Need basic audio educational materials for a beginner..

[LewnWorx]

Ok, so here's my challenge:

I've got a good friend who works merch for us at a lot of festivals who's been complaining that a lot of the bands come through her town and they hit clubs where they have to mix from stage and it sucks.  

Or they'll play at a venue where the house provides some crap PA but no sound guy to run it and the band can't even figure out how to get it up and running.

She's already working merch and wouldn't mind learning both the wiring plant and basics of how to mix and run a desk.  Now normally when somebody says that I just go 'yeah right" but this is the same person who picked up stand up bass after never playing a thing in her whole life and is now regularly filling in on said bass for a whole mess of bands when their regular bass player can't make the gig for some reason, and at one festie I did this year she ended up filling in for 6 bands over 2 days.  So when she says she's willing to take something on, I take her at her word.

So that being said, I'm looking for stuff I can download and print and send to her to read over before I get a chance to work with her directly next month.  Bear in mind I haven't looked for anything along these lines in eons so I have no idea what's out there.  I've already thought of seeing if Rane still has all those nifty white notes they used to have (some of which were DAMN funny), but am looking for any of the following topics:

Basic PA signal flow.  Mics / Sub Snakes / Snakes / Desk IO / Returns / and in my case powered speak topology.

Basic descriptions of gain staging, what compressors are, decent explaination of graphic and parametric EQ's, desk topologies, etc. 

Freq charts for common instruments, partciularly acousticy bluegrass stuff.

Now I have to print all this stuff and snail mail it as she doesn't have internet or smartphone, so I'm looking for PDF's and the like.

So.. If anybody's ran across stuff like this that you found particularly helpful, I'd love to see it.

Likewise if there's any really decent books on the subject I'd be willing to go that route too.

Thanks..

[Dogoth]

 

OK I won't go "Yea right" :-) but this is still a pretty big challenge to learn in a month. The problem I see is that someone might learn to do some specific task in a short time but when thrown a curve, can fail catastrophically (just enough knowledge to be dangerous). This is where training & years of experience comes in. That said, everyone has to start somewhere.

 

I'd recommend the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement handbook. It has been in print for years and is sort of a "standard of the industry" for learning the basics. It is well written and consumable by laymen (or women in this case :-), yet can get into the technical aspects if you want to read deeply.

I just happen to have a couple of the frequency charts that you asked about. Here's the links:

http://www.dogoth.com/for_friends/eq key freq chart.jpg

http://www.dogoth.com/for_friends/frequency keyboard chart.gif

These both look at frequency from a different perspective, check them out (a color printer will help a lot).

Enjoy

[Craig Vecchione]

I'll second the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook.

[StratGuy22]

http://www.yorkville.com/downloads/other/paguide.pdf

[RiddimRyder]

Hi, I would recommend a book called Live Sound Fundamentals by Bill Evans.  The Yamaha Live Sound DVD is also good.  These are both geared toward the beginner.

Here is the description of the book from the publisher:  Until now, there hasn't been a book or learning resource that aimed to teach audio newbies and musicians how to set up and mix a live audio event. For years, they have had to learn about live audio through a frustrating and time-consuming process of trial and error or by watching others. LIVE SOUND FUNDAMENTALS provides the "missing manual" to the art of live sound, covering the topic from a real-world point of view, and deals with real problems and real solutions from the field. It is a solid how-to guide to the fundamentals of setting up and mixing live audio events, covering the equipment, processes, and techniques required for obtaining expert results. Everything is taught with the beginner in mind, with helpful pictures and illustrations combined with easy-to-understand techniques. After reading this book, you'll walk away with a solid grasp of the fundamental skills you'll need to work in the live event audio world.

[monthlymixcd]

 

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StratGuy22 wrote:

 

http://www.yorkville.com/downloads/other/paguide.pdf

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I like the bit about hearing fatigue...

[FormerlyBassred]

Bill Evans, he's got a site called SPL network now. Nice guy! I haven't read his book, but I bet its a good one.

 

The Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Manual is like the bible for sound, but it can get a little over-your-head if you are new to the game. 

 

I found it hard to find a book that was complete but not too tchnical and yet, not too watered down (church-focused sound books tend to be really basic, almost to the point of being less helpful...) So I created a guide for my team. I hope you have better luck finding something that will work!