Audio Class Intensive - 4 Days - what to teach

jonliles

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I've been asked to teach a 4 day intensive covering Sound/Audio in the theatre plus 1 day of practicals at the Georgia Gov'r's Honors Program. Saying 4 days is misleading. It breaks down to 4 one hour sessions with the entire tehatre dept (~40 students) and then 4 three hour sessions with just the 4 Technical Theatre students.

What do you wish you were taught or your students learned in an advanced high school setting? (I'm looking at you @Footer )

Topics I am considering:
For All: Physics of Sound (waves, amplitude, frequency); different type of mics to use with the human voice (headset/hairline/lavaliers/handhelds - omni's & directionals), placement, and their different strength/weaknesses; necessity to project (can't ampliofy what's not there) ... What Else? Keep in mind this is only a total of 4 hours.

For the Tech. Theatre Students:
-Basics of a signal path from mic to loudspeakers; Things we do to alter that signal path such as: Gain structure, routing, intro to EQ, Intro to Fx; setting up a small event such as a speaker or small panel, setting up for a small band ... What Else? this is 4 3-hour sessions.

Who has material they would be willing to share?

Thanks for the input.
 
How to deal with common problems professionally, and how to begin troubleshooting the uncommon ones. It's one thing to know how to troubleshoot when you're in rehearsal, but another thing entirely when the show is running and someone angrily informs you that a mic is not working, or the monitors are off, or there's this weird bit of feedback happening and you need to decide what to do. I don't know if I'd go deep into things like the OODA loop and other formalized troubleshooting techniques, but maybe.

We've covered this sort of thing for sound/lighting/whatever by having a bit at the end of the workshop where we'll describe a setup in pretty general terms, and then say "X isn't working, what do you do?". Have them talk through their troubleshooting process (which in itself is a useful habit).

When it comes to running a show, I want people who aren't going to freak out when something goes wrong.

Really though, just spend the whole time teaching them how to coil cables and you'll be setting them up for success.
 
Really though, just spend the whole time teaching them how to coil cables and you'll be setting them up for success.

We always need good cable coilers!
 
I have a sound engineer whi is retired but used to tour with Ricky Skaggs, Van Halen, the Four Tops and other named groups. Now he does sound for our local community theater and loves to teach interested kids.

I say "Follow the Sound".
Actor speaks
Microphone picks up sound
cables or wifi transmit sound
Amplifiers, EQ's, Mixers etc
Cable back to speakers
Speakers

In each step in this journey, there are best practices, features, techniques, troubleshooting, ideal and compromise situations, etc.

Now they all know what happens between actor and speaker and how it travels and is manipulated along the way. All get the overview, Tech kids more in-depth and hands on.

Could do the same with lights.
 
I would add acoustics to the physics of sound. Here's why your theatre sounds better than the gym. Here's why we have speakers placed where they are, etc. I would totally add basic signal path to everybody. Do you have enough gear that student could go hands-on? Especially for the trouble shooting part. I break my class into groups of three and have one group sabotage a sound system (mess with mixer settings, phantom power, cables) for the next team to troubleshoot.
 
Great ideas, gang!

@seanandkate , we have enough gear, but not enough students and I will have all 4 of them at once
 
Along with the physics, is the wiring. Explain, XLR vs. T(R)S vs. RCA... and the cable connector doesn't dictate what's on the cable. For instance, a TRS could be unbalanced stereo input or output, balanced audio (again in or out), or an insert. You can't blindly look at a cable and determine the content.

Along with this is a discussion of why XLR is vastly superior to TRS 1/4".

Then mic placement (3:1 rule) and feedback.

Then onto the console, aka "if you're turning those little knobs a lot, you're doing it wrong."
 
Along with the physics, is the wiring. Explain, XLR vs. T(R)S vs. RCA... and the cable connector doesn't dictate what's on the cable. For instance, a TRS could be unbalanced stereo input or output, balanced audio (again in or out), or an insert. You can't blindly look at a cable and determine the content.

Along with this is a discussion of why XLR is vastly superior to TRS 1/4".

Then mic placement (3:1 rule) and feedback.

Then onto the console, aka "if you're turning those little knobs a lot, you're doing it wrong."

I'm not so sure the physics of sound/wiring is important beyond a 1/4 connector on a Speaker Wire is different then the wire we plug a guitar into an AMP with. (so touching on basics of resistance and such and why certain cables/connectors matter.) I'm not sure in the short time that the science of sound is as important as it's practical implementation of skills and trouble shooting knowledge.

XLR vs TRS, Bal vs UnBal exactly!

+1 for all the stuff in this thread. If you really want to get into the science of "Physics of Sound (waves, amplitude, frequency);" i'd keep that for your 4 specific students or touch on it only in how it works on a practical basis as volume/ delay/ phasing/ pitch etc.

A good primary on those "problem frequency, and where things like "the human voice sits", the snap a kick drum, vs the whomph! explain the magic HPF button and that we always HPF all the things!
 

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