Getting to Know Your Gear

8/13/2019 Getting to Know Your Gear

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Part 1 - SETTING UP YOUR DECKS & MIXERCONTENTSTHE SET UP AT HOME

ASSEMBLING YOUR TRUNTABLESHow To Hook Up A HeadshellFitting The Headshell To The Tone ArmFitting The StylusBalancing The Tone ArmSlipmatsWIRING UP YOUR DECKS TO YOUR MIXERDont Blow ItWhite Left Red RightTurn It On Right

CONNECTING YOUR MIXER TO YOUR AMPCONNECTING UP A TAPE OR MD MACHINE TO RECORD YOUR SET

THE SET UP AT A PARTY

AMPLIFIERS & SPEAKERSPositioningOhms and Watts, Resistance and PowerConnecting Up Your Speakers & AmpAudio Cable Types & Input ConnectionsSeries And ParallelBridgedUsing Parametric EQ

BASIC ANATOMY OF A DJ MIXERBASIC ANATOMY OF A CD PLAYERUSING MICROPHONESUsing Standard Vocal MicsUsing Wireless Systems


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THE SET UP - AT HOMEIt may seem obvious but a badly organised set up can hinder you quite a

bit when it comes to learning to mix. There are a few simple rules to follow;

1.Get hold of, or build yourself a solid table. It needs to be wide and longenough to take two turntables and a mixer and it can be very handy if itsalso got some extra space to put CD players, records, drinks etc on. Mostimportantly it should not wobble when you knock it. If the table rocksaround all over the show every time you touch the platter, you will haveserious difficulty mixing.

2.It should be at a sensible height for you to reach the decks from astanding position without stooping forward.

3.Put your mixer between your decks, it stops you having to think aboutwhich is the left or right deck.

4.You will need somewhere to put your amplifier. Most people end up withthe amp under the table, or on a shelf, but wherever you decide to put it,the audio cable form the mixer is going to need to be long enough to reachit.

5.You need somewhere to put your speakers. Ideally they should be atleast six feet apart, at least six feet away from you, either side of yourdecks at eye height and you should be facing the speakers. This is rarelyachieved. The important thing is that you can clearly hear the sound of

your main mix. In a proper DJ Booth you will often be confronted with asingle monitor (if you are lucky enough to have a monitor at all).

DONTput your speakers on the same table as your decks and mixer. Thevibration of the bass from the speakers will cause what we call feedback.Extreme feedback sounds like a loud, bass frequency howling sound, mild

feedback will add an extra mushy boom to all of the bass elements in yourmusic. As long as your speakers are a few feet away from your decks youwill probably not be listening to your music loud enough to cause feedbackat home.

It is this unreliability of monitoring systems that lead to the development ofthe split cue monitoring facilities on many DJ mixers.


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6.Unfortunately this is not an ideal world. Its quite likely that in yourcareer as a DJ you will encounter any number of iffy set ups. You will need

to learn to adapt quickly and concentrate on your job, but that doesnt stopyou getting set up properly at home.

To find out more about setting up a small PA in a bar or at a party readour Amplifiers & Speakers section.

ASSEMBLING YOUR TURNTABLESUnpack your decks carefully. Youll probably find a strip of wide sticky tapesealing your box closed. Instead of just ripping it off (which will tear offgreat hunks of the rest of the box with it), gently run a knife along between

the two flaps of the lid. Dont push the knife in too far, you definitely dont

want to damage your nice new decks, just carefully cut the tape.

Keep that packaging. At some point you are going to want to transportyour decks. The most common cause of damage to turntables is knockstaken by un-cased (or un-boxed) decks during transit. Unless youve gonestraight for getting a set of flight cases for your set up, you will find that

the packaging that the decks (and mixer) first arrived in is the bestprotective option.

Sit your decks on your table. Slip the hole on the middle of the platter in to

place over the spindle. You may need to rotate the platter a little before itslides down to fit snugly without rocking about.

You may find that the hinges for the lid come separately. Fit the hinges tothe lid, then fit the lid to the deck.

HOW TO HOOK UP A HEADSHELL

There are two basic types of Headshell.

THE ONE PIECEThe simplest solution is the all in one Headshell and Cartridge combinationlike the classic Stanton Trackmaster. These do not require any userassembly other than fitting or replacing the stylus. They tend to providesuperior sound quality and stability and are obviously more convenient butcome with a proportionately higher price tag.


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THE TRADITIONAL SELF ASSEMBLY CARTRIDGEThis is by far the most common solution and where most people on abudget start off. The Headshell itself is supplied with your turntable. When

you buy a Cartridge you get the body of the Cartridge, four wires, two smallbolts, a couple of little square nuts and a Stylus.1.The two little nuts have slots in their side and they slide in to place on

the two brackets on top of the Cartridge. They can only go on the correctway around.2.Offer up the Cartridge to the Headshell so that the screw holes in thenuts line up with the slots in the top of the Headshell.3.Slide the screws through the slots and screw them in. Ensure that theCartridge is sitting straight in the Headshell and tighten up with a smallscrewdriver.4.On the back of the Cartridge youll find four little colour coded pins. Thewires have clips which slide snugly over these pins. Push each

appropriately coloured wire in to place. Be gentle, both the little clips andthe pins are fairly easily bent... just line it up carefully, make sure yourepushing the clip on straight rather than at an angle and slide firmly in toplace.

FITTING THE HEADSHELL TO THE TONE ARM1.Hold the Headshell the right way up and the right way round. You shouldfind two small locating pins sticking out of either side of the shaft of thearm.

2.Carefully slide the shaft in to the socket on the end of the tone arm untilit is snug.3.Screw the little ring on the end of the tone arm clockwise and youshould feel it tighten up. It only needs to be tight enough to hold theHeadshell firmly in place so dont over tighten it.Fit the stylus and look at the Tone Arm from the front. Make sure itssitting upright. If it isnt, loosen the tightening ring and adjust it.

FITTING THE STYLUSThe stylus is a small plastic thing with a diamond tipped needle sticking out

of one side and a small shaft sticking out of the other. On the end of thebody of the Cartridge youll find a small hole or socket. Carefully pick up theStylus, ensuring not to damage the needle, with the needle pointingdownwards, gently slide the shaft in to the socket. It should just slide in

there with a small amount of resistance. The plastic part of the Stylusshould end up sitting snugly against the body of the Cartridge.


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BALANCING THE TONE ARMOnce you have The Cartridge fitted to the Headshell and the whole lotattached to the Tone Arm, its time to get the Tone Arm set up properly.There are many opinions on this subject, probably as many opinions as

there are DJ techniques. Different uses will inevitably require different

settings but what follows is a decent all round set up.

1.Clip the Tone Arm on the Arm Rest.2.Unlock and set the Height Adjust ring to zero.3.Push the Counter Weight on to the shaft at the back of the tone armwith the numbers facing forward.4.Unclip the Arm from the Rest and gradually screw the Counter Weightforwards until the Tone Arm floats horizontally. Be careful not to let the

stylus hit the Platter whilst doing this.

5.Clip the Arm back on to the rest. Gently hold the Counter Weightwithout turning it, turn the ring with the numbers on it (known as aPressure Ring) until the zero is lined up with the line along the top of theshaft of the Arm.

6A.At this point you are supposed to gently turn the Counter Weightclockwise (without touching the Pressure Ring) until it reaches the valuespecified by the manufacturer for your particular Cartridge. You will find

this information on the instructions supplied with the Cartridge.

7A.Set the Anti Skate Ring to the same value as the Pressure Ring.8A.Set the Height Adjustment Ring to the value specified by themanufacturer.

For Stanton Cartridges you can also find this information at;http://www.stantonmagnetics.com/alpha44/pc_settings.asp

If you do not have the information for steps 6, 7 & 8 available to you, thefollowing steps are workable all round settings.

6B. Turn the Weight clockwise until the 3.5 mark on the Pressure Ringlines up with the line on the Arm.


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7B. Set the Anti Skate Ring to the same value as the Pressure Ring. 8B.Set the Height Adjustment Ring to 2 for a standard Cartridge or 0 for anAll In One Cartridge.

This set up should work ok for standard mixing and back cueing.

Alternative method for those who wish to scratch.A popular, somewhat luddite, alternative method employed by manyscratchers who feel the need to have a stylus which will stay in the groovewhen they decide to jump up and down on the platter or scratch with theirelbows or knees or whatever...

1.Clip the arm on the rest.2.Remove the counterweight, turn it around so that the Pressure Ring isfacing away from the stylus and push it as far as it will go on to the arm.

3.Turn the Anti Skate up to maximum.4.Turn the Height Ring up to about 4.5.If you try to scratch and your cartridge (which now weighs about ten

tonnes) jumps back out of the groove, reduce the anti skate by stages untilthe cartridge merely shakes about all over the place.

All of these methods apply only to turntables with standard S-Shaped ToneArms. Turntable assemblies with Straight Tone Arms do not have AntiSkate Rings.

SLIPMATS

If youre going to use a deck for DJing it is absolutely essential that you canhold the actual record still whilst the platter below continues to spin. Whatmake this possible is the Slipmat. Usually a piece of felt like material thatsa little bigger than a 12 with a (spindle sized) round hole in the middle. It is

placed on to the platter so that it sits between the platter and the vinyl. Itssmooth surfaces cut down the friction between the platter and your vinyl.Brand new Slipmats sometimes dont perform the task quite as well as

they should, theyre best when a little worn in. If you find that even theslightest finger pressure on a spinning record stops both the vinyl and theplatter there is a solution. If you get a piece of paper, cut it to size, poke a(spindle sized) hole in the middle and place it between the platter and the


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mat, things should then slip for you nicely. The plastic inner sleeves yousometimes get with imported pressings are absolutely ideal for thispurpose.

WIRING UP YOUR DECKS TO YOUR MIXERHanging off the back of each deck youll find 2 cables. One is the mainslead. The other should have a couple of phono connectors (two little plugs,one red, one white - which carry the audio signals) and a wire with a littleflat, fork like thing on the end - which is what we call an earth or groundwire.

Round the back of your mixer youll find a load of phono sockets. How manysockets youll find, and how they will be labeled will obviously depend on

your particular mixer. Well explain all about your mixer and how toconnect up any other equipment you may have in a while, but for now wellstick to decks.1.Switch off your decks, your mixer and your amplifier.2.Connect the mains cables for both decks, then the mixer, then youramplifier.

3.Grab the audio cable from the left hand deck. Find the sockets labeledchannel 1 and phono input on your mixer. Connect the white phono plug

to the socket marked L. Connect the red phono plug to the socketmarked R.

4.Grab the audio cable from the right hand deck. Find the sockets labeledchannel 2 and phono input on your mixer. Connect the white phono plug

to the socket marked L. Connect the red phono plug to the socketmarked R.

5.Somewhere on the back of your mixer youll find a little threaded postwith a plastic nut on it. This is a ground post. Unscrew it a few mm, grabboth of the ground wires (the forks), hold both forks together and slide

them under the plastic nut of the ground post. Screw them down fingertight.


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DONT BLOW IT

One of the easiest and therefore commonest ways to damage a DJ mixeris to connect the wrong equipment to the wrong input. The rules are verysimple;

The audio signal from a turntable is really small. We call it a phono levelsignal. Your Mixer has a little pre-amplifier inside it which increases thesignal a lot so that it works for the rest of your equipment - like youramplifier.

The audio signal from a CD Player, Tape Deck, MiniDisc Player or DATPlayer etc is much bigger. We call it a line level signal and it does notneed to be amplified before your mixer or amplifier can use it.If you feed the BIG signal from a line level machine in to a phono input,designed for small signals, you overload the pre-amplifier. At best it will

sound really distorted and be unusable, at worst you will break the pre-amp. It happens far too often.

WHITE LEFT RED RIGHT

Your average domestic Hi Fi has just two speakers and almost all recordsare recorded with two channels of sound to feed those two speakers.Same with the average small PA. So it is important to follow the samepolicy concerning connecting stereo cables throughout your system.Connect L to L and R to R. Left to Left Right to Right.

With most domestic equipment we use what most people call phonoplugs and sockets. Phono plugs are colour coded. The universal rule is that

you use the red plug for the right hand side and the white plug for the lefthand side. With other connection systems used by PA systems you need

to use a little more initiative but the principles are the same.

Useless information... The correct name for phono is RCA. The reasonwhy we call them phono plugs & sockets is that they were first widelyused for turntables, known at the time as phonographs. Now we use this

type of plug for CD players, tape decks and all sorts of things.

The cables we use to carry sound from one place to the other in a stereosystem (stereo of course simply means two) tend to have three wiresinside them. One for each side of our two speaker system and another tocarry away unwanted electricity and discharge it to the ground.


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TURN IT ON RIGHT

Always follow this procedure, in this order, when switching on yourequipment.

