Monitoring vox w/out-of-phase speakers

D

darwin

New member
I have read about a technique where vocalists can monitor themselves without headphones by singing between two speakers pointed at each other that are wired out of phase. In theory, sound waves hitting the mic at the same time cancel each other out. I am interested in experimenting with this technique. Has anyone tried this? What kind of results did you get? What kind of microphone did you use? What kind of acoustic treatment did you use? Was it a relatively dead or live room?
 
Sounds cool!

I say give it a shot. I've heard about similar methods being used live to prevent feedback from stage monitors. The signal to both speakers would have to be mono, with polarity reversed on one. If using a mic with polar cancellation chartacteristics, try pointing the speakers at the null point(s).
If the room is treated it would help reduce the reverberation from the monitor signal, but a little bleed is alright most of the time.
Alot of times I'll sing right in front of the computer with a unidirectional mic. There is some bleed from the backing tracks, but the vocals are always strong enough to overpower it.

Rock on!
Pat
 
It is not done with out-of-POLARITY speakers, but with reversed-polarity microphones, at least in live work. It works exceptionally well, but the singer must sing directly into one of the microphones. By this, I mean their lips must touch the mic.

Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Yeah, see, I haven't tried it in a studio. Live, it's with mics, and I almost never use it. It just is not really needed, most of the time. There are better ways of doing it.

Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
There are better ways of doing it.
Click to expand...

I am all ears about finding a solution to my problem, and that is that the singer feels more comfortable and sings more in tune when he is not wearing headphones.
 
Well, I was talking about live work. In the studio, in that situation, it would depend on the style of music. If it is loud rock music, then I would just set up some stage monitors. For softer stuff, what you are suggesting seems like a good idea, but I have never had to deal with it.

Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
one possible solution that won't get the singer going "huh?" from hearing the weird effect of out-of-phase speakers: just use a single, mono speaker, and place it exactly behind the microphone. use a mic with a nice tight cardioid pattern.
 
one possible solution that won't get the singer going "huh?" from hearing the weird effect of out-of-phase speakers: just use a single, mono speaker, and place it exactly behind the microphone. use a mic with a nice tight cardioid pattern.
Click to expand...

So, are you suggesting that the singer be between the mic and the speaker, or are you suggesting that the mic be between the speaker and the singer?

Also, since I haven't really set this up yet, I can't relate to the weird out-of-phase effect that you are referring to. I will need to try it as soon as I get a chance so that I can hear what you are talking about. However, have you experienced this phenomena when trying this technique?
 
After rereading your post, it is pretty clear that you meant that the mic should be between the singer and speaker. If I were to do this, there would need to be a very tight cardoid pattern like you suggested. Also, I assume that the room would need to be fairly dead so that the bleedthrough is minimized.
 
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