Compressor Finally hooked up right
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Posted on Sep 06, 2007 06:57 am
mclir9
www.witchsmark.com
Member Since: Aug 13, 2006
Howdy all. I have been using a compressor(Behringer MDX2600) for the lead vocals in our live setup. I have been running Mic-Comp-Mixer, but recently through a conversation with Behringer's tech support now am using an Insert Cable and have plugged the Compressor into the Lead Vocals channel insert. Wow, until now the Gain Reduction meter and Input/Output level meter have rarely ever registered an even when they did it was like the first little LED would blink real quick for a second. Now that I have it hooked up with the Channel Insert everything is registering big time. My problem is that with the unit working properly now, the Lead Vocals are actually lower in volume to where I have to really crank up the volume on the mixer to even begin to sit the Vocals right in the mix. Does this sound right?? Before I started using the Channel Insert method the Compressor actually made her volume higher to where she sat very well in the mix, but with little to no re-action from the Compressor. Any suggestions??
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Sep 06, 2007 08:52 am sounds like you're on the right track....but ya gotta keep in mind your compressor is REDUCING the volume of the signal you send it....there should be an 'output' knob or 'makup gain' on it...turn that up to where everything balances out, and you'll be set.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Sep 06, 2007 04:02 pm The mic only puts out very little power, like .1 Volt AC. This isn't enough to make the compressor do anything.
This is where the preamp comes in.
The preamp boosts the mic level signal up to line level (around 1 volt AC). Now that it's line level, the compressor can work with it.
If the gain reduction light didn't come on, then the compressor isn't (wasn't) doing anything.
Now that you're feeding the comp a real signal, now it can do some stuff, like reduce the gain. Like WYD said, you can now increase the level, with makeup gain, to make the track seem louder, and thicker.
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
Sep 10, 2007 10:17 am Had band practice Saturday night and it gave me a chance to play around with the Compressor some more. Keep in mind that we are not a loud band, we pretty much keep our levels sitting well with the drummer, and he is not an overloud player, quite contained. No matter where I put the Threshhold or the Ratio, I get a Gain Reduction reading of about 12Db. When I go to the Output I crank it up to match this, but at around +10 I begin to experience feedback and the level doesn't even begin to come up enough for the singer to be heard. What could be going wrong here?? I have the switch on the back of the Compressor set to +4 instead of -10, would this be the cause of any of this problem??
mclir9www.witchsmark.comMember
Since: Aug 13, 2006
Sep 12, 2007 09:14 am Just an update on my Compressor adventure. Had band practice again last night and I plugged it into the Keyboards channel insert and set the Keyboard on a Demo song. I was able to get the Compressor to cooperate doing this, and everything was working as it should. By doing this I was able to learn quite a bit about its functionality. After this I plugged it back into the Lead Vocals channel and it seemed to be working OK at this point. Still a little tweaking to go, but slowly I am getting it figured out. The Singer causes the compressor to go through such a larger extreme with doing its job than the Keyboards did, but with the keyboards plugged in I could totally here the difference the Compressor was making with the sound level. My singer hates the Compressor at this point, but hopefully I can change her mind about it in time.