1. Check that everything is switched off. Thats, decks, CD Player, mixer,amplifier, the lot.

2.Turn the master output volume controls on your amplifier to zero.3.Turn the master output volume control of your mixer to zero.4.Turn on the power to your decks and CD player.5.Turn on the power on your mixer.6.Turn on the power on your amplifier.7.Turn the volume control on your amplifier to a normal operating level.A normal operating level is a very subjective thing that depends on yourparticular set up. With a professional PA system, some Power Amplifiersdo not have a volume control at all. Many Professional PA Amplifiers aredesigned to be run with their volume controls set to maximum. Thereasoning behind this is that the DJ is supposed to control the subjective

volume of the system from the mixer. As a DJ it is part of your job to makesure that the volume of the music is appropriate for your audience and is

not distorted. This doesnt necessarily mean simply turning it up as loud aspossible. Our idea of a normal operating level comes from thisprofessional approach to the issue. If youre using a Hi Fi set up as amonitoring system at home, youll often find that you can simply set themaster volume to about 30% or 40% and then use the master volumecontrol on your DJ mixer to control the listening level. But there can be nosimple line of advice here. You will have to use your common sense anddecide what is an appropriate setting.

8.So step 8 is simply to set the appropriate listening level using thevolume controls on your mixer.


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CONNECTING YOUR MIXER TO YOUR AMP - AT HOME1.On the back of your mixer youll find a set of sockets marked eithermain out, master out or something very similar. The sockets will also bemarked L & R.

2.Get a phono cable, connect one end of it to the mixer ensuring that youget them the right way around.

3.Grab the other end of your phono cable. You will need to locate theappropriate input sockets on the back of your amplifier, which will belabeled input and connect (again, ensuring you get the plugs the right wayaround).

If you are connecting to a domestic hi fi amplifier it will probably havephono type input sockets. If you are connecting to a PA style power

amplifier, it will probably have either 1/4 jack or XLR type input sockets -which will mean youll need a cable with phono plugs at one end and thecorrect plug to suit your amplifier on the other. Any decent specialistEquipment Retailer will be able to supply you with the correct cable. Youwill find guidance on professional connection types in our Amplifiers AndSpeakers section below.

CONNECTING UP A TAPE OR MD MACHINE TO RECORD YOUR SETRight next to the main out phono sockets on the back of your mixer youllfind another set of sockets labeled Rec Out. Get a phono cable and

connect one end of it to these. Connect the other end to the socketslabeled either Line In or Rec In on your cassette, DAT or MD recorder. If

youre using a portable MD recorder you may find that it has a minijacktype single socket instead of phono sockets.


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THE SET UP - AT A PARTYCONNECTING UP YOUR SPEAKERS & AMPSetting up a sound system for a party can be a little different from a

domestic set up.

POSITIONINGAt home we suggested that youd want to place your table for your decksand mixer between the speakers so that you are facing the speakers. Thisis great at home because the priority is you being able to hear what youare doing. At a gig the priority is your audience and there are a fewcomplications to be dealt with. You need to be able to hear what you aredoing. The audience needs to be able to hear what you are doing. Youneed to be able to see their reaction. If you place a deck right in front of a

really loud speaker you will suffer from bass feedback. If you try to use amicrophone right in front of a speaker you will suffer from mid to highfrequency feedback.

So the trick to satisfying all these things is careful positioning.The first challenge is deciding where to set up your decks and where toposition your speakers. As weve said, if you put the decks in front of thespeakers the DJ may have trouble hearing the sound in their headphonesand feedback may occur. So in a professional Club the DJ booth is placedbehind the main speakers and smaller monitor speakers (with an

independent volume control) are provided especially for the DJ. In a bar orparty situation where youre working with just two main speakers you donthave that luxury. A different solution is required. Try the following first...

Speakers should be pointing at the audience, preferably at one end of theroom and preferably a sufficient distance apart to provide the listener witha decent stereo image of the sound.

The decks should be between the speakers, so the DJ is facing theaudience.

Being behind the speakers isnt ideal for the DJ because it may be difficultto hear.

If the DJ cannot hear the main speakers well enough to mix there are twopossible remedies.


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You can try rotating one of the speakers inwards slightly, so that it points alittle more towards the DJ. By turning the speaker a little more or less, youcan (to some extent) control how loud the sound is for the DJ.

Rotating the speaker too far however might point it too far away from the

audience so the alternative is to physically re-position the speaker. If youstarted with the speaker beside and directly in line with the decks, move itback a foot or two. As you slide it back the DJ will be progressively more infront of the speaker so will hear better.

How far back you pull or how much you rotate a speaker depends oncircumstance.

It can work out better if you only pull one speaker back because DJs tendto monitor the sound from the PA in one ear and the record theyre trying

to mix in the other (on their headphones).Its also a good idea to only pull the speaker back as far as is strictlynecessary. This is particularly important if you are using microphones.

Microphones are very susceptible to feedback so mics need to bepositioned behind, or if necessary beside, the speakers to avoid it. If the DJis to use a mic then you will need to experiment a little with positioning thespeakers to get as good a compromise as you can between the DJ beingable to hear the sound from the speakers and avoiding feedback on themic. With an MC or vocalist etc simply ensure you place them correctly in

relation to the speakers.

OHMS AND WATTS, RESISTANCE AND POWERYoull probably be aware that most amplifiers and speakers tend to berated in Watts. The idea is to give ourselves a means of measuring howloud a particular combination of amplifier and speaker is likely to be. Themore Watts the louder it all is, right? Erm, sadly, wrong. The idea of theWatt is that it is a measurement of either how much power an amplifiercan put out or how much power a speaker can tolerate before it breaks.

But there are two problems.

Firstly, there is no law governing precisely how a manufacturer hasmeasured the power an amplifier can put out. The question to ask iswhether an amplifier thats rated at 200W is capable of sustaining aconstant output of 200W (which logically means it can actually producepeak signals which are much bigger than 200W) or whether 200W


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represents the absolute loudest signal it can produce without distorting(which would also logically mean that it could actually only sustain a muchlower constant output). There is a way of measuring the comfortableconstant operating level of amplifiers or speakers and anything that couldproduce or handle a sustained measured signal of 200W would be called

200W RMS. The RMS bit stands for Root Mean Square - maths headswill see the point. Many manufacturers however rate their amplifiers at

the peak power they can produce.

Also, is that 200W shared by both speakers, if it is that 200W actuallymeans 100W per channel.

