Take out a little treble to make your voice sound more pleasing, but not to the extent that you lose any intelligibility.
Handling your music:
Since you are all set up, let's move over to the music side. You normally have three knobs there:. volume, bass, and treble. A lot of people don't use the volume control enough. You can't just set it and forget it.
Different recordings are recorded at different levels. This means that you must check volume every time you change CD, MiniDisc, record, or tape, and sometimes it's a good idea during playing. Do you drop the music volume a bit while you are cueing over the music so the dancers can hear you clearly, and bring it up when you are not? Doing this insures the dancers are hearing the cues they need to hear while still being able to dance to the music. Are you cueing a routine the dancers know very well or is it a new one where they have a greater need to hear your cues? Ask yourself these questions when adjusting the volume and tone on your sound system.
The bass control is for the low frequencies in your music. If your music source has a real booming bass, you can take some of it out. If it is mostly fiddle, with a weak bass beat, you can put some more in, to get a more solid rhythm that the dancers can hear. More about this control when we discuss balancing the program and playing back taped music.
The treble control is for the high frequencies in the music. A fiddle tune may sound a bit screechy, especially in some halls--taking out some of the treble can make it sound a lot better. If you have an old favorite record or tape that sounds a bit worn and scratchy then take out some of the treble and you cut down the surface noise and hiss. For a weak melody lead boost the treble and it may come through better.
Using MP3 music:
If you use MP3 music, either on a laptop or MP3 player, make sure the level is correct and recorded correctly, especially if you have created the MP3 yourself. "Normalizing" insures the volume levels are consistent on MP3 songs. Abide by all legal considerations when using MP3's.
Music on tape:
With many makes and models of cassette recorders the music will sound much bassier than the original, when played back though your sound system. With some of them you may have to turn the bass all the way to minimum and the treble to maximum in order to get the music to sound normal. Any tape which was made by air pickup through the microphone that is built into the recorder will suffer a loss of highs and sound more bassy than the original. Again, you must cut bass and boost the treble to improve the results on playback.
Balancing the program:
In any hall there is three levels of sound: The ambient noise, made by the dancers, sideline conversations, etc.; the music level, which must be louder than the ambient noise, and the voice program, which must come through clearly over the other two.
In almost every piece of music there are certain frequencies that interfere with the voice cueing program so that your cues don't come clearly over the music. Do some practice cueing with your sound system, and as you do, experiment with the music bass and treble controls. The chances are that for any given piece of music you will find a combination of settings that really make a difference and helps your voice stand out clearly over the music. A little homework can make a difference in how well your dancers can hear you.
Recordings with vocals: Any dance instructor can tell you that these are the toughest to work with. The dancers are put in the situation of listening to two voices at the same time and trying to understand what each is saying. Try lowering the music volume as mush as you dare while you are cueing; cut some treble out of the music and add some to your voice--or vice versa. One or the other (more likely the first) might help.
In a reverberant hall, certain frequencies will echo worse than others. If high sounds like snare drums, rattle around, cut the treble as far as you dare. If the echo sounds boomy and bassy, cut the bass and boost the treble a bit. Always hold the volume down as much as you can: The louder the program the worse the echo. As we have mentioned before, you can't get good sound in a truly bad hall, but maybe these tips will be of some help.
Your microphone--what it does and how to use it:
The microphone has a diaphragm which when vibrated by the sound of your voice striking it, generates electrical energy and feeds it to your amplifier. Unfortunately, it also picks up all of the other sound waves that strike it. How do you hold a microphone so that only your voice goes into it, and not the other sounds that you don't want to pick up? Up close to your lips. Forget about all of the people you see on TV with a mic. clipped to their neckties or held 8 inches away from their lips. That won't work for you! Why?
Two reasons. First: The law of inverse squares, if you hold your mic. a half inch from your lips it receives a given amount of sound energy from your voice. Move it twice as far--1 inch--does it receive half as much energy? No--only one fourth as much! That extra half inch takes away three quarters of the efficiency of your sound system! Second: When you move the mic. away from your lips, you must turn up more power to be heard, and more outside sound enters the mic.. When sound from the speaker enters the mic. it is fed back into the amplifier, and in a split second it builds into the earsplitting screech we know as feedback. Feedback is always the result of poor microphone technique: not working close enough to the mic..
Form the habit of holding your mic. correctly and it will soon become second nature to you.
Now that we know how to hold a microphone, there is more that must be learned, involving projection and enunciation. Did you ever hear somebody use a mic. and you couldn't understand a word they said? The next speaker uses the same mic. and he doesn't sound any louder, but suddenly every word is clear? There's more to it than working close to the mic..
How loudly should you speak into a microphone? If you are sitting at a table that is six feet in diameter and you project enough so that someone sitting across the table can hear you clearly, that's about how much you should project into a microphone. You don't need to shout: In fact, doing so can overload a mic.. Form the habit of projecting your voice into it. Again, it will become automatic in a short time.
