Increasing microphone's sound level

[Robinn]

Hi all,

I have a question.

Let's say im doing sound reinforcement, after doing the sound checks for the mic level and the gain level is set, and the faders (mic's channel) and main mix is at the the 0 dB level already...

and when a speaker speaks softly on the microphone, how do i bringing up the volume more?

Do i just up the levels of the fader to more than the 0 dB mark? or do i increase the gain?

 

[hardpan]

Try to set your gain at a point where you hit the mic preamps hard enough, but yet have sufficient headroom to accommodate the peaks in your audio signal. Thereafter, you'll generally mix using the faders. There's no rule that says you can't touch the gain knob even after you've set the levels during soundcheck though.

 

[wildswan]

If there is one and only one speaker, I would normally bring up the gain as it is the entry point of the signal.

If there are several speakers, I will just use the fader because it is easier and more user-friendly (accept some signal noises to be amplified).

 

[rockdiner]

Up the mic channel 1st

Hi
I would increase the mic vol channel first and hear the quality. Touching the gain first will affect the monitors if any. Further it the speaker suddenly increase his volume, you might get a nasty feedback through the mains and a big shock through the monitors for those who are near there.

Anyway if a person speaks in a whisper, there is not much quality adjustment that can help him sound better, so no point increasing the gain as the risks mentioned above is not worth it.

If you are fed out with the guy whispering, then Hmmm, he doesn't need to be amplified at all in the first place....turn off his monitor and he will speak louder...hehehe

 

[engz]

what's your application?

in live sound, the sudden loudness can kill ppl, hence the usage of limiters to prevent this. a compressor will help u even out the dynamics of the volume of the voice, though i've heard of some other device that not only acts as a compressor (reduces high volumes) but also slightly boost low volumes.

if its in the studio/home, u always want to set ur input to line level depending on whatever you're recording. during mixdown is when u increase/decrease that volume. line level on your mixer is not always the line level you want. for e.g. if u work with a very powerful voice, chances are you can't bring your gain up to line level for him/her. vice versa for a voice with less amplitude. on my mackie mixer, they have a real useful guide to get the line level =] mackie roxorz