Help!Mackie board, PG58 mic and Mackie speakers

[Tregilibob]

Hi this is a bit of a random one but here goes.

Tonight, I have mixing a live jazz band and a barbershop choir at the same time (school concert don't ask!) but the vocalist sounds very muffled, even though I have bypassed all the on board effects, and don't have an external effects unit.

It has happened before, and we never sorted it. I am using a Mackie CFX12 mixer and 2 Mackie Active SRM450 speakers, with a PG58 mic and XLR's. I have used the board and mic and cables in a different set up with no problems, but I can't get those speakers for tonight (hung off a rig and don't have enough speakon to run them).

Has anybody got any ideas about anything I can do apart from let it sound rubbish!

 

Thank you

 

Tregi

[Heapsy]

Are you using the EQ on the desk and is there a graphic over front of house?

[Shez]

Is it only the vocalist that sounds muffled? Is everything else fine?

 

If so, it's either the mic or the channel it's connected to (or the cable, but that's less likely).

 

Can you detail exactly what your set up is i.e. what is connected to what?

 

Have you tried a process of elimination e.g. swapping the mic for a known good one, trying a different desk channel etc.?

[Brian]

...it's either the mic or the channel it's connected to (or the cable, but that's less likely)...

...or the vocalist. Seriously. Some people have a unique way of making any sound system sound rubbish.

[Tregilibob]

well had to go and just do it, yes I did use the EQ and it made no difference whatsoever, I could have done anything to it and it still sounded the same.

I changed the mic, still the same, different channel, still the same.

The PG58 was connected via 2 reliable XLR's to the 2nd channel of the desk, the outputs were XLRs straight to the Mackie Active speakers. The instrument mics SM57's were fine, its only vocals that it sounds fuzzy on, whether it be a speaker or a singer, and I don't think all 5 speakers could sound fuzzy normally!!

 

Think its going to be one of those things where no one really knows why it happens, all I know is that if I runt he same cables and mic and board through my amp into normal speakers in the usual set up it sounds absolutely fine.

 

Thanks anyways

[TonyF]

Sounds like there's something wrong with the Mackie 450's, is the high frequency amp/driver working? As they cross-over at 1.6 kHz, if they weren't this would have a marked effect on the clarity of vocals.

Cheers

[Shez]

I'm always amazed at how PAs are out there in regular use with blown HF drivers that the owner / operator is oblivious of. The one sound source that draws attention to it better than any other is the human voice. Instruments and even full range music can sound adequate but put a voice through (preferably male - more harmonics) and it's suddenly really obvious.

If you've got a CD like the Alan Parsons Soundcheck one, there are various tracks that'll help you diagnose such problems (including a spoken voice that does the job for me).

[Rob_Beech]

I'd agree with the 2 above. check the HF.

 

As Shez says, instruments can often sound ok and you can be fooled into thinking the source maybe a little muddy itself so think nothing of it. Guitars are an example of this.

 

Be it a crossover problem, an amp problem, a driver problem, or just internal wiring. If you've eliminated everything else thats what I'd look into.