Mute switch for static microphones, to be used on stage.

[ricothetroll]

Hi !

A friend of mine came with that problem : he plays accordeon and has a lot of those, and often has to switch from one accordeon to the other during stage performances. The problem is that he doesn't tour with a mixer, and the local mixer doesn't know when to mute the tracks while the accordeon change. He has 2 Shure Beta 98H/C (bass and hi), that he has to move from one accordeon to the other. Those need phantom power.

Then came the idea of a (foot)switch box, to mute both mics while he switches.

My interrogations :

- Do you think it is possible to do it with the FOH console giving the phantom ? Switchin has to be silent.

- If not, I might build an external 48V power supply or even a whole preamp, and put the switch after it. Then, how can I be sure that there won't be any switching noise ?

- Your opinions about the options : hardware switch or relays ?
http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p1193_4PDT-footswitch.html
http://www.musikding.de/index.php/cat/c88_Relay.html

- Any danger of GND loops ?

Thanx in advance !

Best regards.

Eric

 

[bahrens]

Hi !

A friend of mine came with that problem : he plays accordeon and has a lot of those, and often has to switch from one accordeon to the other during stage performances. The problem is that he doesn't tour with a mixer, and the local mixer doesn't know when to mute the tracks while the accordeon change. He has 2 Shure Beta 98H/C (bass and hi), that he has to move from one accordeon to the other. Those need phantom power.

Then came the idea of a (foot)switch box, to mute both mics while he switches.

One solution might be to get a small 2-4 channel mixer w/ phantom power and send the mic signals at line level from that.  Then he could easily mute his channels.

 

[mshilarious]

Wire a volume pedal as a variable resistor between pins 2 and 3 (with 1K series resistors for a U-pad).  You would need to swap the guitar-value pot for a 10K.  Now he has a foot fader 

 

[toobdood]

  Simple: A switch to SHORT pins 2-hot and 3-cold together when mute is needed. 

 

[clintrubber]

This will have some relevant ideas:

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/automike/automike.htm

 

[conleycd]

It's reasonably simple.

This will work with phantom power too.

A DPDT switch (like a guitar pedal switch).  Wire 2 male and 2 female XLRs in a box.  2 are inputs and 2 are outputs.  Connect the pins from the inputs to outputs 1 to 1 (pin 2 to pin 2, pin 3 to pin 3, pin 1 to pin 1).  On the XLR outputs also solder pin 2 to one lug of the DPDT switch and pin 3 to center (although it really doesn't matter which goes where).  Do this for the other output and the other set of lugs on the DPDT.  Make sure you keep them on the same side (so you don't mute one and open the other in an alternating fashion).

I'll try some ASCII art.

X Pin 2 of Mic1    X  Pin 2 of Mic2

X Pin3 of Mic1      X  Pin 3 of Mic1

X                      X

One way the microphones will be muted the other unmuted.

If you want to add an LED to indicate which way it is all going get a 3PDT switch and use the last set of SPDT switches for LED indication. 

You can probably light the LED from 'stolen' phantom power.

You can get 3PDT from www.smallbearelec.com or www.generalguitargadgets.com or www.fulltone.com

There might be slight clicking and maybe someone can devise a way to manage that - but it shouldn't be bad.

CC

 

[MHanson]

What jumps into my head is a "cough" switch. 

http://www.procosound.com/downloads/datasheets/Old%20Version%20of%20Cough%20Drop.pdf

If this helps with a little visual.  Just a quick google away.

Michael

 

[ipagel]

What jumps into my head is a "cough" switch. 

http://www.procosound.com/downloads/datasheets/Old%20Version%20of%20Cough%20Drop.pdf

If this helps with a little visual.  Just a quick google away.

Michael

nice thank you just what i was looking for

 

[ricothetroll]

Thanx a lot for those great answers ! Looks like the "link pin2 and pin3" option is a good solution. I think I'll do that one, with the "cough switch" ameliorations (res+cap).

One (stupid) question left : I guess the 100u capacitor on the "cough" has to be an electrolytic. I also guess the "+" has to be on the "mic out" side (that's where the +48V comes from) and its voltage has to be 50V minimum (63-100V for tranquility). Am I right ?

Have a nice day !

Eric

 

[guy_4]

Hello,

Radial Engineering have their " HotSHot" box to switch between two sources :

http://www.radialeng.com/re-hotshot-abi.htm

However there is no mention if it can work with phantom power...

Best,
Guy