🎚️ Issue #8: The Glossary You Need to Survive (and Thrive) -- Part 4

THIS WEEK’S SETLIST

What You’ll Learn Today

• Why Your Mix Sounds Thin (And the One-Button Fix): Learn how the Polarity switch (⊘) can instantly make your guitars and drums sound fuller by fixing common Phase Cancellation.

• The Secret to a Consistent Vocal Tone: Understand the Proximity Effect to eliminate boomy or weak vocals and help your worship team use their mics like pros.

• Get More Volume with Less Feedback: Grasp the simple principle of Potential Acoustic Gain (PAG) to see how smart placement lets you get a cleaner, louder mix without just cranking up the Preamp.

Just for today… (more coming next week)

36. Phase Cancellation / Phase Disparities / Destructive Interference

37. Polarity (and Polarity Flip Button ⊘ / "Phase" Button)

38. Potential Acoustic Gain (PAG)

39. Preamp (Preamplifier)

40. Proximity Effect

👋 WELCOME

BUILT FOR VOLUNTEERS IN THE BOOTH

Every week in SundayMix, you’ll get no-fluff FOH tactics to help you run tighter, cleaner, more confident worship mixes — even when service starts in five and chaos is in the air.

Let’s be real — no one’s probably showing you how to do this. You’re in the booth because you said yes… and now Sunday’s coming.

Let me know what you need most. Got a topic you’re struggling with behind the board? Hit reply and tell me. We read every response — and I’ll build future issues to solve it.

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36. Phase Cancellation / Phase Disparities / Destructive Interference

• In Plain English and How to Use It: This is what happens when two sound waves from the same source (or very similar sources) meet up and they are "out of sync," meaning the peaks of one wave line up with the valleys of the other. When this happens, they cancel each other out, making certain sounds weaker, thin, or even disappear entirely. This is often why bass sounds weak or parts of the mix sound hollow.
  

  • How to Use It:

    • Multiple mics on one source: (e.g., top and bottom snare mic, two mics on a guitar amp). Try flipping the polarity (⊘ button) on ONE of the mics. Listen carefully – if the sound gets fuller and punchier, you've fixed it. If not, flip it back.

    • DI and mic on bass: Similar to above, try the polarity button on one. You might also need to slightly move the mic or (if your console has it) apply a tiny bit of delay to one signal.

    • Reflections: Sound bouncing off a nearby wall and into a mic can also cause this. Try moving the mic or adding some soft material to the wall.

• Advanced but Still Usable: Phase cancellation, a result of destructive interference, occurs when two or more coherent (correlated) sound waves combine with phase disparities that cause their amplitudes to counteract each other at specific frequencies. A phase difference of 180° (or odd multiples thereof) at a given frequency between two signals of equal amplitude will result in complete cancellation of that frequency. This is often caused by path length differences between microphones capturing the same source, reflections, or incorrect polarity wiring. The audible effects include comb filtering (a series of peaks and nulls in the spectrum), loss of low-frequency energy, and a "hollow" or "thin" sound. Addressing phase issues involves checking polarity, adjusting microphone positions, using precision delays for time alignment, and occasionally employing all-pass filters.

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37. Polarity (and Polarity Flip Button ⊘ / "Phase" Button)

• In Plain English and How to Use It: Think of a sound wave as having a "positive" push and a "negative" pull. Polarity refers to whether a sound system or a microphone is correctly reproducing this push and pull. If one mic or speaker is "flipped" (its positive becomes negative and vice-versa), it's out of polarity with the others. The button on your mixer marked with a ⊘ symbol (or sometimes "phase" or "INV") flips the polarity of that channel's signal.
  

  • How to Use It: This is a primary tool for fixing some phase cancellation issues.

    • Two mics on one drum (e.g., top/bottom snare): The bottom mic often "hears" the drumhead move in the opposite direction to the top mic. Press the ⊘ button on the bottom snare mic only. Listen for a fuller snare sound.

    • DI and mic on bass amp: Press the ⊘ button on either the DI channel or the mic channel. Listen for which setting gives you more low-end punch. Always listen carefully after pressing it; if it sounds worse, flip it back.

• Advanced but Still Usable: Polarity refers to the positive or negative orientation of an audio waveform's amplitude at a given instant, or the convention of signal connections (e.g., pin 2 hot on an XLR). A polarity inversion (often inaccurately called "phase flip," though it's a 180° phase shift across all frequencies) swaps the positive and negative excursions of the waveform. This is a common tool to address destructive interference when summing signals that are inherently out of polarity, such as:
  

  • Top and bottom snare microphones (the bottom diaphragm moves oppositely to the top).

  • A microphone and a DI on a bass where the speaker and DI output have opposite polarity.

  • Mismatched wiring in cables or between speaker components. Flipping polarity on one of the involved channels can correct for these inherent inversions, resulting in constructive interference and improved summed response (e.g., fuller low end). It's critical to differentiate this broadband 180° shift from frequency-dependent phase shifts caused by time delays or EQ.

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38. Potential Acoustic Gain (PAG)

• In Plain English and How to Use It: PAG is the science-y term for how much you can turn up a sound system before it starts to feedback. It depends on things like how far the mics are from the speakers, how far the mics are from the sound source (like a singer), and the acoustics of the room.
  

  • How to Use It: You don't directly "set" PAG, but you can improve it (get more volume before feedback) by:

    • Moving mics closer to the singer/instrument.

    • Moving mics further from PA speakers and monitors.

    • Using directional mics correctly.

    • Reducing the number of open mics.

    • Sometimes, adding acoustic treatment to the room.

• Advanced but Still Usable: Potential Acoustic Gain (PAG) is a theoretical calculation that predicts the maximum amount of gain (in dB) a sound reinforcement system can achieve before feedback occurs. It's derived from the distances involved:
  

  • Ds​: Distance from sound source to microphone.

