Add this entry to Your Favorites | [0] Favorites [7] Comments

Please wait...

How much bearing does the quality of the audio at southern gospel concerts have on people's decision on how "good" the group is? It's something that should be overlooked by the average concert goer. Yes, the audio should be transparent to the audience at a concert. If attention is brought to the sound, then something is not right. We want the focus to be on God not the fact that folks can't hear something or that the audio is bad.

This is pretty much another general article, where I'd like to get everybody's opinions. My theory is, if I'm doing my job correctly, then nobody(except other people like me)should even know that I'm there. Now, every once in a while, mostly our of courtesy, a fan will come by and say, "you did a wonderful job." I appreciate that too! I really do! And that's fine that they do that, but that still means I had transparent sound.

When I say transparent, I mean natural, or almost like the group not using any sound equipment. I like the sound to sound the same way coming out of the speakers as it would if I were standing right there listening to them sing in my ear. Now, there are some exceptions to musical instruments. This is why I like to call myself a sound reinforcement engineer. The key word there is reinforcement. Not enhancement. It's the engineer's job to create this reinforcement without creating extra sounds that are not made naturally. The only enhancement I've considered using is low frequency enhancement. And here's why.

Low frequencies disappear very quickly the farther away you get from the source, especially with a large room and crowd. Also low frequencies are harder to control, and some of these enhancers help with the control of the lower frequencies in a system. NOTE TO FANS: If you don't like a lot of bass, sit farther away from the subwoofers. Some people ask me, "why is the bass so loud?" Well, bass frequencies can be "patchy." Where you sit really can make a difference, in particularly with the small systems most groups have to use do to traveling space requirements. Without good bass the sound would be thin and have no musical or physical energy and none of us would get to hear all of those good bass singers hit those notes that rattle the windows.

So fans, sound off on this article and sit appropriately according to your bass liking. Engineers, hang in there, fine tune your craft, and even though you'll never think your system sounds exactly how you'd like, that's what will make you better.

Reader Comments

Add Comments

If you are seeing this form you are not a Member or have not logged in. Why not consider becoming a Member?

Membership allows you to have a prepared signature of your choice applied to every comment you make, as well as the ability to choose an avatar to display next to your name to help identify your posts. Members are also given opportunity to vote weekly in our Weekly Chart as well as special Members Only contests, polls and giveaways during the year. If you are already a member, login here, otherwise please register here.

**Note: Forums membership is a seperate membership.

By posting you agree to our Comments Policy

Name:
Email:
Location:
URL:
Comment:
	Remember my personal information
	Notify me of follow-up comments?
Please enter the word you see in the image below: