A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

**I'm wordy. Scroll to bottom to get to the questions**

Social distancing has thrown a big curve into my line of work (social services) - but there have been some new opportunities, too. Like everybody else in the world we are teleconferencing using Zoom. I hosted a trivia show with one gentleman I work with* and an internet safety forum with another (he's been scammed twice but we caught both in the nick of time. Those who know, teach.).

From the get-go I've upped the audio quality doing this:
Mics -> Ancient Fostex recording console headphone out -> Tascam DR-05 digital field recorder USB out - > computer's 1/8" jack.

'Worked great but with all of the moving pieces Murphy's law is bound to catch up with me. Yesterday I used some Covid Stimulus check money to purchase this (a pretty nifty USB interface/mixer) and two mid-level lavaliere mics:
However, only channel 1 has phantom power. I'd like to use the compressor to even out the vocals but channel 2 doesn't have it. I can run through the little Tascam for it's phantom power but I might want to use that for something else.

My questions:
1. Should I get a splitter and plug both lavalieres into channel 1?
2, If I do that will the compressor level our mic/levels? I think so.
3. If not,I have this (it has a 9vadapter plug). Can I use this for phantom power in the second input?[/list]
*See separate post for expert assistance plea with Taxonomy and paleontology.

tlarson58 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 28, 2020 8:59 pm
My questions:
1. Should I get a splitter and plug both lavalieres into channel 1?
2, If I do that will the compressor level our mic/levels? I think so.
3. If not,I have this (it has a 9vadapter plug). Can I use this for phantom power in the second input?[/list]

Tommy:

1.) This outboard phantom power might be cheaper or a better solution to your situation: .

Phantom power is often seen as some mysterious tech, but it is pretty simple. And it is easy to produce good quality inexpensive units, like I listed. So you don't have to buy $500 phantom power supplies.

You technically use a splitter, if you wanted.

2.) Using a splitter or not, yes a compressor used as a 'leveler' in the signal chain would even out the mics. A leveler is putting the compression threshold at 0dB to -3dB, setting the ratio high (lots of compression), with fairly fast attack and release times. Don't use it like a compressor (low threshold settings and longer durations), because that will invite feedback from any monitoring system.

3.) Nope. Not going to help your need for Phantom Power for a mic.

Hope this helps!

I don't have experience with that same type of mixer, but I have installed and configured a ton of commercial echo-cancelling/DSP mixers in videoconfernce facilities - mostly frim Biamp/ClearOne. In almost every case we utilized Shure MX series boundary mics which also required phantom power. Sometimes we'd need to use inline phantom power like your example if we had extremely long wire runs/etc and they seemed to work just fine. I'd hesitate to put 2 mics on one channel in a VC situation, especially if you have speakers with different volume levels, etc. Audio in Zoom/Webex/Go2Meeting is a big enough hassle with just one mic per connection

My new gig is supporting the VC infrastructure for a large healthcare organization, so i'm troubleshooting audio, video network and PEBKAC errors all day long every day in Webex, Zoom, ETC

[mention]andrewsrea[mention] and [mention]uwmcscott[/mention] ...

I spoke to an AV guy. He wrinkled his brow and said "why didn't you just buy phantom powered mics?"

So I cancelled the amazon order and will run this week's shows with Shure 58s and reassess the situation.

Thanks for replying, guys.