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I would like to know what are exact characteristics of the mixer's 3-zone EQs, namely of the one of Behringer Xenyx802. My problem is the following: I plan to get a microphone (Shure SM35), but its frequency response is not quite flat (see the dashed line below):

enter image description here

The EQ offers -15dB on LOW (80Hz), which would nicely cancel out the mic's increased response on basses. However, it's not clear what happnes with a frequency at 1kHz (since the MID knob is at 2.5kHz). Therefore, I would like to know what is the best way to handle this with my mixer's limited capabilities? Is it even possible to do effectively?

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  • Before doing any EQing, you should always consider what's possible with mic placement alone. This proximity effect bass boost probably becomes much gentler when you place the mic only slightly further away, one inch is rather more realistic than one centimetre anyway. And the far-field respone isn't really supposed to be flat in such a mic, it's meant to capture as little as possible of sound that's not coming from the carrier's mouth.
    – leftaroundabout
    Aug 25, 2014 at 22:28
  • @leftaroundabout So you say that I shouldn't worry so much about the bass boost, because it suffices to place the mic a bit further away from mouth?
    – yo'
    Aug 25, 2014 at 22:38
  • I say you should not try to counter the bass boost with an EQ before a) you've determined that it is something to worry about at all and b) you've tried to mitigate by simply adjusting the mic position.
    – leftaroundabout
    Aug 25, 2014 at 23:09
  • @leftaroundabout Well, I can spend the money on a more expensive mic (for instance Beta54 which doesn't suffer from this). So I want to minimize the risk of getting something that is not quite useful in my setting (piano+vocal)
    – yo'
    Aug 25, 2014 at 23:17
  • Oh, you bet the Beta54 also "suffers" from this. All directional mics are subject to proximity effect, it's often considered a feature rather than a problem. Of course, 15 dB boost is generally too much to be acceptable; in fact I doubt this really represents the response in any real use case. — To find out which mic is best for you application, the only reliable thing is to try them.
    – leftaroundabout
    Aug 25, 2014 at 23:33

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For a board with fixed EQs, it is going to be difficult to account for this much of an unlevel response curve. It varies based on board, but the fixed EQs tend to be very "wide", impacting a large number of related frequencies. Some boards use shelving filters on the top and bottom EQ while others use non-shelving.

This response curve would certainly need shelving to adjust for the dotted line, but it starts at around 1 or 2khz and would have to roll off from there ending in a shelf at around 200hz. You aren't going to get this flat with pretty much anything short of a fully parametric EQ. The curve is just too wide and too long from too high of a frequency to be covered by a typical fixed or semi-parametric (frequency sweeping, fixed width) EQ.

That said, you might not need a flat EQ depending on what you are using the mic for, so you might be able to get around it by boosting the right parts of the higher frequencies (though this goes against subtractive mixing which is generally preferable), but it would depend entirely on the context of what you are miking.

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  • Well, I would like to make life performances piano + vocal...
    – yo'
    Aug 25, 2014 at 22:42

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