Pastors voice goes up and down help!!!

[helper1112]

Hi all,

I am not sure what to do to battle the ups and downs of the pastor when he is talking. Would I use a expander, compressor with a lot of gain or is there something better for fixing this and what is a good starting setup for that Dynamic?

Thanks for any help..

[waynehoskins]

Let's think about what all of those do to dynamic range.

An expander expands the dynamic range by making the valleys even lower.
A compressor compresses the dynamic range by making the peaks less tall.

Your pastor has too much dynamic range, so we want to compress him.

How to set it up depends a bit on how he speaks. My first starting point would be ratio 2-3:1, makeup gain 6 dB, roll the threshold down until it's compressing 6 dB at normal volume. That'll give him a 6 dB boost when he's low and compress more when he's loud. With this technique, if you're anywhere near the edge of feedback normally, you probably want to put an expander in there too, in front of the compressor, to close it off when he's not speaking so it's less likely to feed back from the extra 6 dB of gain with no signal.

The other approach would be more nearly a limiter setup, higher ratio (4-8:1), higher threshold such that he's uncompressed normally (until he goes loud and it compresses aggressively), no makeup gain.

[helper1112]

Wayne,

Thanks a ton for the ideas, how fast of an attack, knee and release would I want on this. What if I only do it at 2 or 3 db gain, would that cut down on the chance of feed back? Nothing he hates more then feedback....

Thanks again for the help...

[daver2]

Does the pastor use a fixed mic on the pulpit or a "tie clip" mic? If he uses a tie clip mic - where does he attach it? Some of the 'dynamic range' can be tempered by suitable placement of the pick up microphone.

Dave

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by waynehoskins

Your pastor has too much dynamic range, so we want to compress him.

Maybe that needs to be discussed first as "too much" is subjective and what makes running the audio system easier may not be what is desired by everyone else. I've worked with some pastors that intentionally utilize rather extreme speech dynamics as part of their delivering the message and they do not want those dynamics being diminished or altered. So perhaps the first thing to do is establish what the situation really is and how any alteration of the dynamics may be viewed.

Dave also hit on another critical aspect to explore and that is if the variances in level are at least partially the result of factors that could be better addressed in other ways. For example, if they tend to move around or turn side to side while speaking from a pulpit with a single mic then that may be a very different situation than if they are on a headset mic.

So maybe we can first define the actual problem and the desired result, then that could provide a better basis for assessing what, if any, processing may be applicable.

[helper1112]

Hello,

They are using a lapel mic connected toward the top of their shirt and yes, when they turn is one of the times when the volume goes down, they also go up and down in volume to emphasis things.

Thanks for the help..

[tropicalfish]

Lapel/lavalier mics should be placed closer to the center of the chest, and not so high up. This will help prevent popping from the breath and will reduce the volume difference cause by head turning.

[Cliff]

Would he wear a headset mic? that keeps the mic a equal distance from his mouth at all times and will probably help with the low volume issue, then a compressor inserted on his channel for the high volume issue.

Maybe if he uses a headset he won't be to high, because you won't be boosting him so much because he won't be turning away from the mic as it will always be infront of his face.


I would get a GOOD (not cheap) headset mic first, and try it, then use a compressor if needed.

You could also use the compressor on other singers as well, use it on a subgroup if your board allows or on the overall main mix. So it could help other things too.

[rePete]

hi,

I was taught this trick 30 years ago and it still works.

Where do you place a lavalier?

Have the speaker look straight down to his chest. Point with his finger the highest place on his chest he can see his finger. That's where to put the mic, centered of course. This takes into account those who are very slim or not (like me).

Of course we now use a headworn mic.

Pete

[helper1112]

Hi all,

Thanks for the suggestions, a couple of problems with them, one he wears a robe so it has to be hooked high, we have no budget so we have to use what we got. Kind of kills the fun of getting new toys.

Thanks again..

[Brad Weber]

A compressor or leveler is going to respond based solely on the signal level and not based on the cause of the change. Say you use an expander to try to offset for when the Pastor turns their head to the side, that will then likely result in it also raising the level if they intentionally lower their speaking level, the expander doesn't know why the level dropped, only that it dropped. The same if you use compression, the compressor simply looks at the signal level and does not consider what is causing the level or any changes in it.

If the problem is a result of mic placement and head movement then there are also likely going to be changes in frequency as well as level.
So for the aspect of level changes due to turning their head, training, mic placement and manually compensating with the mixer may be a better approach than processing. If you try to address this via compression, expansion or leveling, then it will almost definitely also affect the talker's speaking dynamics. Something like one of these, http://microphonemadness.com/categor...dset_mics.html, might help significantly without costing that much.

The levels change resulting from the Pastor's emphasis when speaking is something that you might be best served to discuss with the Pastor before doing anything. They may not want that to change or they may prefer to be aware of it and try to address it themselves.

[sempei13]

Have you ordered one of those? I was thinking about one for my speaking gigs (good to have whether I need it or not). It just seems like such a good deal I'm a little dubious.

Paul