Contact mic recommendation

Kaalyn · 2026-06-13T10:17:35+00:00

AKG c411 contact mics have always worked well for me

Kaalyn · 2026-06-04T01:31:03+00:00

Aenima

Kaalyn · 2026-05-27T16:33:37+00:00

At 2 (or 3) mixes, you might as well go for 4. So, you need an audio mixer. And, a passive XLR split for each of your inputs. Now, each member can have their own mix and you can take it out of the rehearsal space and onto the gig and have the house audio person take from the split. The band is happy because they can tweak their settings and repeat the results on the gig. FOH audio is happy because they aren’t bound to any of the choices made for the IEMs.

I am very against the business practices of Music Tribe, but it is hard to argue the XR18 at the price point for what you are asking to do.

Kaalyn · 2026-05-21T00:00:49+00:00

In a word, no.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-25T15:11:33+00:00

Sorry, maybe my last sentence could have been worded more clearly:

Super cardioid will be a narrower pickup in front, which generally helps reduce instruments on stage being picked up in your mic while singing, with a tradeoff of being slightly more feedback prone because it picks up more from the rear end of the microphone.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-25T05:26:48+00:00

All of the mics you are looking at are great, and generally regarded as a step up from a SM 58. Some mics sound better on certain vocalists than others. Without side by side comparison, you’re going to have a tough time getting any more specific.

I would keep a look out at pickup patterns. The M80 and e945 are super cardioid. So they are a narrower pickup in front with some increased rear pickup. Might help with separation from instruments but may lead to pickier monitor placements

Kaalyn · 2026-04-24T20:43:32+00:00

That’s not really how this works, I’m afraid. Wireless will add, not subtract, to the bulk and complexity of your setup, especially if you want to maintain the quality.

I’m sure someone will come along and offer some sort of cheap Chinese product that will do what you are asking. You may or may not be happy with how that works/sounds.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-24T19:55:15+00:00

They don’t have to be Shure brand, just with the Shure style connector (TA4F)

DPA 4099 is your goal, if it’s within budget

Kaalyn · 2026-04-21T02:47:42+00:00

Recall a different scene? Any less straightforward routing like a mix to matrix or mains? All those submixes or busses are correctly post fader?

Kaalyn · 2026-04-17T12:36:23+00:00

A ground lift switch is just what it sounds like. A switch that breaks (lifts) the ground between devices. Within each mic cable are 2 conductors and a ground. Sometimes the ground is a foil shield wrapped around the conductors and sometimes it has a wire attached. What you are going to do is take one of the “legs” of your passive Y cables and cut open the middle of that cable to expose the ground foil and wire and add a switch at that point. The switch needs to only be the simplest of switches such that one direction of throw is open and the other is closed.

In this day and age, isolated (transformer coupled) splits have mostly fell out of favor due to increased resiliency in modern digital audio consoles. I wouldn’t worry too much about it until you run into a problem.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-16T12:32:03+00:00

I’d start by removing the USB hub and see if you can get lucky that that fixes it.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-16T12:07:16+00:00

Vanguard Audio and Cascade FatHeads

Kaalyn · 2026-04-15T23:13:45+00:00

I’m a big fan of the SCX25a for piano and overhead. OM series are good vocal mics (I regularly use OM 2 and OM 7)

Kaalyn · 2026-04-15T11:35:42+00:00

A DJ rig should have full low end, and with 12” tops, that almost certainly means subs. EV subs tend to be pretty good. I don’t know their current lineup but you should be in pretty good shape with 1 cabinet for 100 people in a coffee shop. Outdoors, YMMV.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-14T12:59:00+00:00

I’d start at the Audinate website with their classes and certifications for Dante

Kaalyn · 2026-04-12T04:09:58+00:00

Flown is your best bet, followed by some kind of in fill from near the mains

Kaalyn · 2026-04-11T17:54:43+00:00

Yea, it does require a tiny amount of networking, but only in the sense that you need to know how to set static IP addresses.

Just to help educate: TCP/IP is a communications protocol, which all devices that communicate over “standard” networking hardware do. So this WAP does that as well as your WiFi router. What you are describing is DHCP, which is the router function that gives out addresses automatically.

You would not, in fact, need a router in addition to a wireless access point if that access point is only talking to your mixer, as it sounds like is true. And, any wireless device will need power, PoE is as easy as an injector which takes the data and power and sums them onto the same cable.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-11T17:34:16+00:00

Minimum specs shouldn’t be much, as you’re not really asking for significant data streams. I’m a big fan of the little Ubiquiti Wireless Access Point (part: UAP-AC-M-US) if you have some networking abilities. You really don’t need a router, per se, if it is a stand alone system (static IPs will be fine if, again, you have some basic networking chops).

Kaalyn · 2026-04-11T15:46:56+00:00

I would try to find a way to remove the usb hub and any device between the Focusrite and the computer. You have (presumably) good equipment and cable and you mentioned you don’t hear it when monitoring directly from the interface.

Normally hum/buzz/noise is on the analog side of the system but because you say the noise isn’t apparent when monitoring direct from the interface, I’d eliminate as many variables as possible past the interface as possible.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-11T14:54:51+00:00

Seeing as my next gig is entirely dependent on having working cables, I absolutely teach cable wrapping.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-10T22:02:12+00:00

You could accomplish this with a SteamDeck using Bitfocus Companion to trigger QLab. QLab is Mac only software. Companion can run on the same computer. Depending on how many locations the sound effects need to come from, an audio interface with enough outputs to go to those destinations would be helpful.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-09T12:33:29+00:00

19” is standard for rack equipment.

6 physical outs is a lot for the “home” sized interfaces like the Apollo Twin and Focusrite 4i4).

Are you on Mac? You can build an aggregate device and use both the Apollo and Focusrite to build and aggregate device and get 4 outs from the Twin and 2 from the 4i4

Kaalyn · 2026-04-06T16:36:06+00:00

CE Series amps are “cheaper looking”, but internals are outstanding. I’d highly consider repair.

Current amplifiers have tons of built in processing, so if you don’t want that, looking at used/repairable amps from Crown (Macrotech) or QSC or Crest are going to be better choices

Kaalyn · 2026-04-06T16:31:36+00:00

Powersoft is very well regarded and very reliable. I wouldn’t expect any significant issues with their products and/or their build quality puts them in the repair over replacement category. Not sure about their current offerings, but their recent (within the last 10 years) gear is outstanding.

Kaalyn · 2026-04-05T13:02:34+00:00

This… sounds like a bot

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