So the following scenario is possible; we have two amplifiers, both quitelegally stated as having a rating of 200W. One delivers 200W RMS perchannel in to 8 Ohm. The other 100W peak per channel in to 4 Ohm. The

former is probably three times more powerful.

When a speaker is said to be rated at 100W RMS, this means it can dealwith 100W of power comfortably. A rating of simply 100W could mean

that it can handle a maximum of 100W.

The Second problem is resistance. We all know that electricity can flowthrough metal but not wood. So wood has a very high level of resistance tothe flow of electricity. Metals tend to have a lower level of resistance toelectricity and all metals actually have different levels of resistance to

electricity. Different speakers have different levels of resistance toelectricity. So speakers have a resistance rating stated in Ohm which isa unit of measurement of electrical resistance. Some are rated at 4 Ohm,most are rated at 8 Ohm and some are even rated at 2 or 16 Ohm. Tocontinue our analogy with the 200W amplifier; an amp that delivers200W RMS of power to a speaker rated 8 Ohm will produce a quieterfinal volume than it would connected to a speaker rated at 4 Ohm. An 8Ohm speaker needs a lot more power from an amplifier than a 4 Ohmspeaker in order to achieve the same actual listening volume.

The main reason for rating the Wattage and Resistance of amps andspeakers is so that you can avoid blowing them up. The most importantrule to follow is to match the impedance of your speakers to your amplifier- if you know that your speakers are rated at 8 Ohm and your amplifier isstated as delivering a particular Wattage in to 8 Ohm you are on the rightroad. You may think that the next step in damage avoidance is matching

the Wattage of amp and speakers but this can be deceptive. Using anamplifier with a lower Wattage rating than your speakers may make the


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amp struggle to provide enough power. It is actually often better for youramplifier if you use an amp with three or four times the Wattage rating of

your speakers because amplifiers overheat when theyre worked too hard.If you dont thrash them theyll last longer too. As long as the impedanceratings are matched between amp and speaker, the best tool you have for

damage limitation is your ears. If it sounds distorted, turn it down.

Kam speakers are all rated at 8 Ohm. Kam amplifiers are rated at theirRMS Wattage. Kam amplifiers are happy driving 4 and 8 Ohm speakersand the power they will produce in each circumstance is clearly stated on

this web site and in all literature. You will have no problems with a Kamsystem. If you are going to use Kam products with those of othermanufacturers, check that you match them up.

AUDIO CABLE TYPES & INPUT CONNECTIONSActual connection for a twin speaker set up is very simple. Youll need 2 of

the correct cables (see below) to carry the signal from your amplifier toyour speakers. Attach one end to the speaker output on your amplifierand the other end to the input on your speaker. Obviously connect the leftspeaker to the output marked L (sometimes A) and the right speaker to

the output marked R (B).

Cable Types - mixer to amplifierIn the 'Wiring Your Decks To Your Mixer' section above we coveredconnecting your mixer to an amplifier in a domestic situation where the

main type of cable in use is the standard RCA Phono. There are manydifferent types of audio connection in use within professional systems. Theinput section of Kam amplifiers features three different types ofconnection to facilitate use in many different situations. With appropriatecables you can use whichever of these suits your needs. Here are someexamples of what each might be used for.

1. Balanced XLR -this is the professional industry standard type ofanalogue audio connection. It uses a system based around Male andFemale versions of two different plugs and sockets. The idea is that you

have Male plugs that fit into Female sockets and Female plugs that fit intoMale sockets. Male has three exposed pins. Female has three holes thataccept the pins from the Male connection. When used to carry audiofrom a mixer to an amplifier, the output on the mixer will have a Femalesocket ready to accept a Male plug. The input to the amplifier wil have aMale socket designed to accept a Female plug. A standard XLR cable willhave a Male plug at one and and a Female plug at the other. XLR


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plugs/sockets are sturdy and have a 'latch' to prevent accidentaldisconnection.

Trouble can come from the fact that micrphones and some amplifiers andspeakers also use XLR connections. The idea is that because you have

different types of connection on the mixer and amplifier its more difficultto accidentally connect a microphone (see Using Microphones below) orspeaker (see Cable Types - Amps & Speakers below) inappropriately.

Shielded CablesAll good quality audio cable is what we call Shielded. The 'shield' is actuallya protective tube of copper mesh that surrounds the signal carrying wires

throughout the length of a cable... the idea is to protect the signal carryingwires from external interference by catching any stray electrical signals(usually caused by close proximity to other cables) and carrying them

safely away to to earth to release them.

Balanced Vs UnbalancedA balanced audio cable has two wires and a shield inside it; it uses onewire to carry the positive half of an audio signal, the other wire to carry

the negative half and the shield to serve as protection from interferance.The balanced approach helps reduce electrical interference (which cancause hum) and reduce signal loss. DJ mixers intended for use inprofessional/install environments (like the Kam KAP range) may featurebalanced XLR main outputs. Using these to connect from the mixer to

your amplifier should deliver a cleaner stronger audio signal from themixer to the amplifier.

2. Unbalanced TS Jack - is a semi-professional cable type which has asingle pin. The 'TS' part of the name refers to the fact that the pin isdivided into two sections; the 'Tip' carries the entire audio signal and therest of the shaft which we call the 'Sheild' because it connects to the earth'shield' within the cable.

3. Balanced TRS Jack -is a single pin plug that is the same size as theTS Jack but the pin is divided into three sections rather than two so that itcan be used to carry balanced audio signals. The 'Tip' carries one half of abalanced audio signal, a 'Ring' carries the other half of the balanced audiosignal and the rest of the shaft which we still call 'Shield' carries the 'earth'.The balanced XLR was developed to replace the balanced TRS jackconnection type.


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4. Unbalanced RCA Phono -is the standard domestic audio connectionformat. It uses a central pin to carry the entire audio signal and theflattened outer ring to connect to the earth. RCA Phono cables are oftenunshielded.

Amplifier Input ConnectionsKam amplifiers provide XLR, Unbalanced " Jack and RCA Phono inputconnection types to facilitate use within many different set-ups.

For stereo use; move the 'Output Mode' switch (if your amplifier has one)to the 'Stereo' position. Connect the left side of an appropriate cable fromyour mixer to the input marked 'Channel A' and the right side of the inputcable to 'Channel B'.

For Mono operation; move the 'Output Mode' switch (if your amplifier has

one) to the 'Mono' position. In this mode the input signals from Channels A& B are combined and their signal is sent to both amplifier Channels so

you can connect a mono input cable to either Channel A or Channel B. Ifyour amplifier does not have a mono mode and you need to connect amono audio signal to it youll need to use a special cable that splits themono signal into two and connect both sides to your amplifier.

