Quote Originally Posted by MARK EG
yeah i'm thinking get the track ready in my mixer headphones then switch my headphones to the overall output, then knock the monitors off.(i have to have the mic on the Mackie to add reverb cause I can't do that on the allen and heath DJ mixer). the the prob is, my headphone out volume on the mackie desk also controls the control room output. hmmm. i'd have ot knock them off at speaker on off switch i think.

i wonder how i would be able to sort it to get when the mic speaks the output cuts. hmmmm. this has something to do with a switch. the mic has has to somehow switch the output to say 'no'. and it must be timed too, otherwise, as soon as you stop speaking, bang it's on. perhaps quick attack and slow release - like MASSIVELY slow release. what would be able to do this? certainly a standard compressor couldnt. a gate perhaps???? ahhhhh but you've just said it's down to actually switching the mic on and off. wow. erm well then the switch of the mic controls the output switch. this must be a piece of hardware that enables this, i can't see a way this could be done without it. this is really interesting. if anyonwe has the answer, i'd love to know.
You could do this with a foot switch or something quite easily. To be honest though if it's a pre-recorded show you could just overdub the talk ! :)

Also the quality or otherwise of the microphone is nothing compared to the quality of the room you record it in. You really want a close dead sound for that intimate DJ on the radio kind of vibe. If spend 400 quid on shortening and deadening the reverb in the room and a hundred quid on the Mic you'll have a far beter sound than if you'd spent 400 quid on the Mic and 100 quid on the room.

We're just in the process of rebuilding the vocal booth in the studio here at the moment ... it's going to be fantastic!

If you really want the Mic to duck the speaker volume then you'll want to do something like this:

Put a gate on the Microphone first, run the output of the Microphone to a compressor side chain, run the monitor mix through the compressor, high ratio low threshold, fast attack very slow release.

If your desk has midi mutes then a whole range of other automation options open themselves up ...

IF you need a seperate headphone volume control or a seperate volume control for the speakers an old DAT machine or something in record-pause mode usually works ...