We wrote this list of Live Sound Tips for American Music Supply's blog. Its designed to help you with mixing, signal flow, gain structuring, and power distribution. Please take a look at it and let us know if you have any live sound tips of your own!

For those in the broadcast field, check out the Whirlwind THS series of sports announcer boxes. Each is equipped with different variations of talkback, as well as left and right headphone panning and amplification. These are a must have for anybody announcing in front of a live audience or podcast.

Whirlwind is a Rochester, NY based company that specializes in American-made, pro audio solutions. They created the world's first direct box. Engineers everywhere have Whirlwind gear in their tool boxes. The MIP series (Media Input Plates) are the perfect solution for permanent audio installation with balanced signals. 

In this video we go through all the features of the MIP1, MIP2, MIP3, MIP4, MIP5, MIP6, MIP7, MIPAI, and MIPAO.

From radio stations, to sports announcers, to bands, the Mic Mute Family offers microphone switching solutions. Check out these push to talk, push to mute, and latching push-on/ push-off boxes from Whirlwind. They're American-made and come with a 3-year warranty.

Guitars output a high impedance, unbalanced signal. Microphone inputs on mixers are low impedance and balanced. The direct box matches impedance while balancing the audio. Balanced audio allows you to run cable for long distances without unwanted noise. Guitars with passive pickups (the majority of electric guitars do not have active pickups) require an active direct box to properly preserve all the harmonics of the guitar's tone.

The Whirlwind Direct 2 is a dual channel direct box great for stereo, line-level instruments into a mixing console. This box is perfect for keyboards, DJ mixers, audio interfaces, and drum machines. It can also function as two discreet mono DIs which can be used for an acoustic-electric guitar and bass with active pickups, at the same time.

The Whirlwind Director is a premium quality direct box built for solid operation with low noise. This is a great choice for acoustic electric guitars or basses with active pickups. Covert your hi-Z, unbalanced signal to low impedance, balanced so that you can run long cables and connect your instruments properly to a mixing console.

​The Whirlwind IsoPod & PodDI allow you to plug consumer audio gear into one channel of a mixer. They sum the unbalanced audio from stereo to mono, and send out a balanced signal via XLR. 

If you want to keep your signal in stereo, be sure to check out the Whirlwind PCDI & PSUSB video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJMMudeVwtg

This video will show you how to properly hook unbalanced stereo signals into a mixing console. The PCUSB is a simple Digital Audio Converter for plugging a computer directly into a mixer.
​Shoutout to Primo Sol for supplying the backing track!

​Whirlwind created the first commercially available direct box for the audio industry in 1981. The IMP 2 & IMP-JT are reliable passive direct boxes that convert high impedance, unbalanced signals to low impedance, balanced signals. They are useful for long cable runs without losing signal quality or adding unwanted noise.  The IMP-JT features a renown Jensen transformer for superior sound quality and noise reduction.