I recently purchased a Behringer MDX 2600 compressor.
It's use in my studio is for compressing a microphone for a podcast. It worked in radio broadcasting my entire life but now am in the process of setting up my home studio.
Quite honestly I'm very perplexed by this. I'm not a tech expert by any means, but know some of the basics around the studio.
The problem I'm running into is the compressor completely fading the audio to nothing after about 5 to 10 seconds of use with a microphone. I'm very confused, I'm only using the left channel on this and it's getting out is Mono, which is what I want. I was able to find settings that were pleasing to me with a microphone, but the eventual fades after 5 to 10 seconds makes the MDX 2600 unusable for me.
Is there a basic setting that I'm completely missing here? I try to do some research and find others are having a similar situation to no avail. If anyone has a simple list of settings that they use for voice-over on an MDX 2600 and would greatly appreciate that being shared. I could simply mimic that they make small adjustments to fit my needs. But what I'm running into is almost any setting I put this thing into it fades after 5 to 10 seconds. I've tried tweaking this multiple times over with no luck.
Comments
Donny - It fades as I am consistently speaking into the microp
Donny -
It fades as I am consistently speaking into the microphone. I'm speaking at the same level and slowly the audio just fades away as I continue to speak. I was as if I was slowly potting down the board.
Once the audio is down it never comes back up even if I wait a few seconds and give it silence of the begin speaking again. It stays down and I literally have to turn the system off and on again for it to reset itself.
I'm trying to think of anything that would indicate that your pr
I'm trying to think of anything that would indicate that your problem was not a fault with the compressor.
Does the sound get distorted as it fades out? Do both channels behave the same way when tried independently? Does toggling the in/out button for the channel in use make any difference? I'm assuming you have the two channels uncoupled (dual mono) and the expander/gate function and peak limiter both turned off.
I'm with Bos on this one... I can't see any other reason than th
I'm with Bos on this one... I can't see any other reason than that the unit is faulty and needs servicing... and for what these models go for new, ( $119) it wouldn't be worth even paying a bench fee of what could be upwards of $80 to have a tech just look at it.
Behringer has made some improvements along the way with some of their gear, but they still have a reputation with a lot of their stuff for cheap builds and low quality.
I would be very wary about what you put in between your mic and your interface, in terms of actual hardware processing. There are some very nice OB processors that are great, but Behringer isn't known for making models of this quality.
There's a good chance that You might be adding unwanted and unnecessary noise to your signal even using a Behringer compressor that is working correctly.
I suggest that you look into a software version of some kind... there are preamp/i-o's available that give you software processing ( compression, gating, EQ) that you can choose to run either pre or post as you record. Presonus is one, their Audiobox software allows you to engage effects and processing and either just monitor them, or, "print" ( record) them if you wish. There are other features as well, such as HPF and EQ, that you can do the same things with. Focusrite is another, with similar features available, but, in the case of both of these, I'm pretty sure you need to be using one of their i/o's to access these features.
If you really want to stick with an OB compressor, dbx has a few models, some for as cheap as $99. But personally, I would recommend going with a software based gain reduction. OB models can introduce noise to your signal, and, as you've discovered, can also develop service issues as well.
FWIW
tonyvoice123, post: 428079, member: 49018 wrote: I have the expa
tonyvoice123, post: 428079, member: 49018 wrote: I have the expander/gate in the off setting. No matter where I seem to set it, even when it is on, the same issue occurs. A slow fade to nothing.
Its very odd, as the few seconds I get of output audio sounds good, but then fades to nothing.
Does the problem still accuring when sending another type of signal (not a mic, but a line level signal; mp3 player or other..)
The problem may well come from somewhere else, phantom power problems, cables or others..
do you use realtime effect in the audio interface or in the DAW at the same time ?
Could you describe your signal path or post pictures ?
This is fading audio out while you are feeding audio to it? Wha
This is fading audio out while you are feeding audio to it? What I mean is, are you saying that it is fading the audio out while you are speaking into the mic, or is this happening at softer levels, or where no signal is being fed into it...like silence between vocal passages...
The reason I'm asking is because you might have an expander kicking in - an expander is a type of "noise gate" that silences the output - often used for getting rid of low level noise in between passages where signal is present - like room noise through a mic, mouth noises, etc. I looked up the specs for the unit and it does have an expander as well as a compressor.
The extent that the expander works is adjustable... it can be set to kick in very hard and very fast - the very millisecond that the signal falls below a certain threshold, or... it can be set to kick in gradually, kind of "ramping" or fading the signal out slowly as opposed to a sharp cut off.
Do you have the expander part of this compressor engaged? Have you tried making sure that the expander / noise gate feature is off (or in bypass), and then checking to see if it's still "fading" the signal?