Pre-amp with a wireless mic - question

toddno, the weakest link in any PA system is ALWAYS the microphone. You could probably get a much better sound with a better wireless mic. Samson is on the bottom rung of the pro audio equipment ladder (though they are higher than Behringer, but most don't consider them to even be on the ladder).

You can add a channel strip processor like the Presonus Eureka, which has an input for a mic or line level source, and includes 3 band parametric EQ, and compressor. Here's what you do: connect your mic as normal. Instead of running an XLR cable from your wireless receiver to the console or stage snake, run it into the Eureka (or other channel strip processor), and then run another XLR cable from the output of the Eureka into your stage snake to get the signal back to the sound console.

I don't like to overly compress horns, because I feel that it clamps down on the 'bite' of the articulation at the very start of a note, and can make things muddy.

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A side note about compression. A lot of it depends on the console and the amount of head room the console has. I mixed the McDades last Friday. My first time working on the Yamaha PM5D (in a room with a Meyer M1D array in which I had mixed before). This board had so much head room that even though I had compression on most channels, they were not hitting the compressor on any of them. BUT, the violin desperately needed it. I had to crank the compression threshold down to -25db (I normally don't like to take the threshold below -10db) in order to keep the violin from bitting your head off.

Compression is a wonderful thing, but you need to know your system, and the console, and use it sparingly.

hakukani said:

It helps to have a nicely tweaked Meyer array.

Sounds like a fun gig. I'm jealous, sort of, in my old, retired way.

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Yeah It's a nice room; seats about 430, a Meyer line array, the subs are in a loft about twelve feet off the floor off house left and right about half a dozen seats back from the down stage edge. Could be a better location, like flown with the arrays, but they sound all right. I can't remember what the sub model number is, but they're the compact subs that Meyer has for the M1D array. I'd like more subage, but we don't run a lot of rock shows in this room, mainly community theatre and world music type shows (clasical Indian, celtic, etc...)

The PM5D is newly installed, while I was out running theatre in Utah for the summer. The previous console was an old Soundcraft K3. An okay console, but it's like a Flinstone's car compared to the supped up Corvette that is the PM5D. :twisted:

I'm going to be joining the union soon--filling out the application tonight. I just have to come up with the initiation fee. Then I'm going to take the journeyman's exam. At which point I'll end up being the main audio guy that works in this room. It's going to be nice...