Can anyone tell me if there is anything available that I can plug a radio mic into, which will reduce the music volume when someone is speaking. I know you can get mixers with this built on but mine hasn't got one. The problem I have is my son goes off with the radio mic and tries to shout over the music. Sometimes I can predict when he's going to speak but not all the time. Anybody got any suggestions??

Hi,

Sorry, to my knowledge there is no aftermarket or add on unit available which will do this.

The problem, being is that it isn't simply a case of fitting a unit between the radio mic and mixer, since obviously you would need to also channel the music signals of all your music sources through the AVO unit as well in order to compress them when the mic was used , which would defeat the object!.

I looked long and hard for a unit that would do such a task and finally, after a very very very long trek, which made "lord of the rings" look like a trip around the corner, i found it.


The Behringer 2600 Compressor/limiter.


Normally a compressor/limiter doesnt do what you want it to do, eg: Music dipping/ducking when the mic is in use. However the 2600 offers a feature called Sidechain, which you plug the mic into...when it senses the mic levels have exceeded a certain level (eg: switch has been moved from off to on), then it dips the main music levels from mixer (or equaliser) to amps, by X% and then takes Y milliseconds to allow the music to return to normal levels when the mic is out of use.

A very useful unit if you, like me, spend time away from the micer, out in the audience.

Cost? well, I'll leave that up to Chris to quote.

Interesting idea - how do you get EQ for the Mic Gary?, do you run it through a basic mixer or do you just use it "flat"?.

For anybody who is interested in using this idea, or just wants to add a comp / limiter to their system, then p.m me for a quote

Oh i so could of done with 1 of those last year when i dj'ed in magaluf i was out in the crowd loads but it was hard for people to hear me with no music cut.

QUOTE

Interesting idea - how do you get EQ for the Mic Gary?, do you run it through a basic mixer or do you just use it "flat"?.

Im lucky enough to haev a voice which sounds "right" through a Shure SM58 radio mic, which has GAIN control on the receiver...but no eq's.

Seems to me it might be cheaper to buy a new mixer.....

Well yes, the Behringer 2600 is less than £150 (Still a nice margin though Chris ), so yes there are mixers which can be bought for less.

However, The 2600 compressor/limiter offers you all three important controls over the sidechain, in this case, the mic input, and the music ducking.

EG:

Sensitivity: What threshold of sound level must come thru the mic to trigger the auto-ducking of the music

Depth: How much whould the music be dipped by, when the auto-ducking is active

Release: How quick/slow should the music fade back up to normal levels after the mic is sensed as no longer being spoken into.

The only two current mixers which Im aware of that offer all three of these settings, are the Behringer DX-1000 (not small, but good - bit like me really then ) and the Formula sound £900 mixer...which is also big.

Some of the Citronic range offer 2 of the 3 options (no "Release" adjustment, just Sens and Depth, as do the lovely Stanton RM-80 / RM-100 mixers.

Im not sure about everyone else, but when mixer shopping, I always start wishing that I could have "that" feature from "this" mixer, and "this" feature from "that" mixer, and so on... rarely finding all the features I would like, in one package.

With a seperate mic overide solution, you can be sure that your mic work (still a major part of a mobile DJ "tools") remains accurate and audible, even when changing mixers, as the compressor works with any mixer you upgrade to.