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:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rich De Steno Sent: Tuesday, 15 March 2016 9:20 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List <[email protected]> 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. -- Rich De Steno