About CrossoversAll Kam speakers are 'full range' which means they're designed to handle

the entire audio signal. In a large club style installation, separate speakers

are often used to handle bass, mid and high end slices of the audiospectrum. To make this possible the signal is split by a device we call a'Crossover' that sits between your mixer and the amplifier in the signalchain. The Crossover divides the signal into three bands (or sometimesonly two - one for bass and another for mid/high) and then sends them toseparate amplifiers, which in turn drive the speakers.

Cable Types - amplifier to speakersFinding the right cable is down to identifying which of the methods ofconnection commonly used at the ends of speaker cables is right for your

system. The main types are;1. The 1/4 Jack. It uses a single pin plug and it doesnt matter which wayaround you use the cable.

2.The XLR. When used for connecting speakers, the speaker will featurea socket designed to accept a male XLR plug. The amplifier will have asocket designed to accept a female XLR plug. XLR plugs have a latch to


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stop them being accidentally disconnected and they will only connect thecorrect way around.

3.The Speakon. This uses cables that have identical chunky plastic plugsat either end. The plugs feature a type of shaft unique to speaker

connection. The Speakon system was introduced to replace the use ofJack and XLR connections for speakers and has become the industrystandard professional speaker connection method for safety reasons.Both 1/4 Jack Plugs and XLRs are also used by microphones and if youconnect a microphone to the output of an amplifier the microphone canbecome live and very dangerous. Speakon plugs also have a latch toprevent accidental disconnection.

4.Bare Wires are often used at each end of speaker cables for Hi Fisystems. They are attached to both amplifiers and speakers via binding

posts similar to grounding posts on DJ mixers. You loosen the nut on thepost, loop the bare wire around the post and then screw down the nut.

5.Some Hi Fi systems use small plastic plugs called banana plugs. Simplyfollow the colour coding.

SERIES AND PARALLELIts possible to connect more than one speaker to an amplifier and thereare two ways of doing it. Its very handy but it effects the impedance ratingof the speakers so should be approached with care.

1. Series. Where you connect them one after the other. Many PAspeakers have both an input and an output socket on them specially. Theidea is that you connect the output from the amplifier to the input of thefirst speaker in the chain, then you take another cable, connect one end to

the output on that same speaker and connect the other end of the cableto the input on the next speaker in the chain.

If you connect two speakers in this way it doubles the impedance rating ofthe speakers. 4 Ohm becomes 8 Ohm.

2 Parallel.Where you connect them side by side. To achieve this you needa box or cable that splits the signal from the output of your amplifier so

that you have two plugs/speakers being fed by one amplifier output.Simply connect each plug to the input on each speaker.

It may take a minute to grasp this but connecting two speakers in parallelactually dramatically reduces the impedance rating of the speakers by


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about 75% (so 8 Ohm becomes 2 Ohm). This is not a clever way to getmore volume from your system because it will simply place massivedemands on your amplifier and could cause it to overheat. It works well if

you wish to use a single high powered amplifier to drive several low ratedspeakers. Parallel connection should be left to professionals.

BRIDGED CONNECTIONBridged Mode operation effectively devotes both Channels of youramplifier to driving a single speaker.

Bridged Operation is inherently potentially dangerous for your equipmentso you should not attempt to use it if you dont know what youre doing.

Bridged Mode works by connecting a single speaker to the positiveterminals of each side of the amplifier. Kam amplifiers feature binding

posts so all you need to use Bridged Mode Connection is a special Ycable. The cable connects both positive terminals on the amplifier to thepositive input connection of the speaker (regardless of connection type). Ifan amplifier doesnt have binding post outputs then a different cable needs

to be made... but were afraid that for now, were not going to explain anyfurther.

You should never connect a bridged output from an amplifier to anyspeaker with less than an 8 Ohm input Impedance rating and ratedWattage of the combined power of both amplifier Channels.

USING GRAPHIC EQUsing EQ is the subject of much misconception and myth. EQ stands forEqualisation. Heres why; a perfect sound system will simply amplify andreproduce all of the frequencies within music equally. The ideal is for music

to sound exactly the same as it did in the studio when it was produced, onany sound system, in any environment. Of course all things are not equal.

Every sound system is different and any particular sound system will soundquite different in different rooms.

EQ is used to decrease or increase specific frequencies in relation to therest of the sound. In terms of using a graphic EQ unit within a PA system,

the idea is to compensate for the way a PA sounds in a particular room.Youll find that in some rooms a particular PA will sound more piercing or


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boomy than in others. The reason is that all rooms have resonantfrequencies that will sound louder than all of the other frequencies comingfrom your speakers. The idea of the EQ is to actually reduce the offendingfrequencies.

Very few people understand this and instead attempt to use EQ to boost(increase) certain frequencies (usually the bass!!). The result is usuallydistorted sound. If you have a speaker that does not reproduce bass verywell, then feeding it more bass will just make it sound worse.

ConnectionA PA Graphic EQ is connected between your mixer and your amplifier.Connect the master output from your mixer to the input of the EQ(ensuring to follow the Stereo signal path and about general connectionprocedure. Connect the output of the EQ to the input of your amp.

BASIC ANATOMY OF A DJ MIXERThe idea of this section is to tell you what all of the various controls on yourmixer are called, to tell you what they do and to give an insight in to how

they might be useful. We are going to run through the controls in thelogical order in which you might use them for a standard beatmix.

1. Channel Input Selector Switch. Each channel of the mixer has two setsof input sockets on the back panel so that several bits of equipment can beconnected to each channel. Usually one for phono signals from a

turntable and one for line level signals from a CD player etc. This switchswaps between the two. In addition to simply choosing whether you want

to play music from your deck or a CD the switch can be used to sharplycut sound on and off to produce rhythmic stuttering type effects.

2. Cue Select Button.Pressing this button sends the sound from thisparticular channel to the both the PFL Level Meter and the Headphone

Monitoring System.

3. Split/PFL Headphone Selection Button.This button is used to switchbetween two different methods of headphone monitoring. When thebutton is up you hear the sound as set up by you (via the HeadphoneCrossfade & PFL System below) will be heard in both ears of yourheadphones. When the button is down the sound from the Cue/PFL


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System will be heard in the left ear and the sound of the Main Output willbe heard in the right ear.

4. Headphone Crossfade.When this little fader is to the left the soundfrom the Cue/PFL System will be heard in both ears of your headphones.

