Print this resourceAn audio technician is an important person in the world of the ProAV industry. Audio technicians work with sound waves, which are created when things vibrate or move back and forth. When you play your harmonica, you’re creating vibrations, which travel through the air as sound waves. A microphone is a tool that an audio technician uses to capture sound waves. It has a sensitive part inside it called a diaphragm which vibrates when these sound waves hit it, and turns vibrations into an electrical signal. An electrical signal is a kind of language that equipment like microphones, soundboards, and speakers use to understand sound.
An audio technician uses a soundboard to change and adjust electrical signals, which can affect how the sound from your harmonica is heard. They can make it stronger (which makes the sound louder), or to change the sound’s tone or quality.
An audio technician can do many different jobs in the ProAV industry, depending on where they work and what they’re interested in. They can work at concerts, movie theaters, television studios, recording studios, and big events like sports games or conferences. Some even design and set up sound systems in buildings or outdoor areas. They all use their skills to make sure the sounds we hear are nice and clear, just like they would make sure the music from your harmonica sounds as good as possible to anyone listening.
In our harmonica competition, the goal is for your class to make the loudest sound. To figure out which class is the loudest, an audio technician uses a special tool called a sound level meter. This tool measures the loudness of sound, kind of like a ruler measures length. When each class plays their harmonicas, the sound level meter will show a number that tells us exactly how loud the sound is. This way, we can easily compare the loudness of each class’s harmonicas. The class with the highest number on the sound level meter wins!
