Hi,
I just bought an Earthworks dm20 condenser microphone to use it on my snare. Long story short, the mic is way too sensitive and when playing my snare drum hard(er) it starts to peak unbearably (even when at 5-6 inches above the drum head) .
Now, my qu16 only goes down to -5db per channel, which is not enough for the snare not to distort.
I also have an a&h zed12fx, whose gain goes down to -10db and with that mixer the earthworks dm20 mic works great at 3" (as it is supposed to)…
Any thoughts about this? , since qu16 is my band’s main mixer and we use it for IEM when doing rehearsals… Thanks
@Dado
Use a dynamic mike, and choose one with a pad switch.
Choose one with a higher peak pressure spec.
Buy a pad to insert in the cable path.
Move the mike back farther.
Put a scrubbie pad in front of the mike.
Tell the drummer not to hit so hard.
Is the distortion in the mike or is it in the Qu?
If it is in the mike initially nothing AH can do in the mixer to help you.
I am the drummer 
and playing softer is not an option. The mic is Earthworks dm20 and it can withstand 150db of abuse. There is no distortion in the mic as it works ok with an extra -5db less (when using a&h zed12fx, since that mixer can lower the gain by -10db,while qu-16 goes as low as -5).
Never used an Earthworks drum mic but I’ve had one person carrying
their own Earthworks vocal mic, can’t remember the model but it did sound good.
Try a inline pad, check that the pad passes phantom power.
Try the 20db.
Whirlwind PAD
I doubt the mic is distorting, according to the specs it’s rated to 150db.
The ZED does have a lower gain setting on the mic input trim that and that the analog ZED
would be more forgiving to input saturation may be the reason the ZED sounds better. In digital when you run out bits your out of headroom and that can sound really bad.
At times on my Allen Heath analog boards I had to use the pad on the snare channel even with a dynamic mic on a loud snare with a hard hitting drummer.
How about this one?
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/A15AS--shure-a15as-switchable-attenuator
@Dado
That would give you attenuation so if it is enough then that is a solution.
Playing softer is always an option. You just dont want to do it.
The Shure pad would work.
I would not plug the pad directly into the back of the mixer, use a short cable between the pad and the mixer. Having something that long stick out of the mixer is an accident waiting to happen in getting the connector broken.
I carry a couple of the Whirlwind pads but have just used then to interface to the inputs
of other equipment a few times.
So far I guess by just chance the times I’ve had to pad down a really hot input I have been using one of my stage boxes and when using a stage box as the input there is a pad selection on the input pre-amp.
Mike, I guess I can plug the pad directly into the mic and then plug the cable into it?
Many (most?) condenser mics have a built in pad switch - seems rather odd this one doesn’t if it’s that hot.
Mike, I guess I can plug the pad directly into the mic and then plug the cable into it?
You could plug it directly into the mic if that does get in the way of anything.
Many (most?) condenser mics have a built in pad switch – seems rather odd this one doesn’t if it’s that hot.
No pads on Earthworks mics but Earthworks makes inline pads. But at $100 a pad I would go with the Shure or a Whirlwind first.
Thanks a lot everyone, I ordered the Shure one.
Let us know how it works out.
For what it’s worth I normally use the Audix D series mics on drums,
D1 or D3 on snare, D2 and D4 on toms and D6 kick, unless the drummer is carrying
their own mic kit.
No one has been through with an Earthworks drum mic kit yet.
I’ve used the earlier mentioned vocal mic, some of their measurement mics and a lectern mic.
I got audixes on all other components, d2, d4, d6, adxes…
This Earthworks beats i5 by far…
When playing ew dm20 vs i5, in order for them to sound the similar, I need to add overheads to the i5.
I got audixes on all other components, d2, d4, d6, adxes… This Earthworks beats i5 by far… When playing ew dm20 vs i5, in order for them to sound the similar, I need to add overheads to the i5.
Depending on the type of show for overheads I’ll use either Audio Technica 4033’s, Audio
Technica Pro 37’s, Shure SM81’s, or CAD95’s.
Sometimes under cymbal micing works well depending on the kit or sonetime you don’t need
overheads at all!
What do you use on hi hat? I’ve found a lot of times a dynamic mic works well and can tame down an overly splashy set of hi hats, the older Electrovoice PL95 works well or I’ll put up the classic SM81.
Both of my cymbal setups, on my left side, have a crash cymbal that is way louder than hihats. I have experimented with my left overhead about 30-40" directly above the hihat, so that it is offset in relation to the crash.
So far the sound seems balanced enough and I’m not using mics for the hats. I do have an extra i5 now, who knows maybe it can be used for the hihat, but that would be like… the 8th mic for the set ?
UPDATE:
Guys, I finally got the Shure attenuator, and the problems haven’t quite gone away;
this is what’s going on: with the attenuator the signal level was indeed lower (15,20 and 25db of attenuation) however, the distortion is still there no matter which of the three I set it to.
Here is how it sounds with all three sets of attenuation:
Now, what I tried to do was to start off with a clean scene and there was no distortion with the signal. Added some eq, still ok. But when I added reverb (one of the mixer’s fx reverbs) it then started to tear.
So, is there a way to setup/reroute how reverb/fx is positioned in the order of things of the QU-16, so I can avoid this from happening when adding fx?
Hi Dado,
This could be a hardware issue with the mixer, specifically the FX section.
You could back up your settings and try a hard reset to see if this changes the behaviour, but if it doesn’t, I recommend contacting your distributor to arrange a service.
Here’s how to perform a hard reset: https://support.allen-heath.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/742
Please note, this will remove all stored data on the mixer and restore the factory settings. So you should back up your show to a USB drive before trying this.
You can find the distributor’s contact details here: https://www.allen-heath.com/where-to-buy/
Thanks!
Alex
Make sure that you are not sending the reverb back into it self as in bringing up the reverb FX send on the reverb FX return.
What are the PFL levels of the reverb FX send and the FX return?
When PFL’ing those listen with head phones, see if you hear the distortion on the FX send
or on the FX return.
Well guys I double checked everything, and it wasn’t the fx. The fx only made it worse, but even without it, the hot peaking signal was still there.
So with less and less options to go for, this is currently my last resort, an assigned mixer for the dm20 mic, or snare only mixer
Any thoughts?
@Dado
do what @Alex A&H said and have your dealer check the hardware and software especially the fx.
if it is really is that the signal is too hot then bring it in the line in connector not the mike xlr input.
get a second attenuator and put it in series with the first one to cut 50dB off the input.