When the fader is to the right the sound of the main output will be heardin both ears of your headphones. When in the middle a mix of the two willbe heard.

5. Headphone Level Control.This sets the volume in your headphones.6. PFL Meter.PFL stands for Pre Fade Level (or Pre Fade Listen). When

you press the Cue Select Button of a particular channel its signal is sentto this meter and measured. An ideal input signal level will be peaking atthe Zero dB mark.

7. Channel Gain Control.This is a volume control. Its used to adjust thelevel of sound as it arrives at your mixer, before it passes through EQ etc.Use it to get the input level (as measured by the PFL Meter) peaking atZero dB.

8. Channel EQ Controls.EQ controls reduce (cut) or increase (boost)specific frequencies within a sound in relation to all of the otherfrequencies. In this case we have four knobs; one controls bass, onecontrols low mid, one controls high mid and the other top frequencies.

Turning anti-clockwise cuts frequencies and clockwise boosts. Try it to geta feel for which controls effect which frequencies. EQ has many uses but

there are two main ones; the first is to remove frequencies from one ormore records so that they can be more easily mixed together (withoutclashing rhythmically or melodically). The second is to compensate fordeficient recordings EG boosting the bass of older records that have lessbass than we have come to expect from our music. Care should be takennot to overload the Master Output by excessive boosting.

TIP do not over use EQ to boost frequencies. Sadly far too many DJs tend

to end up turning ALL of the EQ controls to maximum in the bizarre beliefthat this will somehow make the music sound better. This will simply makethe entire signal louder and mean you either end up turning down thechannel level to compensate or listening to distorted music.

9. Channel Fader.This is a volume control. Its used to set the volume ofyour individual decks, CD Players etc in relation to each other so that they


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can be mixed together seamlessly. It is possible to mix entirely withChannel Faders without using the Crossfader at all.

10. Channel Fader Curve Switch.A standard Channel Fader takes thevolume of a sound from off (the bottom of the fader) to maximum across

the entire length of the fader. The Curve Switch reduces how much thefader needs to travel to get from off to max. It has 3 positions; long actsas a standard fader, on medium the fader reaches full volume about 65%up the fader, on short the fader reaches max about 35% up the fader.This is useful for particular scratch techniques.

11. Crossfader Assign Controls.These are used to assign particularchannels to either side of the Crossfader. Selecting one of the numbersroutes the corresponding channel to the appropriate side of thecrossfader. The off setting bypasses the crossfader completely. With the

Crossfader off the sound from all of the channels goes straight to theMaster Output.

12. Crossfader.The purpose of a Crossfader is to allow you to perform aseamless transition from the sound of one channel to that of another witha single hand movement. It functions like two standard faders that cross in

the middle. When the Crossfader is to the left, the sound from whateverchannel you have assigned to the left side of the Crossfader will be sent to

the Master Output and the sound from the right side of the Crossfader willnot be heard. As the fader is moved from left to right the sound from the

left will gradually fade out. As the left side is faded out, the sound from theright side will be gradually faded in. The same happens from right to left.When the fader is in the center an equal mix of both channels is heard.Without a Crossfader you would need to use both hands to achieve thesame thing by moving the two appropriate channel faders.

13. Crossfade Curve Control.A standard Crossfader takes the volume ofeach channel from off to maximum across the entire length of the fader.The Curve Control reduces how much the fader needs to travel to getfrom off to max. With the Control fully anti-clockwise the Crossfader will

function normally. Turn it fully clockwise and the Crossfader will cut in theincoming channel very sharply so that you only need to move theCrossfader a few millimeters before it reaches full volume. Turning thecontrol between the two extremes gives you a sliding scale of settings.Many scratch techniques require very specific Curve settings.

14. Punch Buttons.These springy buttons are used in conjunction with thecrossfader. The idea is that they are handy when you want to cut the


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BASIC ANATOMY OF A CD PLAYERThe idea of this section is to tell you what all of the various controls on yourCD Player are called, to tell you what they do and to give an insight in tohow they might be useful. We are going to run through the controls in the

logical order in which you might use them for a standard beatmix.

There are two kinds of specialist DJ CD Players; the traditional twinmachine and the CD deck. The twin format is compact and convenientbecause it fits into the kind of standard 19 rack we use for mountingamplifiers and all manner of professional audio equipment in clubs andrecording studios. Rack mounting means it fits easily into a flight case sois great for those who wish to be mobile. The CD deck format has a largersurface area devoted to the controls which inevitably means it is a littleeasier to use when youre in a hurry. The CD deck is generally not quite soconvenient for mobile use.We are going to base this run down around our very own KCD990 twinCD Player.

THE TWIN FORMATA twin CD Player has two boxes, the Player which is a large, heavy unitwith two trays that slide out to accept your CDs and the Controller, whichis the smaller, separate box with all the buttons etc. The idea is thatbecause the Player unit is a bit bulky and needs to be used in a fairly levellocation to work properly and the Controls ideally need to be positionedquite close to your mixer (often angled slightly for better access to the

controls - see the Kam Case for an example, it is more convenient to splitthe two things up.

Connections1) The Controller needs to be able to tell the Player what to do so the twounits are connected together using a Control Cable. Youll find small 12pin sockets on the back of the Controller and identical sockets on the backof the Player and an appropriate cable in the box. It doesnt matter whichend of the cable attaches to which unit but the connector on the cable onlyfits these sockets the right way up. Oh and connect the left side of the

Controller to the left Player etc! Connect the two units together before youturn on the power.

2)Each of the two CD Players has its own Analogue and Digital audiooutput. So youve got two pairs of RCA Phono sockets on the back of thePlayer for analogue out and two more lone RCA sockets for Digital out.Marked Left and Right appropriately. Youll need to attach the analogue


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outputs to the Line Inputs on a DJ mixer. Which inputs you use on yourmixer is up to you and which mixer you have. If you have a two channelmixer youll want to connect the Left CD Player to channel one and theRight Player to channel two. You then use the Channel Selector Switcheson your mixer to choose whether your CD Players or your turntables are

played through your mixers two channels. If you have a bigger mixer youmay have the luxury of connecting each Player to its own mixer channel.

As yet there are very few DJ mixers available with Digital Audio inputs butyou might want to use the Digital Audio Outputs to transfer music to acomputer or Minidisc Player.

2)Youll also find a mains cable coming from the Player unit.Always follow the correct connection rules White Left Red Right.

THE CONTROLSThe Power Switch. This is found on the front of the Player and issurrounded by a protective ridge to prevent accidental power down.

