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Topic: Low volume on Microphone

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Need of support. I have a new macbook pro and a hercules rmx mixer, and I can't get the microphone to work as it should - the volume is very low. I have put the talkover on max level and I have tried with another mic, but no success.

Very grateful for any attempt to help.
 
Inviato Thu 21 Jan 10 @ 12:17 am
Hello perragnar,

1) Please confirm
- you plug your microphone on DJ Console Rmx microphone input (not on Mac microphone input)
- you listen to the microphone in DJ Console Rmx speakers output 1-2.

2) The microphone input is mixed in hardware in DJ Console Rmx on the output 1-2 (RCA and jack 1/4 plugs).
The microphone plug on top surface has the priority over the microphone plug on front panel, so if a jack 1/4 adapter is plugged into to the top panel microphone input, it mutes the microphone plugged on the front panel.

3) What are your microphones (brand and reference)?
 
Inviato Fri 22 Jan 10 @ 3:00 am
Thank you for your response - and yes speaker are on output 1/2 and the mic is plugged in on the top of the rmx. Still no sound output - however it does gives some electric noises when I plug it in/out. The mic is a rather cheap one - Philips something.

Any further ideas? Very grateful
 
Inviato Fri 22 Jan 10 @ 3:40 pm
Hello perragnar,

The talk-over setting has no impact on the microphone volume, the talk-over is the attenuation of the music background to emphasize the microphone volume.

You set
- the mic on in pushing the Mic On/Off button on top of the Rmx (the Mic On/Off button must become blue)
- the mic volume in turning the mic volume button.

It would be helpful to get the reference of the microphone, to be able to read its specifications.
 
Inviato Mon 25 Jan 10 @ 3:35 am
Thank you for the support. However still no volume. The make of the mic is Philips SBC MD110
 
Inviato Mon 01 Feb 10 @ 12:27 pm
perragnar wrote :
Thank you for the support. However still no volume. The make of the mic is Philips SBC MD110


The problem is the RMX. That is why I have the same issue with my expensive JB Systems mic which has a very low output when used with the RMX.

For some reason they [Hercules] did not mention the following in the User Manual. Searching for my issue I found this Hercules PDF file:
http://www.hercules.com/download/DJConsoleRmx_ProductSheet_2008_04_Long_ENG.pdf

The microphone input is designed for low impedance microphone (up to 100 Ohms). If you connect a microphone featuring a higher impedance level, it will work, but the volume of this microphone input may be too low.

This should have been in the User Manual.

Your Philips SBC MD110 is a 600 Ohms mic, so it is too heavy for the Hercules.

See also this information: http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/microphones/impedance.html Microphone Impedance

Grtz. Bally
 
Inviato Sat 13 Feb 10 @ 8:22 pm
Hello perragnar,

I agree the 600 ohms impedance of the microphone Philips SBC MD110 is a high to get a good output level.
I understand El Sabroson saying it is a weakness of DJ Console Rmx, that it should be in the user manual, but everything cannot be in the user manual if you don't want the user manual to be 200 pages long per language, with nobody reading it: on a computer sound card, for example with the built in sound card of your Mac, you will also get a low output volume with this microphone, because the best microphone impedance for a computer built-in sound card is also a low impedance - I wonder whether El Sabroson could read in hius MacBook manual the recommended impedance for the microphone to get a proper output level :-)).
If you look for a cheap microphone compatible with DJ Console Rmx, a computer microphone will be OK and cheap (as Plantronics Audio 300 or headset microphones for example http://www.plantronics.com/media/media_resources/literature/computer_audio/UK_PC-Headsets_PS.pdf ).
 
Inviato Mon 15 Feb 10 @ 10:07 am
Hi, you could try to use a microphone preamp or some line matching transformer (impedance converter) like this:
http://www.musicstore.de:80/de_DE/EUR/Cordial-CIW-1-Impedanzwandler-6-3-mm-Klinke-3pol.-XLR-male/art-PAH0008605-000

Normally cheap microphones have a medium to high impedance (600 to 10.000 Ohm and above).
You should connect a microphone only to inputs with higher impedance (ideally factor 5 to 10 - this means in your case you need to connect your microphone to an input with about 3kOhm (ideally)).
Otherwise there will be a loss of signal strength.

So buy some converter or another mic ;)

In my opinion the best solution would be a channelstrip, so you can convert the impedance, you can compress it and you can eq it. Because just connecting a microphone without any signal optimization results in most cases in a weak (=bad sounding) signal.

Cheers
 
Inviato Tue 16 Feb 10 @ 3:55 am
Made In Breizh wrote :
Hello perragnar,

I agree the 600 ohms impedance of the microphone Philips SBC MD110 is a high to get a good output level.
I understand El Sabroson saying it is a weakness of DJ Console Rmx, that it should be in the user manual, but everything cannot be in the user manual if you don't want the user manual to be 200 pages long per language, with nobody reading it:

[...]
I wonder whether El Sabroson could read in hius MacBook manual the recommended impedance for the microphone to get a proper output level :-)).


Hi Made in Breizh, actually I don’t have a MacBook, I am more a Windows user. But to come to the part of reading the User Manuals, every equipment/software, etc. I buy I start by reading the User Manual, but that is out of habit, I am also an IT specialist, that is my main activity, the DJ-part is secondary, so you understand that I don't object reading Manuals.

As you could see it are only two lines they could have dropped in the user manual which would have avoided a lot of people for purchasing the wrong microphone or to avoid annoyance that the microphone is not working with the RMX.

