Get better mixes, faster with my 3-step guide to perfect EQ:
https://www.offshoreaudio.no/eq
If you’re responsible for a PA, you want it to sound good.
You know you should “tune” your PA, but you’re unsure exactly what you’re supposed to do to get these speakers sounding their best.
To get sound to everyone, you need to choose the right speakers. To get even coverage, you need to place your speakers correctly. To get a smooth sound, you need to EQ the speakers. And to make them play well together, you need to balance levels and time align. That might seem like a lot, but I’m going to share a simple-ish framework to get your speakers sounding great.
You’ll, of course, be using your ears, but we’ll cover how to use data to remove any guesswork.
Nathan Lively's target traces that I used in this video:
https://www.sounddesignlive.com/target-traces/
00:00:00 - start
00:01:05 - Speaker Placement & Coverage
00:05:05 - When to Use Front Fills or Delays
00:09:46 - Verifying, Setting Level, and EQ
00:11:18 - Setting Up Smaart
00:14:13 - Target Trace
00:15:13 - Measure Mains, Levels, EQ
00:16:59 - Front Fills Levels, EQ
00:18:50 - Speaker Time Alignment
00:19:52 - Time Align Main and Sub
00:21:12 - Time Align Fills