Rane ECS RaneWare - Manual (Page 9)

RW Manual-9
Mic Threshold Level
Each Mic has an independently adjustable Threshold
Level. When audio is detected above this Threshold Level,
the Mic Gates On. When the audio drops below the
Threshold
Level, the Mic Gates Off to its Gate Depth after the Gate
Release timer has expired.
To verify if Mics are inadvertently gating on when no one
talks, watch the Mic Signal Status indicator in RaneWare or
look at the MCS (MiC Signal) Status LED on the ECB 62e
front panel. Neither of these indicators should be on when no
one talks at a mic.
During setup, to avoid Mics Gating On when no one talks
at a mic, and if you find Mic Threshold Levels must be set
above -20 dB (i.e., -19 or -15…), investigate one of two
things:
1. The first thing to verify is that the Mic LEVELs (the front
panel screw driver pots on the ECM 82e) are set properly.
Too much Mic gain makes it more difficult for the Echo
Canceller(s) to adapt since too much loudspeaker and/or
background noise is entering the Mics.
2. The background room noise should never gate Mics on. If
you find Mics Gating On unnecessarily, then either the
Mics need to be moved away from the noise sources, or the
sources of noise must be reduced acoustically. Not fun, and
usually not inexpensive.
As in any audio system, significant background noise
greatly compromises the signal-to-noise of the system making
speech less intelligible, music less pleasing — and perhaps
most importantly in conferencing applications — makes the
job of the Acoustic Echo Canceller more difficult.
The best an Echo Canceller can do is cancel echos down
to the noise floor. If your system has a poor noise floor, you
are likely to also have poor echo cancelling and therefore,
more echo. In other words, physics works or perhaps, depend-
ing on your room, physics sucks.
Typical default value: -25 dB for tabletop or goose neck
Mics. About -22 dB for ceiling Mics.
Mic Gate Depth
Each Mic has an independently adjustable Gate Depth.
When the audio drops below the Threshold Level and the Mic
is not the Master Mic, the Mic Gates Off to the Gate Depth
after the Gate Release time.
For example, having independently adjustable Gate
Depth is helpful in distance learning applications where one
might want the teacher or lectern Mic(s) to have a small (or
no)
Gate Depth, thus they can always be heard. Whereas
other Mics may require a larger Gate Depth thus signifi-
cantly improving the signal-to-noise of the system. Also, in
systems requiring many Mics, having a deep and indepen-
dently adjustable
Gate Depth helps maintain the feedback
stability margin. Other mic mixers have fixed or limited gate
depths making certain system implementations difficult.
Typical default value: 20 dB
Setting the Gate Depth to 0 dB on the ECM 82eA
disables the QuickAdapt algorithm for a Mic gate change. To
keep the QuickAdapt algorithm active and keep a Mic open,
set the
Gate Depth to -1 dB.
Mic Gate Release
Each Mic has an independently adjustable Gate Release
time. When the audio drops below the Threshold Level, the
Gate Release timer is activated. If audio is not detected
before this timer elapses, and the Mic is not the Master Mic,
the Mic will Gate Off.
Typical default value: 0.3 seconds.
Mixer Page