%20--%3e%3csvg%20version='1.1'%20id='Layer_1'%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20xmlns:xlink='http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'%20x='0px'%20y='0px'%20viewBox='0%200%201511.95%201507.87'%20style='enable-background:new%200%200%201511.95%201507.87;'%20xml:space='preserve'%3e%3cstyle%20type='text/css'%3e%20.st0{fill:%23FFFFFF;stroke:%23000000;stroke-miterlimit:10;}%20%3c/style%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M1498.59,60.03c0.22,5.2,0.52,9.06,0.52,12.92c0.05,46.34,0,92.68,0.08,139.02%20c0.11,60.67,0.36,121.34,0.45,182.02c0.08,50.68,0.09,101.35,0.03,152.03c-0.05,44.01-0.36,88.02-0.35,132.03%20c0.01,46.34,0.77,92.68,0.25,139.01c-0.66,58.67-12.85,114.93-36.73,168.72c-17.24,38.83-40.56,73.17-69.88,103.95%20c-25.54,26.81-54.05,49.46-85.96,67.95c-36.42,21.1-75.67,34.38-116.96,41.98c-35.98,6.63-72.29,8.66-108.47,3.81%20c-64.41-8.63-124.14-30.62-177-68.87c-33.19-24.02-65.18-49.73-97.56-74.86c-43.71-33.93-87.29-68.02-130.9-102.09%20c-38.34-29.96-76.58-60.04-114.96-89.96c-24.79-19.32-50.93-36.59-79.94-48.91c-34.55-14.67-70.7-21.86-108.26-19.23%20c-54.76,3.84-104.34,21.77-145.49,58.89c-33.24,29.98-57.03,66.24-70.28,109.65c-15.78,51.72-15.1,102.88,3.99,152.96%20c32.25,84.59,93.37,135.71,182.87,152.15c48.04,8.82,93.97,1.23,136.75-21.07c67.84-35.36,109.94-91.19,125.89-166.28%20c5.1-24.03,5.61-48.25,2.58-72.61c-0.72-5.78-0.64-11.65-1.03-19.67c4.83,3.25,7.85,5.1,10.68,7.22%20c33.9,25.35,67.78,50.72,101.64,76.13c4.79,3.6,9.23,7.69,14.12,11.14c4.38,3.1,5.84,6.89,4.84,12.05%20c-2.71,14.06-4.24,28.43-8.11,42.16c-14.37,50.92-37.19,97.59-71.29,138.48c-29.8,35.75-64.77,65.52-105.31,88.03%20c-37.8,20.99-78.38,34.77-121.47,41.02c-64.89,9.41-127.36,0.94-188.22-22.78c-61.12-23.82-111.96-61.71-152.61-112.73%20c-32.33-40.58-54.32-86.64-67.8-136.99c-10.38-38.77-14.49-77.96-12-117.77c2.11-33.65,8.06-66.76,18.32-99%20c17.5-54.97,46.68-103,86.42-144.6c34.98-36.62,76.07-64.47,122.66-84.45c29.92-12.83,60.89-21.56,93.09-25.65%20c33.5-4.25,66.98-4.81,100.66-0.08c51.62,7.24,99.64,24.47,143.94,51.29c23.3,14.11,45.1,30.81,66.92,47.21%20c27.45,20.62,54.31,42.02,81.29,63.25c60.24,47.4,120.29,95.05,180.67,142.28c23.88,18.68,48.07,37.01,72.73,54.65%20c35.1,25.11,74.48,39.71,117.34,44.69c48.8,5.67,94.87-3.12,137.86-27.06c69.34-38.6,110.59-97.25,124.52-175.25%20c1.46-8.19,2.53-16.45,3.69-24.7c0.22-1.6,0.03-3.26,0.03-6.44c-4.08,1.14-7.51,1.76-10.68,3.04%20c-18.21,7.36-36.43,14.69-54.5,22.38c-40.26,17.11-78.39,38.32-115.71,61.01c-29.4,17.88-57.25,37.9-82.93,60.81%20c-4.54,4.05-8.31,5.05-14.23,3.37c-26.63-7.55-53.19-15.16-77.59-28.72c-13.72-7.62-26.97-15.88-39.08-26.7%20c0.27-1.49,0.31-3.16,0.88-4.63c14.57-37.38,35.19-71.04,62.83-100.15c31.2-32.86,67.49-58.43,110.43-73.65%20c28.75-10.19,58.4-16.58,89.1-15.37c43.54,1.73,85.01,11.78,123.49,32.82c2.28,1.24,4.71,2.19,8.18,3.78%20c0-181.09,0-361.19,0-542.39c-217.25,46.91-433.76,93.66-651,140.57c0,116.44,0,231.95,0,348.77c-3.22-1.73-5.24-2.6-7.03-3.81%20c-40.37-27.16-80.65-54.44-121.14-81.43c-5.2-3.47-8.11-7.16-8.08-13.59c0.09-21.66-0.26-43.32-0.23-64.97%20c0.03-21.32,0.39-42.64,0.49-63.96c0.1-21.32,0.09-42.64,0.05-63.97c-0.04-21.66-0.19-43.32-0.27-64.99%20c-0.12-33-0.24-66.01-0.29-99.01c0-1.61,0.68-3.22,1.23-5.66C883.5,192.95,1190.4,126.63,1498.59,60.03z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Sound Guide for Musicians
