Hello and welcome to tech tips. The ongoing blog dedicated to making your church sound experience (and hopefully all your sound experiences) a little easier and stress free. Tech Tips strives to provide everyday uncomplicated advice that is proactive and helps you avoid pitfalls and frustrations related to the task of live sound in less than favorable conditions. Todays tip is entitled “Clean Up Your Act”. How many times have we setup mics and stands and cables in a rush and created a mess worthy of a herd of frollicking teenagers? When I look at some stages and see a sea of tangled cables, I see many things, including an impending technical disater and a potential lawsuit. Remember, you are responsible to keep your setup safe for performers and audience alike. Well having said that…… where to start? Many times people use a mic cable that is far too short and end up running it precariously across the stage in a way that makes it very easy to trip on. Don’t be afraid to use a longer cable and to run it out of the way around everyone’s mic stands where it won’t be tripped over. If you are worried that a longer cable is going to adversly affect your signal quality, worry no more. Microphone cables can be safely run up to 1000 feet with absolutely no signal loss because of a wonderful phenomenon known as balanced operation. Now lets talk about power cables. Often I see the power cables for amplifiers and other devices stretched across the stage just waiting for some unsuspecting performer to stumble upon in the dim light of the stage. A better way is to purchase an inexpensive powerbar and a 20 foot or so extension cable and to run the power cable around everything out of harms way. Next time you are at a big concert check out how neat and tidy everything is and the absence of messy cables. It looks better and is by far way safer for everyone. One of my favorite tricks is to use small throw type rugs to cover cables up. This saves a small fortune on duct tape as well. No one has ever complained about a stage being too neat and it sure looks great from out in the audience. That’s it for now and we will talk to you later in the week. Take care.
techtips@mts.net