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Author Topic: Setting gains  (Read 2617 times)

Stephen Swaffer

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Setting gains
« on: December 01, 2018, 03:36:58 PM »

So a little different twist on a topic that gets beat to death at times.  First, I understand we are "doing it all wrong".  I am working with 16 headset mics.  If I could, they would all be Shure ULX with dPA fine mics or something like that-instead, I have a couple Dpa' on Shure SLXs, a couple Countryman E6's and MX 153s on the Shures and then a hodge lodge of mics on a set of 8 MiPros we rent.  Budget dictates we do the best with what we have.  I've managed to avoid RF issues.

Here is my biggest challenge-getting the gain staging set on all of these mics in a very short time frame with out actors present (we have tried to get a mic only rehearsal but that is a battle we keep losing-this year 7 inches of snow wiped out our chance).

Late in the game, out of frustration I came up with this solution-I picked a mic I knew was set properly and used on an actor with good dynamic range.  I used the signal generator on the QU and PFL'd an unused mix.  I put the mic inside the cans on my headphones and adjusted the signal to get "0" on the channel meter.  Then I went through rest of the mics doing the same thing-except I left the signal the same and adjusted the mic gains to get them to the same reading on their respective channels.

Does this seem like a reasonable method to get mismatched mics roughly set?  Is there a commercial solution that would work better? I used pink noise-should it be white? 
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Steve Swaffer

Geert Friedhof

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Re: Setting gains
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2018, 06:27:19 AM »

I think you are shooting in the dark. Every voice is different in tone and volume. I would try to set the gains backstage before curtains by asking the actors to speak like they would on the stage. Surely there is time for that. I also would dedicate my time to eq to some extend and ring out all the mics. Put a compressor on each channel.
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Jerome Malsack

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Re: Setting gains
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2018, 04:06:54 PM »

This was a method recommended in the past and was used to match baseline settings so you can setup quick and know the originals were similar in gain. 
The hard part is the eq and GBF.  Are they all omni. 


So for starters, it’s a good idea to perform a re-set on all units to get them back to the same start point. In addition, if you have input as to how the rig gets built (or if you’re building it yourself), try to ensure that the units get racked with the lowest bands corresponding to your lowest unit numbers.

https://www.prosoundweb.com/channels/av/a_quick_easy_way_to_preset_console_input_gain/

« Last Edit: December 02, 2018, 04:12:21 PM by Jerome Malsack »
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Stephen Swaffer

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Re: Setting gains
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2018, 01:20:07 PM »

No they are not all omni.  I certainly wasn't looking for these to be performance ready with this-just to get them close enough to get something to work with to work on GBF and EQ.  I'm not trying to set up quickly for a performance-rather trying to get set to do rehearsals and dial things in.

The problem with the rentals is that even resetting all the sets doesn't gain me any thing-the mics are simply too different on them.
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Steve Swaffer

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Setting gains
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2018, 01:20:07 PM »


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