SoundCraft Spirit Monitor - Manual (Page 5)

Above all, remember that your SPIRIT mixer is designed to
extend your creativity. The more you explore the controls
and the effect they have on the sound output, the more you
will appreciate the flexibility offered by your SPIRIT Monitor
mixer.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MONITOR MIXING
There was a time when the P.A. system and the operator ex-
isted only to increase the overall volume of the performers, so
that they could be heard in a large room or above high ambi-
ent noise levels. This just isn’t true any more. The sound
system and the sound engineer have become an integral part
of the performance, and the artists are heavily dependent on
the operator’s skill and the quality of the equipment. While
the quality of the front-of-house PA mix is of prime impor-
tance, the ability of the artists to deliver the best performance
may be directly influenced by the quality of the stage monitor
mix. Indeed, the monitor engineer may be required to pro-
vide a number of quite different individual monitor mixes,
often under the most adverse conditions.
The following introduction to the basics of mixing are in-
cluded for the benefit of those users who may not have any
significant familiarity with sound equipment, and who are
baffled by the endless jargon used by engineers and artists
alike.
The Mixer As one would expect, the main purpose of the mixer is to
combine sounds, but under precise and smooth control. The
faders provide you with total control of the final sound at
your finger tips and like an artist playing an instrument you
should listen to your fader movements, not look at your
hands.
Your SPIRIT Monitor mixer accepts a wide range of input sig-
nals via a microphone input, for very low level signals, or a
line input, for higher level signals from, for instance, tape ma-
chines, effects processors, etc.
Page 5