Rich, The fact that you were using a 3.5 mm to XLR adapter suggests that there is some difference in the way that the tip, ring and sleeve on the 3.5 mm jack are wired up. With the one that you could hear, the white noise would indicate that the microphone is not producing sufficient gain for use with the mixer.
You should be able to pick up a microphone cable quite easily from E-bay. Just make sure that you are getting a 3 pin XLR. Buying a cable from Zounds will probably mean paying 3 times what it is worth. Don't get a cable longer than 2 metres otherwise it will get in your way and become tangled. The Audio Technica is a good microphone and, if you haven't already got one, consider getting a desktop microphone stand. To avoid popping, aim the microphone at the bridge of your nose or under your chin. On the subject of microphones generally, the Behringer and other mixers expect that you will use microphones that are of the appropriate quality. You can not expect to use your Plantronics headset or a $10 microphone which works with your cassette recorder. The manual for the mixer probably did not explain this because it was assumed that you would be aware of the limitations. Robert Nelson -----Original Message----- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Rich De Steno Sent: Wednesday, 16 March 2016 8:09 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> Subject: Re: Choosing a Mixer Microphone Hi Robert, thanks for your thorough response. I have now tested several microphones that I have had for some time, just to see if any worked. I tested one computer headset, one computer microphone, and one older tape-recorder microphone. I connected all of them to the channel one XLR microphone input on the Behringer by using an adapter that converted the 3.5 mm plug to a 3-pin XLR plug. The first two did not work at all. Oddly, the older tape-recorder microphone did work to some extent. If I turned up the gain and level, I could hear myself clearly with some white noise. I also have a current Audio Technica ATR 2100 USB/XLR microphone, which I have only used by USB on my computer. I have been told by Zzounds, where I bought the mixer, that this will work perfectly with the mixer, but I do not currently have an XLR cable to connect it. My next step is to purchase an XLR cable and test this Audio Technica. I believe all of these are dynamic microphones. I did my testing both with and without the phantom power. None of them seemed to need it. I wish the Behringer manual had been clearer on the types of microphones that would work with it. Rich De Steno On 3/15/2016 4:02 PM, Robert Nelson wrote: > Rich, > > I also have a Behringer mixer so I am familiar with the mixer controls. I > have Rode, MXL and $20 Dick Smith microphones with XLR connectors that work > well with the Behringer. It is possible that the mixer has a faulty circuit. > In that case, I hope you have the original packaging and can return it under > warranty to get a replacement unit. > > The good thing about the Behringer mixers is that they are simple and > straightforward to use. > > You said in your original message that you have tried several computer > microphones with XLR connectors. > > What did you have the microphones plugged into on your computer? The only > computer devices which I know to have XLR connectors are external sound > cards/interfaces. If that is so, did the microphones work when plugged in > there? > > >From the point of view of troubleshooting, do you have a microphone with a 6 > >millimetre jack you can plug into the unbalanced socket below the channel 1 > >XLR socket? The microphone would have to be a dynamic unless you have a > >condenser mic with a built-in battery to supply power. > > I am assuming here that you have done such fundamental things as turn up the > master volume and the headphone volume. Now, don't sigh with frustration, > even experienced users have been known to overlook such fundamentals. > > Going back to troubleshooting ... have you tried to plug the microphones into > channel 2? > > On the subject of dynamic versus condenser microphones, unless you are going > to record performances of live music, you should use dynamic microphones. > This is particularly true if you are recording podcasts at home. > > Condenser microphones are great for picking up every subtle quality of live > music but they are so sensitive that they will also pick up every subtle > quality of the dog next door barking at the same time. With a good cardioid > dynamic microphone, you will probably not even know there was a barking dog > next door. > > I hope this helps, > > Bob Nelson > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Rich De > Steno > Sent: Tuesday, 15 March 2016 9:20 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> > Subject: Choosing a Mixer Microphone > > I recently purchased a Behringer 1202FX mixer. I plugged several > different computer microphones into the XLR jack on channel one, but > none of them work. I hear nothing, but I do hear the line-in inputs. > What type of microphone do I need for a mixer like this. I am only > interested in using it for speech, not music, and I don't want to spend > more than I need to. I found nothing in the manual that excludes any > particular type of microphone, so I don't understand why these cheap > computer microphones don't work. >
