Ever since analog audio mixers were first used many decades ago with remote telephone calls at AM radio stations (and later at FM radio and TV stations), there has been a need for mix-minus. This was (and still is, with today’s Internet based tech) to prevent the remote caller from hearing her/himself back in an echo. The modern caller may still be connecting via plain old telephone service (POTS) or a modern service like Call In Studio, Cleanfeed, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Jitsi, Skype, Riverside, Streamyard, Squadcast or Zoom. Back with the classic analog audio mixers, that mix-minus was achieved by properly creating and adjusting a submix for those callers and connecting that specific submix output of the mixer to the telephone hybrid. Today it happens with both analog and digital audio mixers (i.e. the original RØDECaster Pro and its successors and competitors) and even with software audio mixers, like the free RØDE Connect (which I have already covered and reviewed extensively) and newer ones like the brand new (and also free) Shure Motiv Mix (which I have already covered and am about to review). But there is another type of mix-minus used with such software mixers, specifically for monitoring of the local participants, who are frequently connected to the computer via a USB microphone with built-in latency free monitoring, or in some cases, with an audio interface which also has built-in latency free monitoring. That’s why I am writing this separate article to clarify what we mean when we say mix-minus for broadcast/recording and what we mean when we say mix-minus for local monitoring. This applies for both audio-only or video programs, whether they are truly live, live-to drive or prerecorded.

Let’s discuss an example where local participants are together in a studio in a particular location. Let’s say three participants in the same studio are using some of the latest dynamic cardioid USB mics, like the RØDE PodMic USB (which I am about to review) or the Shure MV7+ (which I am also about to review). They are all dynamic cardioid for the maximum isolation (and lowest crosstalk); they all have DSP (digital signal processing) inside and they all have a direct monitoring via 3.5 mm headphone jack to connect their own isolating headphones or in-ear devices. This is both to hear themselves latency free and also to to listen to a mix-minus from the software audio mixer. That mix-minus will include everything except themselves, since they already hear themselves latency free thanks to the direct monitoring of their latest and greatest dynamic mics, the RØDE PodMic USB or the Shure MV7+, so the software mixer should not send their own voices back, but everything else. When I say «everything else», I mean the voices of the remote guests or callers, which are connected vía services like Call In Studio, Cleanfeed, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Jitsi, Skype, Riverside, Streamyard, Squadcast or Zoom. I also mean any soundbite that is played back for comment by all participants, both local and remote. They hear all of that from the mix-minus.

Here I’ll briefly clarify these services:

• Call In Studio is a service to help filter calls from the general public who dial in with a public phone number. Call In Studio uses either human operators or voice-to-text technology.
• Cleanfeed is the opposite: studio quality from remote guests and co-hosts, generally when they have a professional microphone and a good Internet connection. Unlike Call In Studio (where the calls are usually unscheduled and unplanned), Cleanfeed sessions are usually planned in advance with a link.
• Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Jitsi, Skype and Zoom are usually conference-quality, although if special requirements are met (including the use of Ethernet, no wifi allowed), Zoom can offer 48 kHz if activated in Original Sound Mode. All of these are for live use.
• Riverside, Streamyard and Squadcast can (optionally) also provide local recordings which are later uploaded, to cover when an Internet glitch occurs, but requires post-production to take advantage of them. This optional functionality is not appropriate for live or live-to drive productions.
• SkypeOUT (now rebranded as Calls to mobiles and landlines) allows us to make a spontaneous phone call to a particular organization, consulate or embassy to get an impromptu response, where the host/presenter has studio quality, and the called party sounds likes s/he is on the phone, which is indeed the case and sounds natural.

See related article

PSA: best way to connect headphones or earbuds to USB mics

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FTC disclosure

Neither Shure or RØDE has paid for this article. Both have sent Allan Tépper units for review. Some of the manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur, BeyondPodcasting, CapicúaFM or TuSaludSecreta programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs. Allan Tépper’s opinions are his own. Allan Tépper is not liable for misuse or misunderstanding of information he shares.