A free course in how sound works and how to control it — physics, live reinforcement, recording, and theory. Take Sounding Good on Stage from the first booking email to advancing a real room on this week's listings, start a track, or jump to what you need.
Musician briefing
One advanceable room from this week's listings and one lesson. Not the fan city digest.
Live Sound & Reinforcement
Getting a band through a PA without feedback, mud or a fight.
Beginner
Gain Staging: Why Your Signal ClipsSet levels once, in the right order, and everything downstream gets easier — on stage and in the studio.5 min read- Advancing a Show: Stage Plots, Input Lists and RidersThe email that prevents most of what goes wrong at soundcheck — what to send the venue, and what to ask them.6 min read
Live Sound: PA, Monitors and Surviving SoundcheckWhat the house engineer needs from you, what to ask for in your monitor mix, and why the room always wins.4 min read- Power on Stage: Circuits, Not SpeakersWhat a 15A wall socket or a 13A plug actually gives you, why the PA is not the load that trips the breaker, and why you never chain one power strip into another.7 min read
Intermediate
Feedback: Why It Happens and How to Kill ItWhy the loop rings at one frequency, what ringing out really buys, and why indoors the room — not the microphone — sets your ceiling.7 min read- Microphones: Patterns, Placement and ProximityTransduction, polar patterns and proximity effect — why what a mic rejects, and how it sounds off-axis, matter more on a loud stage than how it sounds pointed straight at the source.8 min read
- Monitors and Stage SoundWedges versus in-ears without the sales pitch, why stage volume decides what the audience gets, and how to ask for a monitor change an engineer can act on.7 min read
Cables, Connectors and DI BoxesWhy a balanced line rejects noise, when cable length starts to cost you treble, what a DI box is really doing — and why the ground-lift switch is not the pin in the wall.7 min read
Dynamic Range and HeadroomWhere the range between hiss and clipping actually goes, why the top of it is supposed to sit empty, and what compression charges you for apparent loudness.7 min read- Digital Consoles and Networked AudioScenes and recall, stage boxes, shared preamps and the gain-sharing trap, Dante and friends, latency, and free multitracks.7 min read
Advanced
- Power, Impedance and Matching Amps to SpeakersWhy paralleling one more cabinet changes what the amplifier has to survive, what a power rating leaves out, and why clipping kills drivers without sending DC anywhere.9 min read
- PA Systems and LoudspeakersWhat each enclosure type trades away, why high frequencies need a horn, what a crossover point costs you, and why a sensitivity figure cannot be compared across brands.9 min read
Reading Audio SpecificationsA specification is a claim made under conditions the manufacturer chose — how to read frequency response, noise, distortion and level figures for what they leave out.9 min read