yeahforbes
05-29-2008, 04:00 AM
Hi guys, this is one of my first posts here, so here goes. A buddy of mine who works with me on recording and live sound recently explained something I had never heard before, and frankly I don't believe him which is why I'm looking for more opinions.
He claims that there is a difference in what a microphone will pick up depending on if you adjust the gain knob at the top of the channel versus further down once it's at line level. He says, turning down the gain a little and bringing it back up at the fader (or makeup on an inserted compressor, for example) would reduce how far the mic picks up, and therefore would reduce feedback. Conversely, cranking the gain knob and reducing the fader would change the pickup (not polar pattern, but more distance related) so it "reaches out" more.
We both have a very clear understanding of gain structure regarding s/n ratio and distortion, and that's not at all the scope of this question. So basically, if I had a good signal at certain settings and then turned down the gain 6dB while raising it back up 6dB later on in the chain, would there be any difference (disregarding the change in noise floor)? No components being overdriven, etc.
The only related concept I can think of is that the load impedance on the mic changes when you adjust the gain, perhaps on only certain preamp designs. I've heard that if you use a split snake in a concert and the monitor engineer changes the gain, it can actually affect the level the FOH board gets and vice versa. But does it really change ANYTHING besides level??
Sorry for the long winded post... just trying to avoid the "not enough information" criticism that seems to be popular around here!
He claims that there is a difference in what a microphone will pick up depending on if you adjust the gain knob at the top of the channel versus further down once it's at line level. He says, turning down the gain a little and bringing it back up at the fader (or makeup on an inserted compressor, for example) would reduce how far the mic picks up, and therefore would reduce feedback. Conversely, cranking the gain knob and reducing the fader would change the pickup (not polar pattern, but more distance related) so it "reaches out" more.
We both have a very clear understanding of gain structure regarding s/n ratio and distortion, and that's not at all the scope of this question. So basically, if I had a good signal at certain settings and then turned down the gain 6dB while raising it back up 6dB later on in the chain, would there be any difference (disregarding the change in noise floor)? No components being overdriven, etc.
The only related concept I can think of is that the load impedance on the mic changes when you adjust the gain, perhaps on only certain preamp designs. I've heard that if you use a split snake in a concert and the monitor engineer changes the gain, it can actually affect the level the FOH board gets and vice versa. But does it really change ANYTHING besides level??
Sorry for the long winded post... just trying to avoid the "not enough information" criticism that seems to be popular around here!