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 September is Preamp Month at Sweetwater!
September is Preamp Month at Sweetwater!
With well over 100 flavors of Studio Preamps, you can find just the right style to treat your signal path! From single and dual channel preamps to channel strips and multi channel preamps, Sweetwater carries a wide variety of high-quality studio processors that can add just the right touch to your recordings. Are you new to the studio? If so, you might want to take a few extra minutes to review our Preamp Buying Guide which offers a load of incredibly useful information when searching for the right preamp for the right job. Whether you want to add warmth or nothing at all, we have the right Studio Preamp for you. Call the Studio Preamps experts at 1-800-222-4700, or browse our new online Studio Preamp department today!
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| Backline |
A general term that includes all necessary band gear including guitar, bass and keyboard amplifiers, drums, microphone stands and cables, sometimes also encompassing keyboard instruments and rarely guitars and basses. It excludes any part of the house or stage monitor sound systems, which serve to amplify the backline gear. Originally a bit of tour jargon, the term is now accepted in touring groups' contract riders and insurance forms.
Note that the term refers to the equipment itself and NOT to a specific area of the stage. Backline gear can be offstage, under the stage or in other locations. |
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| Setting Front-of-House Delay to Match Backline Sound |
In many smaller club settings your main sound system can face competition from the signals generated by the backline - the drums and amplifiers onstage. These project into the audience and can cause timing-related problems that are perceived as "smeared" audio. There's a relatively simple way to combat this and produce a cleaner, more pleasing FOH sound.
First, we'll note that pro sound contractors use sophisticated room analysis software to calculate the correct alignment times necessary for their FOH systems to sound their best. This function is built into the dbx DriveRack 260 and DriveRack PA, for example. Here's a much less scientific - and more approximate - method.
Since the idea is to counter the sound coming off the stage, start by selecting the loudest acoustic source onstage. This is usually the snare drum. Have your drummer play single strokes on the drum, about one per second. Make sure he or she plays at "gig" level!
Start with the approximate formula that 1 foot equals 1 millisecond (rounding the speed of sound down to 1000 feet per second). Measure the distance from the snare to the drivers of your sound system and set the delay that's connected to your FOH system accordingly. BE SURE your sound system volume is as close to equal the acoustic snare's volume as possible. This won't be your gig level; it's just for purposes of setting the delay.
Now use your ears and add or subtract delay amounts until you hear the closest possible attack consonance between the stage sound and the speaker sound. You'll get better at this with practice. |
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