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Author Topic: Setting Main and Monitor EQ  (Read 16245 times)

Tommy Peel

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Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« on: January 04, 2013, 11:28:44 AM »

Yesterday I installed a new x32 mixer in my church; I haven't been able to find a good method for setting up the main and monitor equalizers. If someone can either give me some instructions on doing it or direct me to a website that has the instructions I'd appreciate it.

The equipment I have access to is a Macbook Pro(running either OSX or Windows), the x32 mixer, an audio interface, a couple of CAD small diaphragm condenser mics(from a drum mic set), a peavey small diaphragm condenser(can't remember the model but it's being used to mic a piano), various dynamic mics(SM58 and some others), an iPad, and anAndroid phone.

I plan on using the x32's built-in GEQ(or maybe the TrueEQ; which is better?) the church had an analog board previously and was using an outboard EQ(which I don't know if it was setup properly or not but it hadn't been changed in many years) the main speakers are some sort of old Peavey's(they are wood grain on the sides and have black cloth on the front; they also say Peavey International on some small logos on the front) that I'm pretty sure have a single 15+horn. They are setup in a right/left configuration and seem to have fairly good coverage. My main concern right now is that they sounded "muddy" when I played music through them yesterday(mp3 played from my phone through an aux input on the mixer).

The monitors are some fairly new Yamahas and they sounded pretty good with the same music I had playing through the mains.

The typical music during church is piano+song leader+choir and then some special music which is usually someone singing to a CD or piano or acapella so the x32 is overkill for most things there although there will be times where we run a full band through the system.

I know the best solution is to have someone come in and tune the system but, I'm trying to get it somewhat tuned by Sunday for church. We may in the future replace the main speakers; in that case the system will be tuned by a pro.

Thanks for the help,
Tommy
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Scott Wagner

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2013, 01:54:57 PM »

Yesterday I installed a new x32 mixer in my church; I haven't been able to find a good method for setting up the main and monitor equalizers. If someone can either give me some instructions on doing it or direct me to a website that has the instructions I'd appreciate it.

The equipment I have access to is a Macbook Pro(running either OSX or Windows), the x32 mixer, an audio interface, a couple of CAD small diaphragm condenser mics(from a drum mic set), a peavey small diaphragm condenser(can't remember the model but it's being used to mic a piano), various dynamic mics(SM58 and some others), an iPad, and anAndroid phone.

I plan on using the x32's built-in GEQ(or maybe the TrueEQ; which is better?) the church had an analog board previously and was using an outboard EQ(which I don't know if it was setup properly or not but it hadn't been changed in many years) the main speakers are some sort of old Peavey's(they are wood grain on the sides and have black cloth on the front; they also say Peavey International on some small logos on the front) that I'm pretty sure have a single 15+horn. They are setup in a right/left configuration and seem to have fairly good coverage. My main concern right now is that they sounded "muddy" when I played music through them yesterday(mp3 played from my phone through an aux input on the mixer).

The monitors are some fairly new Yamahas and they sounded pretty good with the same music I had playing through the mains.

The typical music during church is piano+song leader+choir and then some special music which is usually someone singing to a CD or piano or acapella so the x32 is overkill for most things there although there will be times where we run a full band through the system.

I know the best solution is to have someone come in and tune the system but, I'm trying to get it somewhat tuned by Sunday for church. We may in the future replace the main speakers; in that case the system will be tuned by a pro.

Thanks for the help,
Tommy
First, forget the GEQ and use the 6 band full parametrics on each output.  You get a lot more control with the parametric EQs.  Second, you don't need instructions for tuning the system.  Use your ears and PEQ (and some knob-turning time).  Just get it to sound acceptable with your music of choice.  Hint: use cuts instead of boosts.  Keep in mind that not all sound issues can be fixed with EQ.  If you find yourself requiring huge cuts to make things sound good, you might want to think about your speaker deployment.  Good luck.
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Scott Wagner
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Tommy Peel

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2013, 02:17:22 PM »

First, forget the GEQ and use the 6 band full parametrics on each output.  You get a lot more control with the parametric EQs.  Second, you don't need instructions for tuning the system.  Use your ears and PEQ (and some knob-turning time).  Just get it to sound acceptable with your music of choice.  Hint: use cuts instead of boosts.  Keep in mind that not all sound issues can be fixed with EQ.  If you find yourself requiring huge cuts to make things sound good, you might want to think about your speaker deployment.  Good luck.

That's good to know, I'll probably have an easier time adjusting the parametric because I'm accustomed to using it(in channel strip's swept mids). I'll take a CD(hopefully with better quality than the mp3s on my phone/ipad) up there before Sunday and work on tuning it.

Thanks,
Tommy
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Brad Weber

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2013, 02:25:36 PM »

I plan on using the x32's built-in GEQ(or maybe the TrueEQ; which is better?) the church had an analog board previously and was using an outboard EQ(which I don't know if it was setup properly or not but it hadn't been changed in many years) the main speakers are some sort of old Peavey's(they are wood grain on the sides and have black cloth on the front; they also say Peavey International on some small logos on the front) that I'm pretty sure have a single 15+horn. They are setup in a right/left configuration and seem to have fairly good coverage. My main concern right now is that they sounded "muddy" when I played music through them yesterday(mp3 played from my phone through an aux input on the mixer).
Unless you have confirmed that the existing equalizers are problematic then why not continue to use them for tuning the speaker system and leave the mixer's equalization for creative use?
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Tommy Peel

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2013, 03:49:38 PM »

Unless you have confirmed that the existing equalizers are problematic then why not continue to use them for tuning the speaker system and leave the mixer's equalization for creative use?

