help with microphone and crossover type thingy

[hadyn]

Hi
i am trying to think of a piece of kit that i can plug my xlr outputs from my mixer into and then plug xlr leads from this piece of kit to my powered speakers.
this kit would also have a microphone or two inputs and some form of cleaning the output from the mixer (something like a equalizer or crossover type thing or compressor)
this will enable me to disable the current microphone on the mixer and use this piece of kit and improve the sound possibly as well but i don't know what this piece of kit will be, perhaps im being thick today!!)
any advice would be appreciated as always
hadyn

[Excalibur]

First up, what's your existing mixer, and what's your problem with the mic? I know a lot of folk have issues with a few of the current laptop controllers in this area.

Secondly, something like this (http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-Eurorack-UB1202FX-Mixer/KX6?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=PLA+Shop+-+Behringer&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=1+-+Product+Level+-+Behringer&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=27114d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=111959732959&gclid=CMrT5b_6osUCFcISwwod0aEAKQ) is what I just got for not dissimilar reasons. The Alto zmx 122fx is another contender, and there are others.

Run your mixer into a line input, and your mics into the Behringer/Alto. This gives you full control over the mic sound, and also gives you additional mic channels, should you need more for karaoke for example. Plug your actives into the ouitput from the mic mixer, you'll probably need adaptors, but that's not difficult. Hope this helps.

[HeartandSoul]

That does sound like an intersting idea, I use the DDJ SX controller and I cannot get happy with the quality of the sound from the mic. interestingly, when I have dispensed with the controller, use the laptop and use a Mackie mixer instead, quality is so much better.

[DJ Jules]

That does sound like an intersting idea, I use the DDJ SX controller and I cannot get happy with the quality of the sound from the mic. interestingly, when I have dispensed with the controller, use the laptop and use a Mackie mixer instead, quality is so much better.

The SX has known issues with headroom in the Mic channels - essentially if the signal going into the Mic channel is too "hot" then regardless of where you set the gain control, it'll clip and sound awful. The easy (and cheap ~ £10) solution is to use a Microphone attenuator between your Mic and the SX and then it'll be fine - or to use a different Mic with a lower output (I use a JTS mic normally and it's fine).

Julian

P.S. From what I've heard they fixed this on the SX2

[Nakatomi]

Mic inputs on DJ mixers are silly these days in my experience. Where I walk in, there's generally a Citronic mixer like a CDM8:4 or a CDM10:4 & my voice easily clips their mic channels if I have the gain any higher than about 8 o' clock (where zero is at 6 o clock) - this is with a Beyerdynamic M300 mike

Back in the day, a position of 12 o clock on the mic gain control was a good starting point. A DJ mixer really doesn't need that much mic gain IMHO. Quality microphones tend to be high output, especially when used close as they're designed for & a DJ mixer should reflect that.

And no, I'm not a mike eater either ;)

Oh yeah I'll add a comment about the mic input on my Denon MC2000 controller. UGH! Sounds like I've rammed the mic down my throat it's so bassy & muffled sounding. With that, the gain problem is the other way round.. I have to turn the gain all the way up. It's unusable on every level.

[Excalibur]

The SX has known issues with headroom in the Mic channels -

As did the ADJ VMS 4 and the Denon MC6000 Mk1


The easy (and cheap ~ £10) solution is to use a Microphone attenuator between your Mic and the SX and then it'll be fine

And indeed, ADJ issued such attenuators to VMS4 customers, in an attempt to rectify the problem, before the 4.1 came out. Apparently, they work really well in the Denon!

P.S. From what I've heard they fixed this on the SX2
To a simple soul like me, it would appear that most, if not all such units share a common problem, which was fixed in later versions.
It seems an awfully big coincidence that more than one manufacturer's offering had an almost identical fault. One wonders if they were sharing common design, or components. :whistle:

[hadyn]

First up, what's your existing mixer, and what's your problem with the mic? I know a lot of folk have issues with a few of the current laptop controllers in this area.

Secondly, something like this (http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-Eurorack-UB1202FX-Mixer/KX6?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=PLA+Shop+-+Behringer&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=1+-+Product+Level+-+Behringer&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=27114d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=111959732959&gclid=CMrT5b_6osUCFcISwwod0aEAKQ) is what I just got for not dissimilar reasons. The Alto zmx 122fx is another contender, and there are others.

Run your mixer into a line input, and your mics into the Behringer/Alto. This gives you full control over the mic sound, and also gives you additional mic channels, should you need more for karaoke for example. Plug your actives into the ouitput from the mic mixer, you'll probably need adaptors, but that's not difficult. Hope this helps.

Thanks for that, originally thought no thats not what i was after because i was looking for something that i could add to my 19 inch rack mount but perhaps that would do the trick.

[Excalibur]

Thanks for that, originally thought no thats not what i was after because i was looking for something that i could add to my 19 inch rack mount but perhaps that would do the trick.

There's one still currently for sale on the forum. linky (http://www.forum.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?42527-Various-items-for-sale)

[Nakatomi]

Do any of those nice little cheap mixers ever come with balanced outputs? I know unbalanced is fine for a few metres but would prefer the option of feeding much longer lines. Unless a 'through' output on an active cabinet is buffered, an unbalanced input will remain so when it goes out, XLR or not.

I'm pondering a small pa mixer to use externally rather than a DJ mixer, for loads of reasons. I don't need zillions of stereo channels & good Mic inputs are more important to me than crossfaders etc. plus a small pa mixer is generally less bulky than its DJ equivalent. Citronic CDM 8:4 or Denon DN-X500 needs a way taller case than a little pa mixer. There's a gap in the market here..

[Andy P]

I use the Behringer Xenyx mixers which come in all shapes and sizes (currently a 1208 usb with effects) and all the 4 mic channels have balanced and unbalanced inputs.

[Nakatomi]

I use the Behringer Xenyx mixers which come in all shapes and sizes (currently a 1208 usb with effects) and all the 4 mic channels have balanced and unbalanced inputs.

Outputs, not inputs. Need at least XLR or TRS jack outputs :)

Built in psu would be good too. Hate wall warts

[Andy P]

The mixers with built in psu's normally have xlr balanced outputs, the smaller mixers like the 802 are TRS jack unbalanced