ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the broad aspects of operating technique. Levels refer to the degree of sound loudness that is read on the console VU meter and is simultaneously heard on the monitor speaker. Levels are important artistically in that they help determine whether the listener, the ultimate consumer of the program, hears clear or distorted sound, and whether he must strain his ears to hear or is blasted from his seat by excessive sound volume. Balance concerns itself with the difference in sound volume between any two or more program components. Balance is a function, to some extent, of room acoustics and types of mikes used as well as of the sound sources themselves. Balance is achieved by adjusting the console pot for each mike used so that the level, as read on the VU meter for one mike, is the same as read for the others.