The front panel of the Controller is divided in two. Each side has identicalcontrols, one set for each Player.

1) Open/Close Button.Hit this once and the CD tray on the Player willslide open. Hit it again and the tray will close again. These buttons are the

only controls which are duplicated on the front of the Player.

2) Track Skip Buttons.These are for locating the next track you want toplay. Hit the button and the beginning of the next track will be cued up. If

the Player is already playing the current track, this will cue up and beginplaying the next track... just like a normal CD player. One button takes youforwards the other takes you backwards. The +10 button between the twoSkip Buttons skips you forward ten tracks at a time.

3) Play/Pause Button. Hit this once and you start playback. Hit it againand you pause playback. Hit it again and Playback continues from thesame song position... unless you hit the Cue Button whilst playback ispaused, which takes you to the Cue Point as described below.

ABOUT CUEING UPOnce youve found the track you want to play you need to set the placewithin the track that you want playback to start from. We call the exactmoment you want playback to start from, the Cue Point. We call the


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process of locating and setting this point, cueing up. The need to cue up isthe same for CD DJs as it is for Vinyl DJs and many of the same musicalrules apply, the difference is how we do it. A DJ CD player gives you three

tools to for the job; a Cue Button, Search Buttons and a Jog Wheel.

ABOUT FRAMESBefore we can explain about Cueing Up we need to explain about Frames.

A DJ CD player divides each second of music into 25 chunks. We callthese chunks frames. Each frame therefore contains a very small snippetof sound. If you think about it one twenty fifth of a second is a quite shortpiece of sound. Ponder this; a piece of slow house music would run atabout 120 Beats Per Minute, 120 BPM would give you 2 musical beatsper second, so a single beat would be about half a second long and a kickdrum perhaps as much as a quarter of a second long... which would mean

that a kick drum might occupy about 7 or 8 frames. From a Djingviewpoint we usually wish to select an individual kick drum as a Cue Point(usually one at the beginning of a bar). So having each kick drum dividedinto upwards of 4 or 5 slices means we have a very accurate tool forensuring that we start playback from absolutely precisely the beginning of

the right kick drum beat. Cueing up with a DJ CD player is arguablyconsiderably easier than with a turntable.

4) Cue Button.Before the Cue Button is of any use you need to startplayback and then pause it. If you then press and hold the Play Button and

press the Cue Button at the same time, the Cue Point is set to the currentframe. Once you have set a Cue Point, pressing the Cue button will stopplayback (if the track was playing!) and set things up so that pressing thePlay button again will start playback from the Cue Point. The idea isobviously that if youre trying to perform a drop mix or beat mix, being able

to instantly start playback from the right beat of the right bar, over andover again is invaluable. With a turntable youd have to take the time tobackwind and Cue Up manually every time you want to practice the mix.

5) Search Buttons.These are very similar to the rewind or fast forwardcontrols on a tape player and we use them to find the approximate area ofthe track we want to Cue Up.

Press a Search Button and watch the Display; normal playback ceasesand we start to wind forwards or backwards through the current track.

Youll quickly notice that if you were actually playing the track at the timeyou hit the button the Player will continue to try to play the track, but it willbe jumping from frame to frame.


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6) The Jog Wheel.The Jog Wheel is used for finding and precisely settingCue Points. Logically, we only ever need to use the Jog Wheel when ourplayer is in a state of paused playback, somewhere near to our desiredCue Point. The moment you turn the Jog Wheel from this state the player

should enter Cue Mode and you will hear a kind of stuttering effect as oneframe is played over and over again. Put your finger into the littleindentation on the Jog Wheel and wind it around. Youll notice that moving

the wheel slowly moves the Cue Point by a single frame (either forwardsor backwards). By winding the Wheel you should be able to find the rightplace for your Cue Point. A good tip for cueing kick drums is to actuallywind the Wheel until it is playing part of the drum beat youre after. Thenwind it back frame by frame until you get the frame immediately before thefirst frame of the drum. This frame is almost always actually silent (orrelatively quiet). Then set this as your Cue Point in the usual manner by

pressing and holding the Play Button and the Cue Button together. Thisway you will get the nice clean sound of the kick drum without it soundingat all clipped... dont worry, a single frame is not going to make anydifference to the timing as you go for your mix.

7) Pitch Button.The pitch of a piece of music refers to how fast it is.Before you can beatmix two pieces of music they need to be playing at thesame speed or musical tempo. The Pitch controls on a DJ CD Player areused to slow down or speed up playback of one track to match another.The Pitch Button switches on and off the rest of the pitch controls. It is

accompanied by a little status light which lets you know whether the PitchControls are active or not.

8) Pitch Slider.This speeds up or slows down playback. With the KamKCD990 used for our illustration, the pitch slider can slow down or speedup a track by up to 16% but this will vary with different DJ CD Players.

9) Pitch Bend Buttons.Merely having both pieces of music running at thesame tempo is not the end of the story with beatmixing, you also need tosynchronise the beats of the two tracks... so for example the kick drums

need to be occurring at exactly the same time. Pressing a Pitch Bendbutton temporarily slows down or speeds up playback (by+/-16% on theKCD990) for as long as you hold down the button. This is the equivalent of

touching and then letting go of the platter of a turntable. Its used to pull orpush the downbeats of two tracks together.

10) BPM Tap.This is a mixing aide designed to help you figure how muchyoull need to speed up or slow down a track so that it matches the tempo


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CD DECKSThe controls outlined above for Twin CD Players are similar to those foundon CD Decks. They will be laid out differently but the function will be verysimilar.

USING MICROPHONESMicrophones are one of those seemingly very simple things. Theyre reallyeasy to connect up and get working, so people often overlook some of thefiner points about how to get the best results out of them. So here is asimple set up procedure and a tip or two to set you in the right direction.

There are two basic breeds of microphone; studio and live.Studio mics are designed to capture sounds as well as possible, so they

tend to be very sensitive, particularly to handling noise. Handling noise iswhat you get if you hold a mic and use it at the same time and it is causedby the friction of your hand against the body of the mic. Most studio micsare designed to spend their lives on stands so handling noise and a fewother similar considerations are not so important. With a mic intendedfor live use, handling noise is a big issue, so is having a rugged build. Theresult is two very different types of mic whose attributes are tailored to fit

their intended use. Obviously we have restricted the following information

to mics intended for live use by DJs and MCs.

USING STANDARD VOCAL MICROPHONESPositioningIf you try to use a mic in front of a PA speaker it will feed back. Feedback is

the sound produced when a mic picks up its own signal coming from thespeaker. This creates a loop because a specific frequency passes through

the mic, into the amp, back out of the speakers, into the mic, back into theamp etc, getting louder and louder each time.

