No Time To Measure and Tune Your Sound System? Do THIS

[@soundman1402]

"I Will Remember" by Toto is another great tuning song.

[@isettech]

i arrived slightly early to set up for an outdoor event. The stage and tent had not arrived.I had to wait for the rental company to assemble the stage and put up the tent before I could begin setting up. Know the feeling well.I was still setting up when the band was setting up. We did start on time, but there was no time to tune the system, so it used presets from another similar gig to get started.

[@jen3800]

where the hell has this guy been all my life? this is exactly the type of guy i would want to run my tech team worldwide, and build consistency and excellence into every show

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You're very kind!

[@chrisloizou3972]

Wow, this was a terrific video. Michael, thanks again for your contract help yesterday! If anyone watching these videos needs to hire a hand, you won’t regret hiring Michael!!

[@Endless_Skyway_Adventures]

I would put one instance of voxengo span between my ref track and my output, and a second instance on each of the inputs of my ref microphones. What comes back should equal what went out. You can compensate for hose curve with EQ on the output. This allows adjustment up to showtime with people in the room. Works every time.

[@cullendelmore2614]

Another great presentation. Thanks for sharing your expertise. I get the feeling your channel is really going to take off. The quality of what you've been doing here is punching vastly above weight for the current subscriber count.

[@optimusbraun2060]

i agree

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

That's very kind of you! I really appreciate the encouragement and feedback. We'll see if the channel keeps growing : )

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Thank you so much!

[@pswim62]

Punching way above weight. Incredibly informative and accessable

[@tommykennedy7827]

Great stuff! Did a political event recently in an airplane hangar as a band member. No prep work by band leader. Lecturn but no goosneck or wireless mic. Got a little extra on stage time trying to adjust boom stand to each different politcal speakers' height. the curve ball was half way through we were informed 3 ladies would be performing an original tune, acoustic guitar w/ no pick up, so mad scramble to make that happen. Glad I have extra gear in van. Thanks for youtr inspiration :-)

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You're very welcome. Sometimes shows are quite the scramble on setup!

[@enifyako]

Wow this is going to be a big big deal for me. 99% of my work has been with ZERO planning or information relayed to me before LITERALLY i Got On Site. System design changing during rigging, or "whatever that's fine" and running with it. So i am definitely going to be pushing for this sort of thing more and more. Someday I will convince someone to let me fix the system.

[@Ozzy83666]

7:55 I have a playlist saved on Pandora. I have songs of multiple genres to check the whole spectrum. Songs such as Korn "Dead Bodies Everywhere" really works well for checking subs. The opening of that song is a single resonating bass note, repeated. I have other songs that have a lot of highs, I also have songs that have great mids. I EQ by ear, using graphics. When choosing these songs, listen to them with great ear buds or headphones and listen to the different frequencies

[@Ozzy83666]

17:20 I run the Mackie Profx v3 22 channel mixer. I utilize sub output 1/2 for subs, 3/4 for highs, and mains for mids. I can mute 3/4 and mains, then use pan to check left/right to check levels, eq, etc. Then the same for highs, then mids.

[@Sunflowolf]

Great video and I’ve watched a lot on the topic. 🙌

[@libr25]

Good stuff. Thank you, Michael. I mix in a old warehouse and we have to set up every Sunday with no time for tuning. The EQ tilt you mentioned, you said to High shelf 2k up, but on the target trace in another video, you have 1k upward down by -6db. Why Is this different? Thank you

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You're very welcome! Great question, let me clarify my earlier point and the discrepancy. The target trace is where I eventually want the tonality of the entire PA to sit. I will use EQ to adjust a system's response until it's at that desired curve. That curve isn't the EQ I'm applying, but where I want the measurement to land. The two shelving filters I suggest are starting points for where you would actually apply the EQ to bend the current response of the system into the target OR to where your ear feels like the PA needs to sit (if you don't have measurement software).

[@libr25]

Thanks for the clarification

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

@@libr25 You got it!

[@Tosh_Herman]

Hi Michael, your content has been very instrumental in helping me achieve better results, thank you. Question on the 2 shelving filters, do you apply them on the Left, Right Matrix or the Sub Matrix or the Mains that send to the matrices when you don't have external DSP?

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

So glad my videos have been helpful! I apply those two shelving filets on my LR Matrix. The only EQ on my Mains Bus is for tonally shaping my mix. EQ for the SYSTEM itself is on the matrices.

[@craigdill6457]

Thanks

[@craigdill6457]

I meant no offense, love your videos. I'm an older analog user and think computer tools and pretty colored screens should follow old fashion sound check and speaker placement.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

I totally agree with having speaker placement and a line check done, then tune, the sound check. And if you don’t have time to tune, run the default settings on the speakers, use a little output EQ if you need, then let her rip.

[@Tymasseun]

Thank you for always coming through, learnt alot from you so far

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You are very welcome. Glad my teaching has been helpful to you.

[@peteyj57]

Thank you for the great content in all your videos. I’m setting up a new show file for a new PA at church and had a question. I’m mixing on a dLive and have the ability to run mono or stereo. Should I run my Left-Right matrices as stereo or mono? The subs and front fills will be mono, but is there any benefit/difference between those options?

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

If your mains speakers have any amount of overlap I would run stereo. When mixing I wouldn't be panning things out wide by any means, but having the reverb returns and such coming back in stereo does help make a sense of width and space.

[@ashokcrastabela]

Helpful information..👍👍

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Thank you so much!

[@alaskaaudioguy35]

What was the band and song you use

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Phoenix by Andrew Holmes

[@craigdill6457]

If the audience use their ears, why not the sound guy?

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Can you tell me at what point in the video I instructed any FOH engineer to stop using their ears? I've never heard of a pilot stop using their eyes once they got their instrument rating.