XR18 / X Air Male Vocal starting point
Beginner Skill level for the five steps below.
Dial these in, then adjust by ear in the full mix. Ring out the vocal mic at gig volume before doors; if a singer cups the mic, watch for feedback around 1.6 kHz.
XR18 / X Air note: The XR18 has no control surface, so save this setup as a channel preset in X Air Edit's library and recall it at the next gig.
1High-pass filter
~100 Hz
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) low cut / HPF, not a screenshot. Drawn at 12 dB/oct; the shaded area is what gets cut.
Start around 100 Hz to clear stage rumble and low-end bleed; raise it for higher voices.
On the XR18 / X Air: No surface: in X Air Edit (or Mixing Station), open the channel and use the Low Cut switch/frequency in the Config / Preamp area.
2Gate
- Use
- No
Gating a vocal risks cutting off soft words; use mutes between songs instead.
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > Gate tab: enable, then Threshold, Range, Attack, Hold, Release. A key filter is available for frequency-conscious triggering.
3EQ
- LC 100 Hz, 12 dB/oct
- 1 Bell 250 Hz, -2.0 dB, Q 0.9
- 2 Bell 600 Hz, -1.5 dB, Q 0.9
- 3 Bell 3.5 kHz, +1.0 dB, Q 1.5
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) EQ screen, not a screenshot. Curve shows the midpoint of the suggested ranges; HPF drawn at 12 dB/oct.
| Frequency | Gain | Q / width | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200-300 Hz | -1 to -3 dB | Wide | Proximity-effect muddiness when the singer is close on the mic. |
| 400-800 Hz | -1 to -2 dB | Wide | A small scoop smooths the voice. Too much and it gets buried. |
| 2-5 kHz | 0 to +2 dB | Medium | Intelligibility; careful, it gets harsh and fatiguing at high level. |
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > EQ tab: 4 parametric bands per input channel (shelf/peq modes on the outer bands).
4Compression
Attack ~10-40 ms · Release ~300 ms (timing, not shown on graph)
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) compressor screen, not a screenshot. The card gives a ratio range (3:1 (go to 4:1 if needed)); the graph shows the first value, 3:1. The threshold is an example only: it is set so a −6 dB peak gets about 5 dB of gain reduction, the middle of the card's target. Set yours by ear while watching the gain reduction (GR) meter. Drawn hard-knee with no makeup gain. Attack and release shape timing and don't change this curve.
- Ratio
- 3:1 (go to 4:1 if needed)
- Attack
- ~10-40 ms
- Release
- ~300 ms
- Gain reduction
- 4-6 dB
A moderate starting point: 3:1 (4:1 for a dynamic singer), 10-40 ms attack, ~300 ms release, 4-6 dB gain reduction.
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > Dynamics tab: Threshold, Ratio, Knee, Attack, Hold, Release, makeup Gain and Mix (parallel).
5FX send
Modest send to a vocal plate (~1.2 s decay, short pre-delay)
Vocal plate, about 1.2 s decay, send around -15 to -10 dB.
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) sends view, not a screenshot. Bus numbering depends on how the venue file is patched; set the level by ear.
A little reverb helps the vocal sit; keep it sparing in small rooms.
On the XR18 / X Air: X Air has 4 internal FX slots fed by dedicated FX sends (FX1-4) on every channel; set the send level on the channel's Sends tab and bring FX returns up on the FX return faders.
🎧 What to listen for
Ring out the vocal mic at gig volume before doors; if a singer cups the mic, watch for feedback around 1.6 kHz.
Common gear for Male Vocal
- Shure SM58 · Dynamic vocal mic
- Shure Beta 58A · Dynamic vocal mic
- Sennheiser e935 · Dynamic vocal mic
Scene / preset file
Coming later: downloadable XR18 / X Air channel preset for this card.
Sources
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