Chapter 123: Dear Uncle! (240 Bonus Votes Extra Chapter)

PS: Here we go again... and it’s still fresh—240 monthly tickets just in, and an extra chapter is hot off the press!

“Hello, teacher. Yes, that’s it—the device is called an audio compression limiter. Its purpose is to suppress the amplitude of the current going into the power amplifier. You can set a threshold value; any current exceeding this threshold gets compressed by the circuit, and then…” Hong Tao took the manual, quickly flipped to the page explaining how to use the limiter, and, referring to the accompanying pictures, began explaining it to the English teacher.

“Alright, alright… you can stop there for now. The teacher doesn’t understand what a threshold is. Come, come, why don’t you explain it to this gentleman here? Wang, he seems credible. Listening to him, I’m starting to get a rough idea of what those abbreviations mean. Why don’t we hear him out? Might as well try, right?” The English teacher interrupted Hong Tao before he finished, grabbed him by the arm, and led him over to the balding man.

“Kid, how do you know all this? Does someone in your family work in lighting or sound?” The balding man didn’t ignore Hong Tao like the fat man did but crouched down with a smile and asked.

“I’d rather not answer those questions. Whether I can help you has nothing to do with that. Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll explain this whole setup to you. If it sounds reasonable, we can continue talking. If not, I’ll just go home. How’s that?” Hong Tao had no time to make up stories; he simply couldn’t bear to watch such excellent equipment get ruined by these people.

“Alright, I’ll be humble this once! Go ahead. Everyone, stop what you’re doing and come here! Let’s have a lesson!” The balding man saw the determination in Hong Tao’s demeanor—it didn’t look like childish nonsense. Gritting his teeth, he stomped his foot and decided to listen, figuring it wouldn’t waste much time. After all, the tasks were nearly impossible to finish; who cared about a little ridicule?

“This is an effects processor. It can’t be connected in series with the mixing console. The console needs to use an auxiliary output line to send the signal here first, then the processed signal returns to the input section of the console. Typically, the effects processor only handles vocals, not the instrumental accompaniment. So, the input channels on the console are grouped: vocal channels are routed to the auxiliary output, while music channels go directly to the main output. That way, the vocals go through this effects processor and then back to the console, mixing with the music before the final output. In simple terms, it adds effects to the vocals—various reverbs and delays. I’ll explain the specifics later. This unit has over a hundred preset effects, and if none fit, we can even create our own and add them.” Hong Tao pointed to the nearest effects processor and began explaining its use.

“…You! Go fetch a chair! So inconsiderate! Young man, keep going.” As soon as Hong Tao paused, the craftsmen and their young apprentices around him fell silent, staring blankly. The apprentices were lost in the professional terms Hong Tao was using, while the craftsmen, though unfamiliar with this equipment, understood the basic principles and could tell whether what he said made sense. Hong Tao was then offered a chair while everyone else stood around to listen.

“Next, the crossover. Its function is simple: it divides frequencies, sending highs to the tweeter amplifier, mids to the midrange amplifier, and lows to the woofer amplifier. I noticed those speakers have specific frequency response ranges. They’ll play sounds outside those ranges, but the quality suffers. These are professional-grade concert speakers—your leader was quite generous to bring such equipment to the youth center.” Hong Tao approached and patted the speakers. In later times, these wouldn’t be considered top-tier professional speakers—fine for theaters but insufficient for large stadium concerts, where the sound pressure level is critical and the bass tends to be muddy.

“Oh… now I get it. I was wondering why there were four amplifiers and six speakers—it didn’t add up. Turns out this thing is the culprit! Please continue… hehe.” The fat man, who had earlier wanted to send Hong Tao away, slapped his own head and finally understood, even addressing Hong Tao with respect.

“That’s right. The woofers require higher power, so one amplifier drives one woofer. The tweeters and midranges each have an amplifier driving two speakers, making four amplifiers total. But what if one amplifier breaks down?” Hong Tao teased, holding back part of the explanation.

“…Don’t know…” Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Amplifiers have a bridging function that doubles the output power, but it’s best not to use it for long periods. If one amplifier fails unexpectedly and you can’t replace it in time, switch one amplifier to bridge mode to drive a pair of tweeters, drop the midrange speakers, and adjust the crossover accordingly. The difference won’t be too bad.” Hong Tao relished the feeling of knowing something they didn’t.

