Stupid Newbie here. Gain question

Aerovette

Ok I am the uneducated so please dummy it down for me. I am in a band and we are having issues with mics picking up too much ambient noise. My logic and lack of formal sound training tells me to keep th egains low so that any sound that is not within about 8 inches of the mic is not picked up, but vocals being sung directly in to the mic are very present. THEN, amplify the heck out out of it. Other opinions are that the gain should be set at the \"blinking light\" point and amplify less to get the same overall volume. This makes no sense to me. The result of that is that every whisper, every sound on stage is being picked up by the 4 vocal mics. Can someone take some time to bat this back and forth with me? Why is my method wrong?

Cory Cooper

Best solution is to add a compressor/noise gate as an insert on the mic channels on the mixer.

What kind of mics are you using...are they cardiod pattern?

Gadget

The fadres have a design center. Use the PFL on the channels to set the mic gain with the fader at the design center, to 0 to +10 leaving you some headroom. this will give you the best signal to noise ratio, and thats what we want.. Make sure you have done a propper gain structure also.

Be carefull using comps, they can CAUSE feedback..especially in monitors.

Hey Coup!
Gadget

Aerovette

Gadget wrote:

.. Make sure you have done a propper gain structure also.

That's what my question was about. Please re-read. :shock:

Gadget

I answered your question..The Gain structure setup is deliniated in the back of the manual..You might be more specific if I'm not telling you what you want to hear
Gadget