Unless you use a separate Feedback Dstroyer (a device thatautomatically prevents feedback by detecting the offending frequency andsuppressing it with EQ), the only way to ensure that you avoid feedback is

to position the vocalist behind the speakers. In essence the best way tograsp this concept is to try it. Use the following procedures to set up a mic(behind the speakers) and try slowly walking out in front of the speakers


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with the mic... youll get the idea in no time and get an idea of where inrelation to the speakers a mic can be positioned before feedback starts.

ConnectionFirst you need to identify your mic level input on your mixer. Its pretty

important that you find the right mic input socket on your mixer becauseone of the most important things to know about mics is that they producea much smaller signal than line level equipment like CD players and phonolevel turntables. If you try and plug a mic into a line or phono input it wontwork. It probably wont damage your equipment (which plugging a line levelitem into a mic level input may well do) but it wont get you far. Your mixershould either have a 1/4 jack or Male XLR mic input socket. Kam mixerseither feature 1/4 jack or dual function XLR/1/4 jack input sockets.

Next you need to ensure you have the correct cable. Most vocal mics

have a Male XLR socket in one end. So youll need a cable that has aFemale XLR plug at one end and either a 1/4 jack or Male XLR plug at

the other. If your microphone has an integral cable with a 1/4 jack plugon the end you will need a mixer with an appropriate mic input socket tobe able to use it.

From there it is a good plan to get into the habit of sticking to the followingprocedure.

1. Turn down the input gain control (if it has one) and mic level control onyour mixer.

2.Ensure that your mic is switched off if it has an on/off switch.3.Connect the cable between your mic and your mixer.4.Use the Cue Select system on your mixer to ensure that themicrophone input is being measured by your mixers Level Meters and that

you can hear it in your headphones.

5.Switch On your mic and start speaking or singing into it.6.Gradually increase the mic gain control if your mixer has one and leave

the actual mic level control at zero (just as you would when setting up arecord ready for mixing). If your mixer doesnt have an input gain control

youll need to turn up the actual mic level control instead.


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7.Observe the mixer level meters and stop increasing the mic input levelwhen your signal is peaking at just below zero dB on the meter. This stepof the operation is the most crucial aspect of mic set up. unlike othersound sources like decks and CD players, signal levels from mics can varyquite dramatically in normal use. The problem is that a vocalist does not

always sing at the same volume, which we will discuss a little more in theMic Technique section below. So its important to set your mic input levelwith your vocalist when theyre at their loudest.

8.Once youve set a sensible input signal level you can turn up the miclevel control until the voice sounds right in relation to the music.

Other little mic tipsIf you have a guest vocalist or MC during a DJ set the chances are that

they wont sing or chat all the way through your set. If they do you might

want to consider stopping them as this tends to actually spoil a DJ setrather than improve it. Here are a couple of tips relating to what happenswhen theyre not doing their thing.

Switch off -Many mics have an on/off switch on them. When the vocalistisnt active, switch off their mic using this switch rather than using thelevel controls on the mixer. Using the switch on the mic means that thosecarefully set up levels will remain correctly set so that when the vocalistskicks off again, all you need to do is switch the mic back on and all will stillbe nice.

Use a mic stand -all too often DJs and MCs resort to trying to findsomewhere to balance the mic when theyre not using it... and 9 times outof 10 that means on top of the mixer or on a table. You dont want themic in the way of the DJ and you dont want it rolling off onto the floor andgetting damaged in the drop (not a problem with the Kam KDM550 ofcourse thanks to its anti roll rubber collar). So use a stand to stash themic on.

Never unplug a mic from a mixer with the levels still up, itll usually createa nasty thunking sound that may damage the PA.

USING WIRELESS MICROPHONE SYSTEMSConnecting Wireless microphones is a little different. Because of the

transmission and reception process, Wireless systems produce line levelrather than mic level output signals. The Kam KWM5 & KWM10systems for example have either unbalanced 1/4 jack or balanced XLRline level output sockets. This means that youll need the correct cable to


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run between the mic receiver unit and a line level input on your mixer. Youstill need to follow all of the correct connection and level settingprocedures on your mixer as outlined above, it is merely the connectionpoint that differs.

Because of the technical considerations and diverse operating conditionsassociated with Wireless systems you will find an output level control on

the mic receiver unit. This is there because differences in distance fromthe receiver unit and battery strength in the microphone can producesignificantly variable level response. The level control is there to help youcompensate... but it can cause trouble too if you dont use it correctly.With the KWM system specifically the unit can boost output levels by asmuch as 20dB... which is a lot. So you need to keep a beady eye on theinput levels to your mixer when using the system. From a manufacturersperspective this sort of thing is always a dilemma... do we provide the end

user with enough power to cover every eventuality, in the knowledge thatpower can be abused, or do we limit the functionality? Kam have chosen

to provide the user with the power they may need, but that makes it theusers responsibility to use the facilities correctly.

BASIC MIC TECHNIQUELearning a little bit of basic mic technique can significantly improve theoverall sound quality and listening pleasure with vocals. The underlyingprinciple of the whole thing is that it is likely that a good vocalist will sing or

speak some passages at higher volumes than others. This is partlybecause the human voice takes on a different tonal and atmosphericcharacter at different volumes. If you whisper you sound intimate and your

voice will be quiet, shout and it will sound aggressive and your voice will bevery loud. Different styles of singing therefore suit different songs, or partsof songs and will be at different volumes. The way to combat this is for the

vocalist to move closer to or further away from the mic. So for awhispered passage the vocalist should get right up close to the mic so

that it can pick up the quiet nuances of the voice. For a bit thats belted outat the top of their voice they should move as much as a foot away from the

mic. By following this rule, learning to gauge the volume of their own voiceand moving closer to and further away from the mic (preferably whilstkeeping an eye on the signal levels on the mixer), the vocalist can learn tocapture all of the tonal characteristics of different passages whilstmaintaining a relatively constant overall signal level. It takes a bit ofpractice but it works.


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COMPRESSION & EFFECTSThe other way to combat vocal signal levels is to use Compression on your

vocal mic.

If you have a mixer with effect send/return facilities and an effectsprocessor, using reverb or echo on live vocals can help blend them withbackground music very effectively.

Unfortunately both of these subjects will have to wait for a futureinstallment of the Kam DJ Academy. Watch this space!

Documents

Getting to Know Your Gear