Do you turn your taps on and let them run constantly at full pressure?
I would imagine that you are wondering why we even need to ask the question! Of course you don’t, you only turn on a tap when you need water right? Otherwise you run the risk of flooding, it’s wasteful, and not to mention expensive.
When you do need water and turn on the tap, you adjust the flow to fit the task. You might want it turned up to full capacity to have an invigorating shower, but you don’t need it at full blast to fill up a glass of water or it will just squirt everywhere!
Distributing sound is like distributing water. To minimise issues you need to make sure that you turn it on when you need it and set the levels appropriately for the relevant tasks.
At CGA we have found that many hospitality venues have not trained their staff to turn down faders, microphones or input connections to their sound systems. This can lead to some minor problems, possibly some hiss or hum in the background, just like a dripping hose turned off at the nozzle but not at the tap.
Let’s keep with the hose analogy. If it’s not turned off, the water is still flowing through the hose, building up the pressure behind the nozzle. When the nozzle is opened again, the water will flow out at high force and soak, possibly damage anything in its path, surprising the operator if they presumed it had been turned off at the tap by the previous user!
This is the same with sound systems. If someone connects a microphone or music input to your system as the fader / level is up, the music, microphone or input comes through at full volume. Just like in the water analogy, you get sound where you don’t want it. In the case of radio microphones, you could get interference through the speakers … very loudly!
So top tip of the week: To avoid any damage, when it’s not in use turn it off!
(or at least turn it down!)
