Daniel & Michael Burkholder are brothers that are very actively involved with both sound engineering and the running of the sound system at their church in Ontario, Canada. Although they had taught themselves to operate the sound system within the church and had been engineering the sound for the last couple of years they wanted to expand their skill base to enable them to work with larger bands and improve the quality of the overall sound. Having scoured the internet for live sound engineering training they opted to travel all the way tho the UK for our 4 day pro live course.
The course started with the fundamentals of good live sound engineering with some theory on the technical elements of sound engineering and also how to deal with certain acoustic environments. From here they learnt how to mix both front of house and stage monitors incorporating gain structure, eq , groups , VCA's, using effects, graphic equalisers, noise gates, compressors. They also leant how to EQ a room using a spectrum analyser and various methods for controlling and getting rid of feedback. They learnt how to mic up instruments including guitars, drums, bass, and how to layer them into a mix . As they work in a church lapel radio mics are regularly used and so we also worked on how to get the best vocal sound and volume without feedback.
Here is what they said afterwards:
Hi Howard,
We really enjoyed our time at the course with you. We were actually really disappointed to have to leave at the end of the four days. It was really good to have you impart your knowledge with us. After seeing the castles, visiting London, climbing the Eiffel Tower, and touring the Louvre, I would still say the best part of our trip was the sound course.