How Do You Make A Small Room Feel Big? (Without Mixing at Ear-Splitting Levels)

Mixing in a small room means fighting a battle most audio tips don't account for — and the fixes aren't always obvious. Here's what actually works when the space is working against you. What You'll Learn: • Why stage volume sets the floor for your entire mix (and what to do about it) •. How to "essentialize" your PA sources without losing energy •. Using gate range parameters to clean up inactive channels •. Why less compression — not more — often makes small rooms sound better GET THE GEAR: Yamaha DM3: https://aboveavl.com/products/dm3d?_p... Speakers: https://aboveavl.com/collections/spea... Shop for all your equipment needs at Above AVL: https://aboveavl.com We've got a team of experts (not salespeople - just helpful techs who know this stuff who can help you find the right thing tailored to your needs, quote it out, and get it into your hands at your personalized price. Grab Your FREE Guide: "3 Mistakes Everyone Makes When Buying Audio, Video, and Lighting Gear": https://lp.aboveavl.com/3-mistakes-guide WANT TO GO DEEPER? Want to master stage lighting, audio, and video? Join our Above AVL Academy for in-depth training and tutorials, plus access to our community forum: https://lp.aboveavl.com/academy-sp ABOUT LEARN STAGE AUDIO: Learn Stage Audio is part of Above AVL, founded by David Henry. We cover the practical side of live sound — mixing, signal flow, gear selection, and everything in between — so you can run better audio at your next show, service, or event. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:   / aboveavl     / aboveavl   COMMENTS & QUESTIONS: We love hearing from our community! Feel free to ask questions, share your experiences, or request future topics. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic. We're here to help each other learn! However, creating these videos takes a TON of time and effort, and I am not always available to answer questions here personally. In the Above AVL Academy, we offer premium support to answer member questions alongside step-by-step video training: https://lp.aboveavl.com/academy-sp Many questions can also be answered by simply searching the Above AVL blog via the Search Bar at https://articles.aboveavl.com/blogs. The Gear We Use: https://articles.aboveavl.com/video-e... Thanks for watching! Hope you learned something new today. David (Above AVL Founder) 00:00 Introduction 01:04 When Stage & Room Noise Reduces Clarity 03:37 Keeping the essentials 05:14 Using Gates To Reduce Noise 08:41 Using Compressors Appropriately 10:17 Be Open To Mixing More Dynamically 10:57 Closing