How to EQ & Compress a LIVE Headset Microphone

Do you struggle with your headset mic and wonder how to EQ and compress it? Does your pastor's microphone never quite sound as good as you want it to? In this video I will show you the process I've used for over 10 years to get the best results with the most simple process.

I use a Digico SD12 most of the time, however this process can be done with basically any live console.

Examples:
Consoles: Behringer X32/M32, Allen & Heath SQ5, Yamaha CL5/Rivage, AVID S6L, SSL, Digico, etc.

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[andrewlepard]

How do you guys deal with your headset mics? Any tips or tricks you've learned that have helped?

[RylandRussell]

We’ve loved the dpa 6066 for our pastor headset. Agreed it’s a super important input to work on. 👍🏻

[krisspkriss]

Rule #1 in making a video on proper voice capture and playback : Have your presentation itself be intelligible and easy on the ears. At the very start of the video you were speaking over an audio track of someone speaking. There was not enough separation in tone, timbre, volume or even left/right mix. It was hard to understand what you were saying, and I didnt get a good sample of the clean track of the work sample either.

The information itself was excellent though. Personally, I find two compressors and a normalizer staged right after each other works best. One short compression and one longer. This helps keep those popping consonants under control and helps even out some of the dynamics from bad mic usage on their end and justy overly dynamic vocal projection on their end as well.

[natekeyss]

hey man, love the video ! not sure if you will see this reply but three questions.
1. what recieve and headset were you running? secondly was the reciever's audio gain level at 0db or did you boost it ?
2. do you aim for -18db on the meter and ride your fader lower ? i saw in the comments, you mentioned trim - im guessing that is similar to digital gain on the yamaha consoles?
3. do you eq the pa first and then do headset sound checks and processing ?

thanks in advance

[Crib]

Thank you for this! Good job with the video.

[Joseph_Godwin]

I love you 💞.. im really getting great value from your videos... 🎉

[shaynekant]

Is it worth also using a feedback destroyer like the Klark Teknik DF1000 ?

[JuzzyQld]

In Australia, I typically recommend JAG headsets.

At around $400 Australian bucks, you get a mic very close to a DPA

[JuzzyQld]

I'd disagree with your assertion that feedback is frquencies resonating too much.

Feedback occurs, when the level of from the speakers /PA, into the mic, exceeds that of the level the original source.

[santhewordsmith]

how do you start off the gain ?
and do you have your amps for the headset set at +0 or a different gain level or preference ?

[Buster_Mastro]

Do you have the ability to adjust the knee? What was the knee in this video?

[ZSugarDaddy]

I also run my headset very similar. However, recently I have been wanting to try to reset it. I had watched a video a while back that basically was explaining that if you do EQ cuts across the entire Hz spectrum then you're essentially just turning down the input. I have been wanting to try resetting my gain in a way that I'd typically not recommend. My thought is, set the fader to unity or +5 and then roll the gain in until I'm at the volume I want in the room. Then set EQ/Compression. My thought it that maybe doing it this way will decrease the amount of gain I'm using and therefore make the Mic itself less sensitive and allow me to do less huge cuts from the EQ. However, given that my mic setup is working the way it is I don't have much motivation to change it.

[benjamin.kelley]

I hate the headset mic. It's so hard to work with. Setting the gain is tough in our room.