We've been having some issues with the main GEQ for a while now, so I was trying to eliminate it from the signal chain. Apparently it had been causing some cutouts in audio; I don't run sound there most of the time(although I will be for the foreseeable future till I get the guy who was doing it up to speed). I may try to transfer some of the settings from the old GEQ to the one in the mixer, but after what Scott said I'll probably try using just try setting the parametric EQ and see how it sounds.
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g'bye, Dick Rees

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2013, 03:52:16 PM »


the main speakers are some sort of old Peavey's(they are wood grain on the sides and have black cloth on the front; they also say Peavey International on some small logos on the front) that I'm pretty sure have a single 15+horn. They are setup in a right/left configuration and seem to have fairly good coverage. My main concern right now is that they sounded "muddy" when I played music through them yesterday(mp3 played from my phone through an aux input on the mixer).



I often find that older speakers sounding "muddy" are doing so because they've been used for a long time with no maintenance and likely some abuse such as plugging/unplugging mics with phantom power enabled, improper off/on sequence and the like.  The wear and tear on the HF section results in degraded HF output. 

Before going to a lot of trouble and possible expense, you should verify that the existing speakers are or are not in good working order.  No use painting a rusty carcass, so to speak.
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Jared Koopman

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2013, 04:04:43 PM »

Yesterday I installed a new x32 mixer in my church; I haven't been able to find a good method for setting up the main and monitor equalizers. If someone can either give me some instructions on doing it or direct me to a website that has the instructions I'd appreciate it.

The equipment I have access to is a Macbook Pro(running either OSX or Windows), the x32 mixer, an audio interface, a couple of CAD small diaphragm condenser mics(from a drum mic set), a peavey small diaphragm condenser(can't remember the model but it's being used to mic a piano), various dynamic mics(SM58 and some others), an iPad, and anAndroid phone.

I plan on using the x32's built-in GEQ(or maybe the TrueEQ; which is better?) the church had an analog board previously and was using an outboard EQ(which I don't know if it was setup properly or not but it hadn't been changed in many years) the main speakers are some sort of old Peavey's(they are wood grain on the sides and have black cloth on the front; they also say Peavey International on some small logos on the front) that I'm pretty sure have a single 15+horn. They are setup in a right/left configuration and seem to have fairly good coverage. My main concern right now is that they sounded "muddy" when I played music through them yesterday(mp3 played from my phone through an aux input on the mixer).

The monitors are some fairly new Yamahas and they sounded pretty good with the same music I had playing through the mains.

The typical music during church is piano+song leader+choir and then some special music which is usually someone singing to a CD or piano or acapella so the x32 is overkill for most things there although there will be times where we run a full band through the system.

I know the best solution is to have someone come in and tune the system but, I'm trying to get it somewhat tuned by Sunday for church. We may in the future replace the main speakers; in that case the system will be tuned by a pro.

Thanks for the help,
Tommy

You have a couple of options....

You can insert one of the EQ (or TrueEQ) onto the Mains and Monitors. The downside to this is it uses up your fx slots for other creative uses. But if you must, you must. The TrueEQ supposedly smooths out the curve, but I have no way of varifying if that sounds better or not. Try it and see.

Or you can use the parametric EQ as mentioned. You really shouldn't need to do more then 6 cuts so the PEQ should work just fine. This is what I do for our monitors. Our mains we run through an EV DC-ONE which has all that built into it and was preset by the installer.

Dont forget to check and see if your ipod had some sort of EQ turned on that could be affecting the "muddy" sound.

Jared
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Tommy Peel

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2013, 04:15:09 PM »

I often find that older speakers sounding "muddy" are doing so because they've been used for a long time with no maintenance and likely some abuse such as plugging/unplugging mics with phantom power enabled, improper off/on sequence and the like.  The wear and tear on the HF section results in degraded HF output. 

Before going to a lot of trouble and possible expense, you should verify that the existing speakers are or are not in good working order.  No use painting a rusty carcass, so to speak.

You may have hit the nail right on the head; I know the speakers are at least 15-20 years old and have most likely never been off their mounts. I'll try to get the system EQ'd to where it sounds better and if the speakers are shot I'll talk to the pastor about getting some new ones; they definitely want to get the system sounding better so doubt new speakers are out of the question. Just having a new sound board has made a huge improvement because the old one was regularly cutting out on various channels and no one dared to push a "mute" button for fear that it would never unmute.
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g'bye, Dick Rees

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2013, 04:32:48 PM »

You may have hit the nail right on the head; I know the speakers are at least 15-20 years old and have most likely never been off their mounts. I'll try to get the system EQ'd to where it sounds better and if the speakers are shot I'll talk to the pastor about getting some new ones; they definitely want to get the system sounding better so doubt new speakers are out of the question. Just having a new sound board has made a huge improvement because the old one was regularly cutting out on various channels and no one dared to push a "mute" button for fear that it would never unmute.

Remove all EQ from the signal chain.  If you have a small mixer or mixpad, connect it directly to the power amp and playback some material through the speakers.  If they do not have enough HF, you need to have the speakers repaired (cheapest) or replaced.
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Brad Weber

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Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2013, 06:20:01 AM »

We've been having some issues with the main GEQ for a while now, so I was trying to eliminate it from the signal chain. Apparently it had been causing some cutouts in audio; I don't run sound there most of the time(although I will be for the foreseeable future till I get the guy who was doing it up to speed).
For installed systems I'm a fan of separating the speaker system processing, which I believe should be set and then not be routinely adjusted, from the tools available for operators to routinely use and removing the existing equalizer goes against that concept.  Given your comments regarding the old mixer, have you verified that the apparent cutouts are due to the existing equalizers?
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Setting Main and Monitor EQ
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2013, 06:20:01 AM »


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