Back to the beginning.

[stjc15]

I have heard many af you talk about schools teaching sound. I personally have hat to teach myself, mainly using trial and error. I was just curious as to how some of you learned the art of sound and where you learned it.

 

[soundlight]

I basically used my intuitive side to read up a little bit on some basic manuals, but most of it was learned hands-on with a Mackie 1402 mixer. I've just picked up a whole lot from experience. Lots of trial and error, and lots of live experience with other sound techs.

 

[highschooltech]

Most of what i have learned about doing sound is a result of hanging around with people who know what they are doing and mixing whenever i get a chance. In the beggining a lot of what i learned was trial and error. I think i learned the most from doing a production under an excillent teacher when i signed up to work tech for a youth theater group.

 

[TechiGoz]

I learnt in a mixture of ways! It started off in year 5 setting up the Mic stand for assembly and then I got hooked after that! I read the manuals, and did the hard yards of research understanding what everything meant. When I felt comforable I went and watched techs, everywhere. I then did some work of my own, I watched people, talked to them about their techniques, and then just used alot of TRIAL and ERROR to figure out what sounded good, what did what, and what 'moving this fader to full with gain at 5 o'clock' did.

Just learn by getting out into the field and doing it. Hands on is the best way to learn.

I've had to learn about it myself. But once i knew, I learnt a whole lot more as I was able to understand what people were going on about! If someone was to say to me "You have to take out this 50Hz Frequency to do this" or "this is the EQ from the XLR out to the Amp then through the return" (it doesn't actually make sense but It's just an example haha) i wouldn't have known unless I understood!

So keep learning! Get out into the field. Watch, Ask Questions and most importantly have fun doing it!

Cheers

 

[Eboy87]

I leaned the art side from trial and error; how to make a good mix. Most everything else came from reading the manuals. That being said, I'm going to school to learn the finer points; i.e, the science and electronics part.

 

[mbenonis]

I learned what I know mainly from trial and error and from books. I never really had a teacher/mentor, other than a good friend who showed me the basics of our school sound system. Since then, I just kept working at it and doing as many events as I could to boost my knowledge base.

 

[PhantomD]

I think actual production experience, working your way up, counts WAY more than a pen and a textbook.

That can come later.

I learnt by pure interest - just watched then got involved!

 

[stjc15]

The next quesiton then is what are some good books or reading materials that I can get my hands on. I just need some I dead to play with and see if my basic understanding of everything is correct. Any ideas?

 

[Schniapereli]

For the science of it, I started reading everything I could find about it, and read all of the manuals many times. I got books from the library, and searched the internet in my spare time. (that's how I found this site. Looking up parellipses I think...) I learned a little from other people, but not as much as from reading.

For the art side of it, I just aplied from what I had heard in other plays and movies. I also had a musical backround with trumpet in band and piano at home, and that helped a little. It also took experience to learn to EQ. The trial and error happened a lot too.

I could learn a lot of the science by reading, but for the artistic side, it took experience working with the equipment and hearing it.

 

[audioslavematt]

My dad used to be a weekend warrior with the remnants of his bar band's system in the basement. (I still remember using those old Project 4 cabs to build forts when I was about five and they were still taller than I was.) When I was about nine, he showed me how to power up and use the archaic console that the MD-8 was and how to tri-amp the P4s. For the next several years, I mainly used it as an over sized CD player. I took my first real sound gig in 8th grade, for the drama club's production of Tounge Twisted. It was all playback, but I was hooked. Once I got to the high school I got involved with the tech program because it seemed like the right thing to do. Now I'm the sound human with some seniority. I don't really have any formal education in sound. My dad showed me some things and I read the Sound Reinforcement Handbook, but other than that it just makes sense and is easy for me.

 

[Chris15]

Much of the time, practice is much more useful than theory. Some of the most highly regarded professionals in this industry don't neccessarily have paper qualifications, though there is a growing trend towards certifying people. I partially agree with Phantom. Practice is in my opinion still worth more than theory, but it is important to understand at least the basics of the theory, for it will greatly help the practice. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Schniapereli]

The next quesiton then is what are some good books or reading materials that I can get my hands on. I just need some I dead to play with and see if my basic understanding of everything is correct. Any ideas?

I think I got this site from SHARYNF
http://www.prosoundweb.com/
It's really good.

I also found some good articles from LiveDesign at
http://livedesignonline.com/
which has some really kewl things on it about both sound and light.

There was also some good articles by Shure which were refered to me by cutlunch

http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/TechLi...cles/index.htm

http://www.shure.com/stellent/groups...r_guide_ea.pdf

 

[burgesg]

Well i startedby messing around with a mixing board but was then given a proper introduction by our school's theatre technician as i was going to do the sound for the show.

 

[PhantomD]

Much of the time, practice is much more useful than theory. Some of the most highly regarded professionals in this industry don't neccessarily have paper qualifications, though there is a growing trend towards certifying people. I partially agree with Phantom. Practice is in my opinion still worth more than theory, but it is important to understand at least the basics of the theory, for it will greatly help the practice. Hope that makes sense.

That definitely sums up what I meant.

There has to a knowledge of theory, but being a "natural" and comfortable with the equipment is a big catalyst to successful sound. And that can I guess be due to a knowledge of the equipment theory.

 

[Chris15]

Resources-
From memory there is a guide to mixing with VCAs on the Allen & Heath website: http://www.allen-heath.co.uk/
And also from memory their is a guide to mixing and a guide to digital mixing on the Soundcraft website: http://www.soundcraft.com/

The Shure website as previously mentioned has good information on microphone selection and placement etc.

And many other places I can't remember at this instant...

 

[Schniapereli]

Also, a good book which has a little bit of sound, but mostly stagework and light is Scene design and stage lighting by Parker, W. Oren. It goes into the history and explains the basics pretty well.

Also, http://www.theatrecrafts.com/ has some good stuff. They have an amazing glossary of technical theatre which I found really helpfull when trying to understand other techs when I first started out. It also has some good articles and book recommendations, and a little humor.

 

[soundman1024]

'moving this fader to full with gain at 5 o'clock' did.

5 o'clock? hmm....