Church Media Diagnostic Suite

Live Signal Equalizer IDLE

🎙️ Audio Input Device

Select your audio source — choose VB-Audio Virtual Cable to monitor your OBS mix.

0 dB -10 -20 -45 -∞

20 Hz — SUB BASS VOCAL MIDS AIR — 20 kHz

Bass

-∞ dB

Mids

-∞ dB

Treble

-∞ dB

Peak Signal Loudest point on the master channel

-100 dB

Noise Floor Average ambient energy (lower is better)

— dB

Dynamic Range Headroom between floor and peak

— dB

Mackie ProFX4 — Channel Settings 4-CH MIXER

Active Input Channel

Select which Mackie channel you're monitoring. Each has its own Gain and 3-band EQ (Hi / Mid / Lo).

GAIN — 0 dB

Mic Pre-amp input level

Turn up until the signal is clear, but the clip LED (red) never stays on. For a pastor mic, aim for peaks lighting the yellow LED only.

−20 dB (too quiet)Unity+20 dB (clip risk)

3-Band Channel EQ

HI
12 kHz

Air & presence. Boost for sparkle on acoustic guitar. Cut if stream sounds harsh.

0 dB

MID
2.5 kHz

Vocal intelligibility lives here. Boost for clarity; cut if the pastor sounds nasal.

0 dB

LO
80 Hz

Bass warmth. Cut to remove rumble from HVAC or stage vibration on mic stands.

0 dB

AUX SEND — 0

Monitor mix level for stage speakers (foldback). Raise for musicians who can't hear themselves.

OffMax

FX PRESET — 04

Built-in Mackie effects. 04 = small room reverb. Use sparingly on vocals for stream — too much sounds muddy.

Monitoring Options

Clipping Alert

Flash warning when signal exceeds -2 dB — mirrors Mackie's red CLIP LED

Hold Peak Indicator

Freeze highest reading for 2 s — useful for setting channel gain before service

Live Recommendations Waiting for signal

ℹ️

Start the scan to see live tips Press "Initialize System Scan" to begin analysis. Recommendations update in real time as your signal is read.

Understanding This Tool — Quick Reference

📊 Live Signal Equalizer (the graph)

Each vertical bar represents a frequency band from left (deep bass, ~20 Hz) to right (air/treble, ~20 kHz). Bar height shows how loud that frequency is right now.

Green bars — signal is in a healthy range.
Yellow bars — volume is high but not clipping. Watch closely during loud worship moments.
Red bars — clipping. The signal is distorting. Reduce the gain on that channel immediately.

The dB ruler on the right shows approximate level. Aim to keep peaks around -12 dB to -6 dB for a clean stream.

🎚️ EQ Profile — what each preset does

Flat (raw signal) — no processing. Use this to hear exactly what your mic is capturing before any adjustments.
Vocal Clarity Boost — adds presence in the 2–3 kHz range where the human voice cuts through. Helpful for spoken-word sermons that sound "muddy" on stream.
Bass Cut — removes low-frequency rumble from HVAC, traffic, or stage vibration. Use when you see constant energy in the leftmost bars.
Presence Boost — brightens the top-end of vocals and acoustic guitars. Use carefully; too much causes sibilance (harsh "S" sounds).
High-Pass Filter — cuts everything below 80 Hz. Safe to enable on most vocal mics; you rarely need those frequencies and they eat up headroom.

🔇 Noise Floor — what it means

The noise floor is the constant background hum captured even when no one is speaking or playing. Lower is better.

Below -70 dB — excellent. Very quiet room.
-60 dB to -70 dB — good. Acceptable for most churches.
-50 dB to -60 dB — moderate. Check for HVAC, open windows, or other ambient sources.
Above -50 dB — high. Your stream will have audible hiss or hum. Consider a noise gate on your mixing board, or address the acoustic source.

🎛️ Filter Q & Gain — how to use these controls

Gain boosts (+) or cuts (−) the selected frequency band in decibels. A boost of +6 dB doubles the perceived loudness at that frequency.

Q (bandwidth) controls how wide the boost or cut affects neighbouring frequencies:

Low Q (0.1–0.7) — broad, gentle curve. Good for tonal shaping on full-band stream mixes.
Mid Q (1.0–2.0) — standard musical range. Suitable for vocal channels.
High Q (5–10) — surgical notch. Use to target and remove a specific hum frequency (e.g. 60 Hz electrical hum).

📡 Dynamic Range — why it matters for streaming

Dynamic range is the gap between your noise floor and your loudest peak. A healthy value is 50–70 dB or more. Streaming platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Zoom) often apply automatic compression, so the more headroom you have going in, the better your compressed output will sound. Aim to:

Keep your noise floor as low as possible (quiet room, tight mic placement).
Keep peaks below 85% (−3 dB) to avoid clipping on sudden loud moments.
Use a hardware compressor or limiter after your mixer if you stream regularly.