  • D1​: Distance from loudspeaker to microphone.

  • D2​: Distance from sound source to listener.

  • DL​: Distance from loudspeaker to listener. A simplified formula is often expressed as PAG(dB)=20log10​(D1​⋅D2​/Ds​⋅DL​). Maximizing PAG involves minimizing Ds​ (mic close to source) and maximizing D1​ (mic far from speaker). Actual usable gain is PAG minus a Feedback Stability Margin (FSM, typically 6 dB). Other factors like microphone/loudspeaker directionality and room acoustics also significantly influence the actual gain-before-feedback.

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39. Preamp (Preamplifier) (See "Gain / Preamp Gain / Trim / Sensitivity" - a preamp is the circuit that provides this gain.)

• In Plain English and How to Use It: The preamp is the part of your mixer (or a separate box) that takes the very weak electrical signal from a microphone and boosts it up to a stronger, more usable level that the rest of the mixer can work with. The "Gain" or "Trim" knob controls this preamp.
  

  • How to Use It: Setting the preamp gain correctly (using the Gain/Trim knob) is the first and most important step for getting good sound on a channel. See "Gain" for how to set it.

• Advanced but Still Usable: A preamplifier (preamp) is an electronic amplifier that converts a weak electrical signal (e.g., from a microphone, typically in the millivolt range, or an instrument pickup) into an output signal strong enough (line level, typically around 1 volt) for further processing or to drive a power amplifier. In mixing consoles, each input channel typically has a dedicated preamp with an adjustable gain control. The quality of the preamp (e.g., its noise floor, distortion characteristics, frequency response, transient response) significantly impacts the overall sound quality of the system.

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40. Proximity Effect

• In Plain English and How to Use It: This happens with directional microphones (like most vocal mics): when you get very close to the mic (like 1-2 inches or closer, "eating the mic"), the bass sounds get boosted, making your voice sound boomier and deeper.
  

  • How to Use It:

    • Good: Some singers use this intentionally for a warmer, more intimate sound on quiet parts.

    • Bad: If a singer moves on and off the mic a lot, their tone will change (boomy when close, thin when far), making them hard to mix. It can also make "p" and "b" sounds (plosives) much worse and can make the sound muddy.

    • Encourage singers to find a consistent distance (usually 2-4 inches) where their tone is good and plosives aren't too bad. A high-pass filter (HPF) can help reduce some of the excessive boominess.

• Advanced but Still Usable: The proximity effect is a characteristic of directional microphones (pressure-gradient microphones like cardioids, figure-8s, etc.) where there is an increase in low-frequency response as the sound source moves very close to the microphone diaphragm (typically within a few inches). This is caused by the phase relationship between sound arriving at the front and rear ports of the microphone capsule at short distances. While it can be used creatively to add warmth or intimacy, inconsistent source-to-mic distance can lead to undesirable tonal variations and can exacerbate plosive issues. Omnidirectional microphones (pressure-operated) do not exhibit this effect.

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SUNDAYMIX ACTION STEPS

3 THINGS TO IMPLEMENT THIS NEWSLETTER TODAY

1. Build Your "Full Sound" Vocabulary.

• Action: Let's focus on three simple terms that explain why things can sound either full and strong or thin and weak: Phase Cancellation (#36), Polarity (#37), and Proximity Effect (#40). Make a mental note or a physical flashcard for each.

  • For Polarity, your key thought should be: "If two mics are on one thing, I should try pushing the '⊘' button on ONE channel to see if it sounds fatter."

  • For Proximity Effect, think: "If the singer sounds boomy and muffled, they're too close. If they sound thin and distant, they're too far away."

• Why: This simple vocabulary helps you diagnose common problems that aren't about volume. When something sounds "weird" or lacks punch, one of these is often the cause. This knowledge helps you start thinking like a problem-solver.

2. The "Fullness Check" - A Real-Time Listening Exercise.

• Action: You can do this during your next soundcheck. It only takes a few seconds.

  • A. The Polarity Test: If you have two mics on a single source (like the top and bottom of a snare drum, two mics on a guitar amp, or even a DI box and a bass mic), have the musician play. Listen to the sound, then press the Polarity (⊘) button (#37) on just one of those channels. Does the sound get fuller with more low-end punch, or does it get thinner? Leave the button set to whichever way sounds fuller. You are now fixing Phase Cancellation (#36) in real time.

  • B. The Proximity Check: Listen to your pastor or main vocalist as they soundcheck. Ask them to get very close to the mic for a moment—hear that boomy, bass-heavy sound? That's the Proximity Effect (#40). Now ask them to back off about a foot—hear how thin it gets? Coach them to find that "sweet spot," usually 2-4 inches away, for a consistent, balanced tone.

• Why: These are simple A-B tests that train your ears to listen for tone, not just volume. This gives you immediate, practical tools—the polarity button and simple coaching—to make your mix sound stronger and more professional without touching the EQ.

3. Unlock the #1 Secret to Getting More Volume (Without More Feedback).

• Action: This week, focus on the simple, first principle behind Potential Acoustic Gain (PAG) (#38). Forget the complicated name and math. The principle is: Get microphones closer to the sound source (the mouth or instrument) and farther away from the sound system (the speakers). That's it. Before the next service, walk the stage and look at every single mic. Can you move it an inch closer to the guitar? Can you move the floor monitor back six inches from the vocalist?

• Why: Every inch you gain in mic placement is like getting free volume. It allows you to turn the Preamp (#39) gain down, which is the #1 way to prevent feedback. A lower preamp setting makes the microphone less sensitive to all the other sounds in the room. This single principle will give you a louder and clearer sound in your church before you even touch an EQ knob.

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