Comments about Shure Shure FP24 2-Channel Stereo Preamplifier and Mixer:

Shure FP24 microphone mixer.
20061101

I was impressed with the list of handy tools and configurations that are available with this unit. Built-in slate microphone and tone generator, roll-off filters, wide variety of power supplies, etc. etc. They’re been doing field mixer applications for a while. I love the Tape Out connection which fits perfectly into the Line In of a laptop computer.

I like the metering. It seems to be completely wacky until you consider that it’s a peak-reading instrument—they’re very clear about that—and everybody knows that peaks of a live recording routinely go 10 to 15 dB over “zero” VU. It’s perfectly usable if you pay attention, but it‘s *not* a VU meter.

You want to read the specs *really* carefully before you part with the money. The channel gain is published at 66dB. Many broadcast microphones are rated in the 60s or low 50s for output with normal sound levels. Also keep in mind that mixer output level is +4dB, not zero. This doesn’t leave a lot of room to make mistakes. The first time the talent leans back or decides to become expressive, you’re dead. The knobs don’t go up far enough.

They go out of their way to illustrate its resistance to overload. There’s an adjustable peak limiter and good headroom. If you’re dealing with a rock band screaming into a SM58 microphone, you‘re golden. If you have an 8 year old girl reading theatrical lines into the same SM58, you’ll be looking for another mixer.

Also as a cousin to this problem, the specifications are taken with the knobs in the middle. I don’t know of any microphone that will actually work like that. I can make a lot of electronics look really good by not measuring at operating level.

“Real” microphone specifications are rough to meet, so a lot of audio equipment simply doesn’t meet them. This gives you the RE27ND microphone which is he newest variation on the classic RE-20. It doesn’t work as well, but it’s louder to try and make up the difference. That may work better with this mixer.

Koz