“Reliable! Reliable! Hey! You… go buy some popsicles for Teacher Zhang and the… young apprentice to quench their thirst. It’s so hot today, can’t you see? You coward! Get the big ice cream bars!” The fat man grinned broadly and sent one of the apprentices off to buy treats.

“Uncle Fat, you’re into sound engineering, right? These two uncles are stage lighting experts, aren’t they?” Hong Tao looked at the balding man, the fat man, and the middle-aged man who spoke first, guessing their roles. The fat man knew more about audio equipment connections and tuning, while the balding and middle-aged men cared more about operational details.

“That’s right. My surname’s Gao, but you can call me Uncle Fat—I am rather stout. This is Uncle Wang, that’s Uncle Li, and this is Teacher Zhang. I handle installation; the other two handle adjustments. Teacher Zhang is an English teacher specially invited from Dongzhimen Middle School. The manuals are all foreign language, so none of us understand them! Luckily, we have you. Now I get the gist of it. Could you tell me about the other parts? Oh, I have a few plugs here. What are these for? I’m guessing they connect the amplifiers and speakers, but I’ve never seen plugs like these before. Can you help identify them?” The fat man produced a pair of metal plugs from his pocket, about the thickness of a rolling pin, with bayonet connectors on both ends and a groove in the middle.

“These are American-style plugs, used to connect speakers. Oh, I see now—these speakers were originally American-made, and for some reason, they ended up here without having their plugs replaced. That’s good! Americans don’t skimp on quality for their own gear—these are great! Unscrew this part, solder the speaker wire inside, then screw it back on. When you plug it in, align the groove with the protrusion in the speaker’s socket, push in, and twist to lock it. Even if you pull on the cable, the plug won’t come loose—in fact, it tightens the more you pull.” Hong Tao recognized this type of plug, commonly used on JBL professional speakers. They’re known for convenience and secure connection, unlikely to disconnect unless deliberately damaged.

“Hmm… that makes sense… Let me try… Hey! It really won’t come loose!” The fat man understood but remained cautious, going behind the speaker to test it himself before fully trusting it.

“All right, I’m off. You all know the rest and will probably handle it better than me.” Hong Tao knew these men weren’t clueless; they just hadn’t seen this equipment before. In terms of technical skill, they might not be any worse.

“Wait… dinner’s on me. How about this? I’ll have the youth center teachers come to your home and speak with your parents to explain you’re staying late here. You just sit right here. We have a tape recorder and tapes—listen to whatever you want. We’ll connect the equipment soon, and you can leave after hearing it play. How about that?” The fat man stopped Hong Tao, bowing slightly.

“All right, then I’ll take the plunge. Let’s not do a full connection, just a simple setup here, okay? Solder a few plugs and make some cables. With so many people, I guess it’ll take about two hours. No need to treat me to dinner; whoever rides a bike, I’ll give a lift home—it’s not far, just to Yonghegong. Oh, and find someone to notify my school’s teacher, so they don’t lose track and punish me later!” Hong Tao wasn’t eager to leave either. This kind of equipment was rare outside professional venues, and he wanted to enjoy the setup once completed.

Despite his impatience, the fat man was no slouch at work. He took the lead, and with several young apprentices, they quickly soldered various balanced and unbalanced cables. Hong Tao casually picked up a couple and inspected them—flawless craftsmanship. The solder joints were neat and solid, far better than his own skills.

“Oh my goodness! It’s you!” Hong Tao, with some free time, helped the balding Master Wang and the middle-aged man install the equipment on the rack. While working, he suddenly noticed a flat, elongated box beneath a pile of gear labeled “musical synthesizer.” He froze momentarily, then, as if seeing a long-lost relative, dove in to unwrap the packaging.

“Did the kid’s parents come? Where? Is this your uncle?” a young apprentice with a strong regional accent startled Hong Tao. He looked around but saw no outsiders, muttering to himself.

“Your uncle’s the flat one! You don’t understand—go do your job!” Hong Tao didn’t look up but shot back at the youth.

“It’s just an electric keyboard. I thought it would be something great!” The young apprentice wasn’t convinced as he watched Hong Tao unpack the box and pull out a long piano-like keyboard.

(To be continued…)