Sound Engineering — Trillium Schools of Music

Sound Engineering with Joe Merlitti

The Sound Engineering Class at Trillium Music Schools provides hands-on training in live and studio sound, covering essential skills for aspiring sound engineers. The course consists of 45-minute sessions and requires students to bring materials such as hearing protection, a notebook, and personal sound equipment. It begins with an introduction to the role of a sound engineer, exploring job opportunities in venues, bands, churches, corporate events, and media production. Students learn about signal flow, key industry terminology, and the importance of hearing protection. The class then delves into using and setting up mixers, covering analog, digital, and hybrid boards, proper signal routing, gain staging, compression, equalization, and effects processing. Equipment setup, including microphone selection, cable management, and speaker placement, is also emphasized. In the final unit, students practice running a live show, from setting up and sound-checking a band to live mixing and performance monitoring. The course concludes with a final test where students independently set up and operate a full sound system. Successful completion offers job opportunities at partner venues, preparing students for real-world sound engineering roles.