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Author Topic: Help needed making microphones more sensitive  (Read 8648 times)

Corey Scogin

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #30 on: May 23, 2019, 11:34:04 AM »

Seeing that it was a mic level input and I was using a mic without a mic preamp, shouldn't it have worked better?  I was still going through the MX400.

The sensitivity of a microphone -- how much voltage it outputs for a given Sound Pressure Level input -- varies considerably between dynamic and condenser mics and can also vary quite a bit between different models of the same type of mic. More sensitive does not mean better. The SM57s may just be less sensitive than the mics they'd set it up for.

The MX400 may have been causing some of the noise.

  Either way, it sounds like I will need to use a pad (in addition to the mixer) the next time we are at that hotel.

I'd recommend a -20dB pad. If you happen to have a passive DI with a pad on it, that should work also.
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Patrick Tracy

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #31 on: May 23, 2019, 02:12:42 PM »

Seeing that it was a mic level input and I was using a mic without a mic preamp, shouldn't it have worked better?

Microphones produce very small voltages from the sound they capture. That signal has to be transmitted to the mic preamp carefully or it can pick up all kinds of noise. The low impedance balanced connection is designed for that. Connecting to the Micromix defeats the system for ensuring proper transmission of the mix signal to the mic preamp. That's how the noise got into the signal.

Cameron Peck

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #32 on: May 23, 2019, 02:49:39 PM »

Microphones produce very small voltages from the sound they capture. That signal has to be transmitted to the mic preamp carefully or it can pick up all kinds of noise. The low impedance balanced connection is designed for that. Connecting to the Micromix defeats the system for ensuring proper transmission of the mix signal to the mic preamp. That's how the noise got into the signal.
I understand.
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Cameron Peck

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #33 on: May 23, 2019, 02:51:54 PM »

Thanks, everyone.  I plan on taking the equipment to the hotel that we are using next and do a trial run ahead of time.  I will report back with how it goes.  You all are awesome!
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Cameron Peck

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #34 on: June 24, 2019, 10:59:00 AM »

***UPDATE***

I took the equipment to the hotel on Friday and tried it out.  Replacing the MX400 with the UB802 worked as expected.  And thank you to Drew for suggesting the PAD, I needed it.  Everything appears to be working properly now.

Of course, this was only a short test in an environment that was not exact to what we will have, but I believe I am far better off than I was before I asked the question on here.  Thank you all for your help.  I will report back after the actual event.
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Cameron Peck

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #35 on: July 23, 2019, 09:32:28 AM »

We had our meeting last weekend and the sound was great.  Thank you, everyone, for your help.
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Steve Ferreira

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #36 on: July 23, 2019, 09:57:34 AM »

Glad to hear it worked out for you Cameron.
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Jordan Wolf

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #37 on: July 25, 2019, 08:46:30 PM »

We had our meeting last weekend and the sound was great.  Thank you, everyone, for your help.
Awesome! Glad to hear things worked out well for you.
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Jordan Wolf
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"We want our sound to go into the soul of the audience, and see if it can awaken some little thing in their minds... Cause there are so many sleeping people." - Jimi Hendrix

Matthias McCready

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #38 on: July 26, 2019, 09:24:32 AM »

I have a question and a suggestion for you.

The question is how are you using the SM-57's, as the President does, dual mics - one person speaking or are you using them as two separate sources?  I actually do not know if that is how the Presidents audio crew is utilizing the 2 mics, one mic may be there for redundancy. I believe though you will get better results with 1 mic, if you are trying to use two mics on one person, one mic would need to switched out of phase and a lot more tweaking would be needed than a single mic.


The 2nd mic is simply there for redundancy, and they prefer it if it is kept the same level as the live mic to be unmuted should problems arise. For obvious reasons, you cannot place a wireless pack on the president (or VP). So dual SM57's it is.
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Alec Spence

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Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #39 on: July 26, 2019, 11:33:56 AM »

I purchased the mics based solely on the fact that is has been used for the Presidental Podium for 30 years.
Head... in... hands...
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Help needed making microphones more sensitive
« Reply #39 on: July 26, 2019, 11:33:56 AM »


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