Jeremy Gustafson's PHYS 212X Spring 2005 Web Project

Physics of Live Sound Reinforcement

For live music, there are many different ways of presenting your sound. The simplest way is to play an instrument in a room. The most complex ways is to play your instrument/sing with a microphone, then that microphone signal is then sent to mixer/preamp/effects, power amp, and then sent to a set of speakers. There are many different combinations of microphones, mixers, effects, amps, and speakers that people could use.

Sometimes a great sounding band and a not-so-great sounding band are determined with the setup of the sound system. Bands simply could not afford a decent soundman, or sound system to accommodate their needs, so they make way with what they could afford. Music companies already figured this out and therefore made packaged systems for these bands. These entry level systems are far from affordable by most people's standards. Some could range from $100, but that is just maybe an amp or cheap karaoke system, don't expect very much from these types of systems. Very “pro-sumer” systems range from $1500 (min) to as much as the customer wants to spend. The saying is true for sound systems, "You get what you pay for."

(images from musiciansfriend.com)