The user manual would not have gotten fatter then the 32 pages, and if you check on page 17 there is awful space left to drop these two lines as on the previous page they talk about the talkover attenuation.

So I really believe that this should have been in the User Manual as the microphone is essential for DJ-ing.

It was only after googling that I found that PDF and I found the reason why my very expensive microphone had such a lousy output with the RMX whereas a normal headset microfone for online chatting had a better output.

As we always say RTFM in our IT jargon, but in this case the manual is the problem as it lacks vital information.
 
Inviato Tue 16 Feb 10 @ 3:31 pm
Hello El Sabroson,

For your problem, I see 3 possible workaround:
- a microphone preamplifier, as Behringer Tube Ultragain Mic100, or AMX RS-200: connect the microphone to a microphone preamplifier, and connect the microphone preamplifier output to the microphone input of the Rmx (as http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/MIC100.aspx)
- use a portable analogue console, and connect the microphone to the analog console, and connect the Rmx to the analog console: that is what I do when I want to use 2 microphones: I plug my microphone to DJ Console Rmx, I connect the Rmx output 1-2 to the analogue console input, and I also connect the microphone which travels in the audience to the analogue console, and the analog console output goes to the amplifier. I use a compact analogue in the style of Behringer Xenyx 502, http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/502.aspx, it is compact, cheap, and the quality is acceptable if I don't turn to much the buttons of the analogue console.
- or, if you mix with an external DJ mixer, connect the microphone to the external DJ mixer.

In general, if you buy a good microphone with a relatively high impedance, a portable preamplifying device (either a preamplifier, or a small mixer with built in preamplifier) is a safe add-on, since you may meet this other low volume issue on other systems than the Rmx, as a USB powered audio interface or a sound board built-in the computer (high impendance microphones have a high power consumption, while the USB bus power is limited for a large audio interface), and as several handheld recorders.

I understand you consider the manual lacks vital information as you face an issue which is not in the manual, but all possible issues cannot be in the manual as
- the longer the manual, the less people read it - if you work in IT, I suppose you know it,
- there are hundreds of possible issues: your facing one issue doesn't mean this issue happens very often (there are possible issues on each input, on each output, on the USB plug, on the power adapter noise, on the ground loops, on the electro-static isolation, on other DJ software than VirtualDJ, on MIDI channel setting, on MIDI mapping, on light controls, ...), but issues related to software setting (operating system settings, DJ Console Rmx control panel settings, DJ software setting) occur more often than hardware issues as yours
- there are also some 600 ohms microphones where the output volume remains OK on the Rmx, since the low volume you get comes from the limit of power supply for the microphone preamplification, and some 600 ohms microphones have a lower power consumption than others. For example, you may also get a higher volume from your microphone if you connect lower impedance headphones in the Rmx, since reducing the power consoumption of the headphones (by using lower impedance headphones) may lets more electric power for the microphone preamplification.
 
Inviato Thu 18 Feb 10 @ 5:28 am
Hello El Sabroson,

I have just seen a test of Shure SM58 microphone (150-ohm impedance microphone) with Hercules DJ series and it works on Hercules DJ Console Mk2, DJ Console Rmx and Hercules DeeJay TRIM 4&6.

As Shure SM58 microphone is symetrical, if you use an XLR to 1/4 mono jack cable, you must use an adequate XLR to 1/4" jack mono cable:
- the XLR hot pin (pin 2) must be connected to the jack signal, the jack tip
- the XLR cold pin (pin 3) must be connected, with the XLR ground (pin 1), to the jack ground, the jack sleeve (XLR to jack cables which don't t connect the XLR Pin 3 to the jack plug ground don't support symetrical microphones as Shure SM58).
 
Inviato Fri 19 Feb 10 @ 10:09 am
I have an SM58 and it's signal is weak too through the RMX!
 
Inviato Fri 19 Feb 10 @ 10:56 am
Hello deltacon,

I agree the mic volume knob was set to the max on the Rmx with SM58, but it made a very decent microphone output level in the speakers (even if, as far as I am concerned, I would not use a SM58 microphone for DJing: I find it too heavy).

1) Please confirm you listen to the microphone output level in the speakers 1-2 output: the microphone is not played in the headphones output, only in the speakers 1-2 output.

2) Can you check if the microphone output level is unchanged when you unplug your headphones?
If the microphone output level is increased when you unplug your headphones, then the limit is your computer USB bus power, and you should try if you can get a better output level if you connect between your computer and your Rmx a USB hub which has its own power adapter.
 
Inviato Mon 22 Feb 10 @ 3:09 am
Made In Breizh wrote :
Hello El Sabroson,

I have just seen a test of Shure SM58 microphone (150-ohm impedance microphone) with Hercules DJ series and it works on Hercules DJ Console Mk2, DJ Console Rmx and Hercules DeeJay TRIM 4&6.


Hi made in Breizh, I had a busy schedule so too much work to answer on the forum, but in the meantime I have purchased for the RMX a Samson Q7 http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1679 which is only 200Ω and the RMX loves it.

According to information from Google and DJ shops it is comparable to the SM58, although it costs much less.
 
Inviato Tue 09 Mar 10 @ 2:54 pm
Thank you for the information El Sabroson,

I have also heard a Stagg MD-1500 (a 600-ohm dynamic microphone) played on the Rmx and I found the output level in the speakers adequate, much louder than the SM-58 in the Rmx. So I suppose with dynamic symetrical microphones the response level once plugged in DJ Console Rmx is not only linked to the impedance but to other factors as sensitivity.
As said Socrates, "One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."
 
Inviato Thu 11 Mar 10 @ 9:56 am


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