Sound Ministry Series Part 3 - the PAD switch and the Low Cut filter

Your mixing desk may or may not have a PAD switch, but if it does you can use it to make very high signals easier to work with. For instance, if anything on stage has a built-in preamplifier (like a guitar effects pedal, or a specialty microphone) it may just distort when you plug it in to your desk, even with the gain and channel volume set really low. Use the PAD switch to get the level down so it is easier to control and doesn't distort.

The low cut filter (or high pass filter) is usually a button near the channel input. It essentially dampens the lower frequencies present on that channel, often from about 100Hz down. Don't use this on your kick drum, bass guitar and piano, or you will lose the low-end richness of those instruments. Do use it on all microphones and other instruments that don't produce very low sounds to eliminate traffic noise from outside, handling noise and the low frequencies from other instruments being picked up in those channels.

Next time: the high frequency EQ knob