Fixing voice – too wide DR – using AMM or compression

[Anonymous]

volounteer became a registered member 2 months ago

[Giga]

Seriously, this all comes down to 2 points really:

– garbage in -> garbage out *or* for gods sake, educate the people behind the mic like you educate the people behind the desk/equipment. It is or it should be a joined effort.

– stop complaining about what you don’t have but instead make the best of it with what you do have.

Giga

[volounteer]

@NZdave

So what?

I became a volounteer then.

That has nothing to say about what I know or my experience for the last 55 years.

Why are you using a logical fallacy to disparage my KSAs?

[volounteer]

@DavidCo

If you say so.

Have no idea how physics fixes the problem. ***content removed – personal comment that does not contribute to the thread***

I do *KNOW* that UPwards compression has been used for decades to solve similar situations.
Tell us why that would not work.

[Mike C]

Have no idea how physics fixes the problem.

I do *KNOW* that UPwards compression has been used for decades to solve similar situations.
Tell us why that would not work.

Physics:
Getting the people to use the mic correctly….that can be tough to do.
Getting the speaker system optimized for the room. By the way what is
the rest of the system, post a picture.

It’s time you put YOUR money where your mouth is and go by an external processor to put on that mic
line that is the issue, you will need a mic pre amp or a processor that includes a mic pre amp, a DBX Zone Pro would do it as it has a AGC/up wards comp processor as well as a mic pre amp input. Do that and let us know how all of your problems have disapeared!

[DavidCo]

***content removed – personal comment that does not contribute to the thread*** You have a quiet speaker, barely speaking louder than the HVAC. I don’t see how you’re going to fix that using full band dynamics, be it upward, downward or back-to-front compression or whatever. You either need to:

• make the HVAC quieter
• make the speaker speak louder
• move the mic closer, or
• find a way of cancelling out the HVAC.

On the last point, have you considered using a differential microphone setup? Get two similar mics (ideally a matched pair), mount them as coincidentally as possible, aim one at the speaker’s face, the other lets say at his chest. Send those mics to a couple of input channels, and invert the phase of one. When they sum, anything common to both mics (like the HVAC) will be cancelled out. As I said, use physics.

DC

[volounteer]

@DavidCo

I read all replies and consider them. Most are not feasible for us and our situation.

I have no control over who they put on stage or how they use a mike. Nor can I fix how loud they talk. Or soft.
Some of them seem to do it as their ‘style’ thinking it is good. No way I can convince them to change.

Often the mike is in their hand. Where they hold it is up to them not me. I have no way to make them use a mike in a better manner. Today one problem singer held it up to his mouth.
When he was just talking , not singing, on another night he kept it at his waist. Go figure.

Some mikes are on stands. But folks still wander. Again I have no control if they do things like that. The main wanderers have wireless mikes and a transmitter on their belt. So they are not the issue.

This is not physics. This is human factors and is not something I can make people do.

HVAC is controlled by yet other people. I cannot change it in anyway. It is a given constraint I have to deal with elsewise.

The HVAC noise is not yet a mike problem. It is an intelligibility problem. The tech papers and data indicate we need to have 15dB S/N at a given SPL level to maximise understandability. To ensure that we really do need UPwards compression. Believe the paper or don’t, but that is *our* goal.

I am not as dumb as I look.

[DavidCo]

I mistook your speaker to be at a lectern, but maybe introducing one could help keep them put somewhere useful? Maybe you could use head mounted mics? Other than that, yes the human factor is your main obstacle. I would address it as such. If they are unwilling, I would simply walk away from this one. This still doesn’t make your dynamics solution any more feasible.

DC

[volounteer]

@DavidCo

Main speaker has a headset with bodypack transmitter.
He is not the real problem.

Guest speakers from outside are often a problem. Others from the church who fill in during evenings are sometimes a problem.

I am just a dumb engineer. If I could fix people problems then I would be a manager:)

I have very very personal reasons for not walking away. So while I am here I will try to help.

The MD now seems to think we have or can create a spare channel for parallel compression.
I am sure that will help if not totally fix things.

[volounteer]

@MikeC

Originally I understood we had no spare channels.
I wondered if there were a way to write and use our own code to do the upcompression; also is there were a way to use AMM to help us achieve it.

I will tell you the results when we do it.
Our MD is up to his alligators with other more pressing things like his main job to find and schedule who is on stage, rehearse them, rehearse the choir, pick songs yada yada while coordinating with pastors about topics and who is talking.

[volounteer]

@whoever

I will say one thing to your credit you have had the living S**T kicked out
of you and your still here!

I was a pro soccer referee once upon a time too 🙂

[Mike C]

@whoever

I will say one thing to your credit you have had the living S**T kicked out
of you and your still here!

I was a pro soccer referee once upon a time too 🙂

WOW, that’s a blast from the past!! What brought that back?

[volounteer]

@MikeC

let us list the kickers and the kickees

that might narrow the possibilities down a lot 🙂

[Author]

Posts