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Church and H.O.W. – Forums for HOW Sound and AV - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Church and HOW Forums => Church Sound => Topic started by: Joel Schroer on April 18, 2018, 10:53:13 PM
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Good evening everyone,
I've been searching for info on setting up a 220i as the DSP for a condenser mic attached to a pulpit at a local church.
I've got a PA2 between the mixer and the amps to mainly handle feedback issues amp tuning, etc.
One of the problems I'm working with is that there is quite the variation of speakers (um... "vocal people" not "air-movers with magnets"... ;-) ) Some are soft spoken, some project REALLY well and I'm trying to tame the variables the best that I can.
Using the AGC/Limiter on the PA2 is not an option as I don't want to raise ALL of the mics that are continually open. (These folks are mostly 'hands off' on their system and the system is in a closet in the back of the sanctuary.)
They have a 220i with a bad #2 channel (All routing through channel 1 works fine.) and I put that in the signal chain between the 'pulpit' mic and the Allen & Heath analog mixer.
I've not set up a DSP in this configuration and have been unsuccessful in finding good info on this at this point.
Questions: What is a guideline for setting the mic gain on the back of the 220i?
What inserts would you recommend to be used? AGC & Limiter or compressor?
Should I use only fixed filters on the 220i's AFS and let the PA2 handle the 'live filters'?
I apologize if these seem like basic questions to some as I am learning and I am hoping to iron out the kinks Thursday afternoon.
Thank you very much in advance!
Joel S
Worship Tech Solutions Inc.
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Good evening everyone,
I've been searching for info
Thank you very much in advance!
Joel S
Worship Tech Solutions Inc.
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admin
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Good evening everyone,
I've been searching for info on setting up a 220i as the DSP for a condenser mic attached to a pulpit at a local church.
I've got a PA2 between the mixer and the amps to mainly handle feedback issues amp tuning, etc.
One of the problems I'm working with is that there is quite the variation of speakers (um... "vocal people" not "air-movers with magnets"... ;-) ) Some are soft spoken, some project REALLY well and I'm trying to tame the variables the best that I can.
Using the AGC/Limiter on the PA2 is not an option as I don't want to raise ALL of the mics that are continually open. (These folks are mostly 'hands off' on their system and the system is in a closet in the back of the sanctuary.)
They have a 220i with a bad #2 channel (All routing through channel 1 works fine.) and I put that in the signal chain between the 'pulpit' mic and the Allen & Heath analog mixer.
I've not set up a DSP in this configuration and have been unsuccessful in finding good info on this at this point.
Questions: What is a guideline for setting the mic gain on the back of the 220i?
What inserts would you recommend to be used? AGC & Limiter or compressor?
Should I use only fixed filters on the 220i's AFS and let the PA2 handle the 'live filters'?
I apologize if these seem like basic questions to some as I am learning and I am hoping to iron out the kinks Thursday afternoon.
Thank you very much in advance!
Joel S
Worship Tech Solutions Inc.
If I'm not mistaken, the 220i is a system processor, so it doesn't make sense going between the mic and the mixer. It is likely setup to receive line level signal and cannot provide phantom power to the condenser mic.
You should consider instead a dedicated compressor/limiter with physical controls that you adjust on the fly. Something like a DBX 266XS or similar.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
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The 220i does have some features that would work for what you want to try and can be used for mic or line processing, I can't remember if it has phantom power or not.
You need to download the driverack software from DBX to program the 220i and the connection to the 220i is via RS232 with a crossover cable, the RJ45 connection is for various remote control modules.
What Allen Heath mixer do you have?
If the 220i is what you have and want to use as a compressor I would use it as an "insert" on the mixers channel not inline with the mic. Depending on your mixer you may or may not have channel insert jacks.
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The 220i does have some features that would work for what you want to try and can be used for mic or line processing, I can't remember if it has phantom power or not.
You need to download the driverack software from DBX to program the 220i and the connection to the 220i is via RS232 with a crossover cable, the RJ45 connection is for various remote control modules.
What Allen Heath mixer do you have?
If the 220i is what you have and want to use as a compressor I would use it as an "insert" on the mixers channel not inline with the mic. Depending on your mixer you may or may not have channel insert jacks.
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Thanks Mike!
I was able to really dig into it last week and have it hooked up in-line with the mic. (I had thought of doing it as an insert, but was a little unsure as to the right way to do it with that unit.)
It does have phantom power available and is working well. It sounds like I may have to lower the gate on it a little as soft vocals don't quite open it up.
The 220i does boost the signal so I padded it at the mixer (it's an AH MixWizard WZ4 16:2 )
I've become rather well acquainted with the Driverack software as well as the com-port issues when using a USB/serial adapter. LOL!
This has been QUITE the learning curve!
I am gearing up to quote them a digital mixer as their needs for flexibility and being able to easily control it remotely are becoming very apparent. As well as the congregation's want of better sound. Not only in the Sanctuary, but also in the lobby and listening devices for the hearing impaired.
Joel Schroer
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If your going to gate a vocal mic do not set the gate depth too "deep", maybe try 10db give or take. That will drop it out of the mix and at the same time not be like flipping an on off switch when the mic turns on and off. Setting a gate's threshold on a vocal mic can be tricky, threshold level and gate depth or attenuation are two different things.
The Allen Heath manuals show the cable wiring for an insert cable.
As you found out not every USB to RS232 adapter will work with the DBX drive racks, I still have an old lap with a RS232 port!
Mix Wizards are nice compact boards that work well the Allen Heath QU16 is sort of a digital version of a Mix Wiz and then some, as I have said before just plugging a digital mixer into a system will not guarantee better sound, there could other areas of the system that need addressed as well.