Sound Plan

What is needed for better sound at concerts?

Goals

1. Intelligible vocal solos
2. Intelligible choir
3. Audible instruments (all of them)
4. Vocals sound good
5. Instruments sound good

These are in priority order, and in practice, the goals are tiered like so:

1. Vocals are audible and intelligible
2. Instruments are audible
3. Sound is good

What Is Needed

Taking as the baseline where TSC is today, the following changes are needed:

Solo vocals

• EQ. This generally needs to be done per soloist.
• Compression (this is in the "sound quality" bucket, I already have basic compression for safety/intelligibility).
• Mic technique and soloists listening to themselves.
• Solo monitor mix.

Choir

• EQ. Different from solo EQ because choir mics, most notably, don't get enough high frequency content from the singers due to much larger distance.
• Choir monitor mix (probably does not affect quality of sound coming from choir but does make a difference in choir's quality of life).

Instruments

• Mic selection and placement. See MicrophonePlacement. Some instruments are OK, some are very much not OK.
• HPF and LPF to reduce noise.
• Leveling of multiple musicians playing the same instrument against each other (flutes, violins).
• A better approach for adjusting faders at concerts (subgroups, pre-set levels for different songs, etc.).
• Effects (e.g. reverb for violins).
• Gates.
• EQ. Unlike HPF and LPF, EQ is in the sound quality bucket. Most instruments will probably benefit from some EQ.
• Compression (this is 100% sound quality bucket, and is toward the end, but for example violins can possibly benefit from compression).

The Plan