Live Sound / Live Music
Course 6: Connectivity

In the Live Sound Engineer Program lesson 6 you will learn about connectivity. The trip a sound makes from the guitar string being picked to being heard through the studio monitors is long, involving several wires, connections, and conversions between analog and digital. But the journey–known as a signal flow–takes just a split second thanks to connectivity. In course 6, you will learn all of the components that go into this connectivity and how to get the best signal flow you can.

You’ll learn the uses and differences between two, three, and multi-pin conductor connections and how each interacts with the signal flow along the line. These connections are specifically built to handle different analog signals as well as voltages from the different components.

Cables take the sounds from one source to another and you’ll learn the differences in these cables and how their construction and material can either make or break a recording. You’ll learn the differences between analog and digital cables and how they interact with patch bays and the rest of your gear.

Connectivity is much more than plugging a guitar into an amp, and as a live music engineer, you’ll need to know all the different ways a signal flow can be interrupted or corrupted. The course ends with a mixing assignment, quiz, blog entry, and preparation for the next course.