Sound System Checklist
“How To Get Sound From The
System”
(Follow this link for an
MS Word version of the document.)
To Get The Board Working
The basic steps to be followed
in order to power-up the sound system and get sound from the system
are:
- Turn on the power bar located on platform.
- Check to see that the power lights are lit up on the
following items:
- The power amplifier at front of platform,
- The sound board,
- The tape deck.
- Turn on the bass amplifier located to the rear-left
of the platform (the switch is on the rear of the amplifier in the
upper-right corner). Do
not change the settings of this amplifier.
- On the mixer, check to see that the red “Rude Solo”
light is off. If it
is flashing this means that one of the “Solo” buttons is
selected (pushed in); check each channel and make sure that each
channel’s “Solo” button is in the “out” position.
- If you intend to use one or more of the on-platform
monitors:
- Check that the monitors are powered-on.
- Check the mixer and ensure that the “Master Level
Aux 1” and “Master Level Aux 2” knobs are set to
“U”. Note, it
should not be necessary to change these master controls
later on; if you feel a need to change these it is an indication
that something else is not properly adjusted.
- Check to see that the Effects “Bypass” switch is
selected (pushed in) and that the red light above the switch is
lighted.
- For each channel you intend to use:
- Pull the channel’s slider all the way down.
- Check to see that the channel is “un-muted”
(i.e., the “mute” button should be in the “out”
position).
- Check to see that either “1–2” or “3–4”
is selected, but not both (“1–2” for vocals/voices, “3–4”
for instruments/music).
- Check to see that the “Pan” knob is set to the
12 o’clock position (top).
- Check that the “Pre-Fader” button is selected
(pushed in).
- Set the following mixer sliders to “U”: “Sub 1”,
“Sub 2”, “Sub 3”, & “Sub 4”.
- Set the mixer’s “Main Mix” slider to “-5”
(the 5 below “U”).
- Now you are ready to sound-check each channel. For each channel:
- Select (push in) the channel’s “Solo PFL”
button.
- With the musician singing or playing, or the
speaker talking into his/her microphone, turn up the “Mic
Gain/Trim” knob until the “Zero Level” yellow light
consistently flashes, but is not always on. The light is located
immediately to the right of the “Mic Gain/Trim” knob (note,
channels 13/14 and 15/16 do not have this yellow
light, instead make the column of lights labeled “Left” peak
to ”0”).
- While adjusting the “Mic Gain/Trim”, the
column of lights labeled “Left” should be bouncing in
correspondence to the sound the musician/speaker is making.
- While adjusting the “Mic Gain/Trim”, if the
monitor level becomes too loud then turn down the
corresponding “Aux 1” or “Aux 2” knob for that
channel.
- Once the “Mic Gain/Trim” is set, deselect the
“Solo PFL” button.
- Push the slider up to validate you can hear the
musician/speaker in the system.
Once you have verified the channel is working, pull the
slider all the way back down.
- Once the “Mic Gain/Trim” levels have been set for
all the channels you will be using a monitor sound check may need
to be performed. Adjust
the “Aux 1” or “Aux 2” knobs, as appropriate, in
order to send more or less of each channel to the monitors.
- Lastly, as the band plays or the speakers talks, push
each channel’s slider up until the desired volume is reached. Adjust the sliders to
achieve the desired balance between the channels.
To Play A Tape or CD
To use the tape desk/CD player
to play a tape/CD, perform all the steps outlined in “To Get The Board
Working”, above, and press “Play” for the Tape/CD where
the instructions call for the musician to play. All the other instructions in that section are the
same.
To Record Something
To use the tape deck to record
a teaching, the worship, or some other event:
- Mute the channel labeled “Tape”
(channel 16).
- Put tape in tape deck.
- Press “Record” button.
- On channel you want to record set “Efx 1” to
“U”.
- Set “Efx 1 Send” (labeled “Tape Out”) to
“U”.
- Set the house level for the channel.
- Adjust the channel’s “Efx 1” knob, the “Master
Send Efx 1” knob, and the tape deck’s “Record Level”
knob so that the record level consistently peaks to “+6”.
Final Notes
Please keep the following
guidelines in mind as you use the system:
- Do not adjust the “Stereo Graphic EQ” sliders;
they should be set almost “flat” (i.e., all set
to “0”).
- Do not adjust the power amplifier; it should be set
at 3 and 4 (left and right, respectively).
- Leave the Effects block set to “bypass;” unless
specifically directed otherwise.
- Leave Monitor Sends (“Master Send Aux 1” and
“Master Send Aux 2”) set to “U”
Troubleshooting Helps
When you can’t get sound
from a particular channel, from the system itself, etc., but you are
sure that you turned everything on correctly, use the following
technique to try to find the problem: start at the person or
instrument providing the input sound and trace the signal (i.e., the
sound) one step at a time through the system. At each step, don’t continue
until a successful result has been achieved for that step.
Troubleshooting Example
For example, if the tape desk
won’t play through the system:
- Put a tape in the machine and press play
- Can you see signal level indicated on the tape deck’s
meter? If not, the
problem is in the tape deck.
If the meter shows signal, then go to the next step.
- Look at the back of the tape deck and check to see
that the cable is plugged into “Tape Out”.
- Follow the cable to verify that it is properly
plugged into channel 16.
- Follow the steps, above, to set the “Mic Gain/Trim”
level and ensure that the “Left” column of lights shows signal
peaking at “0”
- Double check all the channel and mixer settings as
described above.
- When you push the channel’s slider up, verify that
the two columns of lights labeled “Left” and “Right” are
showing signal.
- Check to see that the power amplifier is turned on
and that its controls are set as described above.
©Copyright 2001, Christopher Rath
Telephone: 613-824-4584
Address: 1371 Major Rd., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1E 1H3
Last updated:
2015/02/14 @ 21:33:57 (
)