Gain Cranked / Low Levels

[FireInTheHead]

So this is a Mackie 24x8x2 board....well used, probably uncovered most of it life and used by the inexperienced.

I've just recently begun using the board~

The problem: You have to max the gain out to 50dB with fader at unity to get 0 level for an SM58.

I've switched out channels, mics, xlr to test....all the same problem. I ended up lowering everything else in my mix to be able to hear the vocals, which dulled everything else.

Could this be dirty / old preamps? Time for a new board? What am I missing?

I did have someone tell me just today this has been the case for many years....

Thanks~

 

[lsiberian]

So this is a Mackie 24x8x2 board....well used, probably uncovered most of it life and used by the inexperienced.

I've just recently begun using the board~

The problem: You have to max the gain out to 50dB with fader at unity to get 0 level for an SM58.

I've switched out channels, mics, xlr to test....all the same problem. I ended up lowering everything else in my mix to be able to hear the vocals, which dulled everything else.

Could this be dirty / old preamps? Time for a new board? What am I missing?

I did have someone tell me just today this has been the case for many years....

Thanks~

Sounds like you have a gain structure problem. Crank everything down to infinity on every knob and start from scratch.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

The problem: You have to max the gain out to 50dB with fader at unity to get 0 level for an SM58.

That’s fairly standard with Shure 57s and 58s, in my experience. At the church I used to attend we had 58s and some Audix mics, and I always had to crank the 58 gains to near max, while the Audix’s were less than half.

Excellent console, by the way. Ours was a 32-8 and I loved it.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[FireInTheHead]

Thanks for the responses~

I've got two other Mackies...a 1402VLZ Pro 8ch & a Onyx 1620 8 ch, which I've been making comparisons with.

In doing side by side comparisons it does seems that the 58 just needs alot of gain (all faders to 0)

I'm also recording into audacity....my levels on each board are coming out with the same size wave forms, but the 1402 & Onyz sound a little clearer.

But here, in Audacity, the waveforms are about .1 / -.1 high, but gonna save this problem for another day~

 

[FireInTheHead]

Ok...couldn't leave it alone...so I get a good level in audacity (+.5/-.5 height) when I increase the master fader 5db

So the reason I started questioning all of this was 2 very quite vocalists.....