As for the inverse square law - I think mentioning accoustic power and therefore using reference 6 dB being 4 times is confusing. I’d prefer dB SPL and that is on voltage domain, therefore 6 dB is 2 times. We actually can measure SPL with a tool called a microphone and it converts dB SPL to dBV. So it’s better not to mention term “power” here.

#2 - Yeah, polarity vs phase…
Reversing polarity (as in a mic input) simply reverses the 2 +/- wires. “Phase” implies a time lag, i.e. “We delayed that signal just enough to to have it arrive 180º out of phase.”

Note From The Editor - thanks for pointing out the typos. They have been corrected. As a result, I have closed the comments related to them in order to avoid confusion. Again, my thanks to all who contributed corrections.

Karl,
    Another excellent article.  In my capacity
( FOH engineer for a major casino showroom ),
I’ve seen hundreds of visiting engineers.  Since
the vast majority of them have utilized our
in-house sound system, I’ve been able to compare
results achieved, which range from the sublime
to the horrendous.
    While I can’t speak to the specifics of
others’ knowledge, I have been able to observe
that, in general, the best engineers are those
who get down to business, and who aren’t rattled
when the system components and mic selection
are not their “favorites”.
    That being said, I have heard phenomenal
results from mixers who are knowledge-challenged.
It brings to mind an interview with Les Paul
I read many years ago.  Les said that Django
Reinhart, the fabulous swing-era guitarist,
confided that ha didn’t know where “C” was.
Go figure.

This is a great article! I’ll be linking it to my blog which is geared toward practical problems for Electroacoustic composers. this will definitely help a lot in the learning process for those composers

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Good list.  When I taught techs from zero to something in a very limited time frame, if I could get them to grasp gain structure, they would be ok.  A nice thing to add to the discussion would be dual/multi channel FFT analysis as it is very usefull in dealing with items 10,9,8,5,2,1, and the only way to actually see phase.