Monitor Individual Mic Channels

[Greg Curda]

Hi John,

In my experience, if you’re dealing with dialogue, and its unpredictable, then all the meters in the world wont help you predict when one voice will peak. Your mixer LEDs should vary in brightness with signal strength, so you do, in effect, have a multi-segment meter. A little peak here and there is not a bad thing, either, just don’t make a habit of it.

A 10-12 channel meter bridge could cost you up to $1000. Do you have limiters on your mixer? What are you recording to?

[John Livings]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for responding, The venues I am having issues with are Amateur events, With 25-50 performers,Singing,Dancing, And moving all over the stage, The Floor in front of the stage, And up and down aisles, And it is unpredictable.

We use 16 mics, (10 Wireless and 6 Wired) I do use the Shark DP-110 on 5 of the wireless channels, And this works out well as they have a row of LEDs that that I can monitor.

I do not have a limiters on either of the 2 mixers, Only on the 5 Shark DP-110s.

My main objective is to capture the best quality AUDIO and VIDEO I can. (As I must Edit and Produce a DVD)

The Show Directors objective is to “Put On The Best Live Performance He Can”, This is usually in conflict with my objectives, But I stay focused on my objectives.

I run the sound and video (3 or 4 Cameras with mics and 1 Digital Recorder) And the Sound Board) With the objective of Editing and creating a DVD.
I know, I know,

I just want something that “Helps”.

I did find a “Stand alone VU Meter”
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?ci=0&shs=SM+Pro+Audio+SMVU8+Stand-Alone+Audio%2FVU+Meter&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=jsp%2FRootPage.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t&Go.x=13&Go.y=7&Go=submit

Part of the setup

Any suggestions will be Welcome.

John

[Greg Curda]

Are you recording to multi-track? What’s your recorder?

I don’t think the VU will help as it does not show peaks, only avarage level. Sounds like you could use a pair of 8-channel dynamics processors.

[John Livings]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the information, As you might be able to tell from the image I posted, Most of my gear is consumer quality, (It’s all we can afford right now). And we are upgrading as our budget permits.

For right now I am going to consider 5 more of the Shark DSP 110s as they have the LED ladder and a Gain Pot next to the LEDs, And $60 dollars each.

I am recording to a Tascam HD-P2 that is comes off my Main Mixer. I also use the Tascam HD-P2 to monitor the mix as the main mixer does Not have a Headphone Jack.
The Recorder is set to “Mono Summed”.

3 of the 4 cameras are recording in duel mono and the fourth is recording in stereo.

During editing I Sync the 4 cameras and recorder up (The TC is not Jam Synced) I just sync them to a “clap board” and that is a good starting point. I then choose from the best video and audio that I have.

Again Thanks for your input.

John

[Greg Curda]

Good solution… Hope it all goes well. At least we know you’re not afraid of doing the work! Good luck.

[Sam Mallery]

The name of the piece of gear you’re looking for is called a “meter bridge.” They’re not very common because every manufactuer is trying to make gear as inexpensive as possible, and having accurate metering on every channel is expensive and eats up a lot of real estate on the gear itself.

This isn’t a cheap suggestion, but if you ever get a budget to play with you should take a look at the PreSonus Studiolive digital mixer:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/583206-REG/PreSonus_STUDIOLIVE_STUDIOLIVE_16_CH_PERF_RECORD_DIG.html

It has the meters you seek, it’s around the right size, and a digital mixer like this will allow you to eliminate a lot of the equipment you are currently passing your signals through. The Shark is cheap but it’s likely degrading your overall audio quality more than you think.

[John Livings]

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the information on the PreSonus Studio Live. I have been looking at that for about a month and read the reviews from Musician’s Friend. They are all 5 star ratings. I was hoping one of the COW contributers might review that mixer.

How would that work with FCP-Studio 2 on a Mac Pro? Would it be as simple as just plugging in a firewire cable?

The PreSonus would rack up nicely, however, my mains and monitors are passive (2-JBLs JRX115 Mains and 2- JBLs JRX112 Monitors) What type of power amp would you recommend?

Thank You for the heads up on the Shark-110s.

Again, Thanks

John

[Jordan Wolf]

Okay, first off, before anyone can give you any good advice, we need to know more information.

You never told us what mixer you are using – is it a field mixer or a rackmount/desktop mixer/console? What are you attempting to do with your gear? All that you have said is that there is a lack of metering and you would like more. We need any pertinent information about your problem and the gear involved.

Typically, most rackmount mixers only have a “signal present” LED and an “OL” or “CLIP” LED on the channels. You can usually PFL the signal to ensure enough headroom and then AFL the signal to hear what the EQ has done to it. Large-format consoles usually meter each input and output or just the outputs until you PFL/AFL a particular channel or set of channels.

Here is my recommendation based on the information already given: buy a Radio Designs Labs Peak/Program Meter. It ain’t no Dorrough Meter, but it’ll do you fine. You can adjust and calibrate it for program/average levels and/or peak level metering.

Wolf
<><

[John Livings]

Hi Jordan,

Thanks for responding to my post.

I am using 2 mixers, A Behringer Europower PMH2000 which is being fed by a Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1202FX.

I use 6 corded and 2 cordless Mics going into the RX1202FX and coming out of the “Mains Out” and then going into the #9 Channel of the Main Mixer (the PMH2000).

The first 8 channels of the PMH2000 (1-8) are used for 8 wireless mics.

Channel #10 is used to input Music (Tape In) . It is also used as an output to my HD-P2 recorder, I also come off the HD-P2 with my headphones.

All 16 mics are used for vocals and dialogue (No live instruments) The 6 wired mics are locked down, and the 10 wireless are used by the lead Performers (Singing, Dancing, moving around a lot).

My question had to do with Running Sound and capturing Video and Audio to be Edited and made into a DVD

The Live Musical Performances take place in 500 seat Auditoriums (over flow crowds and lots of Noise)

My original question had to do with better monitoring of the separate mic channels, But now has evolved into thinking about upgrading some of my consumer gear to equipment with more features.

I try to rack everything I can, as we do 4 shows in one day and break everything down and load up in less than 1 hour. I like to be able to set up in less than 1 hour also.

Thanks for any suggestions you may have

John

[Greg Curda]

Hey John,

Are you telling us that you run FOH live sound, record audio, and run cameras all by yourself?