It is quite possible for people to hear you clearly, and still not be able to understand what you say; a loud mumble is still a mumble! Many of us don't open our mouths very much when we speak. Most of us are not consciously aware of the locations, inside our mouths, where we form our words. How we enunciate is very important.
Here's an experiment you can do yourself: It won't take much time or trouble and it will prove all of the things we have been saying. It is also good practice at forming the correct habits. Set up your sound system at home. If you have a tape recorder, so much the better. Plug it into your amplifier so you can play back your experiments and listen to the results.
Let's take some words; they don't have to make sense: shuffle, step slide. Set the mic tone control at normal an turn up some volume. Say the words in a normal voice, holding the mic. about an inch from your lips, and listen carefully. Now hold the mic. so it touches your lips and say them again at the same volume. Now move the mic. an inch to the side and say them again. Notice how the sound drops off. Mic. technique is important!
How and where you form your words in your mouth is also very important. Try this: Say some words into the mic. as you would normally say them. Now, consciously try to form the same words as far back in your mouth as you can and say them into the mic.. Now, consciously try to form each sound of each word as far forward in your mouth as you can, and say them again. The difference is amazing! When you are using a microphone, try very hard to form your words as far forward in your mouth as you can, using your lips, teeth and the tip of your tongue. This kind of practice pays off. In a very short time it becomes automatic and you couldn't mumble if you tried! Try smiling as you speak--the words will form in the front of your mouth and you can hear the improvement in clarity.
Here is one more test: Say the same words again, this time turning the mic. tone control towards bass. Notice how the sibilants disappear, and you sound as if you had developed a lisp? Now turn it towards the treble. The sibilants come back, but your voice sounds less mellow. If you have to choose between sounding mellow and being understood, which do you pick? Take out a little treble to make your voice sound more pleasing, but not to the extent that you lose any intelligibility.
Handling your music:
Since you are all set up, let's move over to the music side. You normally have three knobs there:. volume, bass, and treble. A lot of people don't use the volume control enough. You can't just set it and forget it.
Different recordings are recorded at different levels. This means that you must check volume every time you change CD, MiniDisc, record, or tape, and sometimes it's a good idea during playing. Do you drop the music volume a bit while you are cueing over the music so the dancers can hear you clearly, and bring it up when you are not? Doing this insures the dancers are hearing the cues they need to hear while still being able to dance to the music. Are you cueing a routine the dancers know very well or is it a new one where they have a greater need to hear your cues? Ask yourself these questions when adjusting the volume and tone on your sound system.
The bass control is for the low frequencies in your music. If your music source has a real booming bass, you can take some of it out. If it is mostly fiddle, with a weak bass beat, you can put some more in, to get a more solid rhythm that the dancers can hear. More about this control when we discuss balancing the program and playing back taped music.
The treble control is for the high frequencies in the music. A fiddle tune may sound a bit screechy, especially in some halls--taking out some of the treble can make it sound a lot better. If you have an old favorite record or tape that sounds a bit worn and scratchy then take out some of the treble and you cut down the surface noise and hiss. For a weak melody lead boost the treble and it may come through better.
Using MP3 music:
If you use MP3 music, either on a laptop or MP3 player, make sure the level is correct and recorded correctly, especially if you have created the MP3 yourself. "Normalizing" insures the volume levels are consistent on MP3 songs. Abide by all legal considerations when using MP3's.
Music on tape:
With many makes and models of cassette recorders the music will sound much bassier than the original, when played back though your sound system. With some of them you may have to turn the bass all the way to minimum and the treble to maximum in order to get the music to sound normal. Any tape which was made by air pickup through the microphone that is built into the recorder will suffer a loss of highs and sound more bassy than the original. Again, you must cut bass and boost the treble to improve the results on playback.
Balancing the program:
In any hall there is three levels of sound: The ambient noise, made by the dancers, sideline conversations, etc.; the music level, which must be louder than the ambient noise, and the voice program, which must come through clearly over the other two.
In almost every piece of music there are certain frequencies that interfere with the voice cueing program so that your cues don't come clearly over the music. Do some practice cueing with your sound system, and as you do, experiment with the music bass and treble controls. The chances are that for any given piece of music you will find a combination of settings that really make a difference and helps your voice stand out clearly over the music. A little homework can make a difference in how well your dancers can hear you.
Recordings with vocals: Any dance instructor can tell you that these are the toughest to work with. The dancers are put in the situation of listening to two voices at the same time and trying to understand what each is saying. Try lowering the music volume as mush as you dare while you are cueing; cut some treble out of the music and add some to your voice--or vice versa. One or the other (more likely the first) might help.
In a reverberant hall, certain frequencies will echo worse than others. If high sounds like snare drums, rattle around, cut the treble as far as you dare. If the echo sounds boomy and bassy, cut the bass and boost the treble a bit. Always hold the volume down as much as you can: The louder the program the worse the echo. As we have mentioned before, you can't get good sound in a truly bad hall, but maybe these tips will be of some help.