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Biamp Cornerstone

Prioritizing microphones with duckers

In many applications, we need to set priorities such that microphones can override one another. Common examples include many paging applications and meeting rooms with a chairman microphone. This is easily accomplished by using multiple Ducker blocks, or by combining duckers with mixers.  

Multi-level paging priorities

By using a Ducker for each priority level and connecting them in a chain, as shown below, we can have multiple priority levels for background music systems and paging.

Multiple duckers.GIF

In the above layout, the mid priority microphone can override BGM only. The high priority microphone will override BGM and the mid priority microphone. More duckers can be added if more priority levels are required.

Chairman microphone priority

A Ducker can also be used in combination with an Auto Mixer to create a chairman priority. To do this, wire the output of the Auto Mixer to the Ducker as shown below:

Chairman.GIF

If you don't want all the microphones to mute completely whenever the chairman mic is active, change the ducking level to -6 or -9dB for a more subtle effect.

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