Annoying Sharp Sound When Singing High

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revamp

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Hi. I own a Yamaha EMX62M Mixer and 2 Yamaha S115V Speakers. From what I've heard, I think I own a pretty good PA. And it does sound wonderful when I'm singing normally but when I have to scream or sing higher notes the sound coming out of speakers gets really sharp and annoying. I messed with my 7-band EQ and I believe it's in the 4k range. I turn the 4k all the way down and it makes it somewhat tolerable but the sound is muddy now. I also notice that my voice is naturally producing this annoying sharp sound when i sing higher or scream but it is sounding worse coming out of the speakers. does anyone have any advice on this?

My mics are:

Sennheiser E835
Audix OM2
Audio Technica DR-VX1
Shure SM57 (the feedback this mic produces is just ridiculous)

My effects units are:

Behringer FBQ1502 Equalizer
Behringer MDX1600 Compressor

thanks for your time.
 
yes, you have a pretty good system. in fact, very similar to my church's setup... EMx5000mixer and Yamaha R115 Speakers.

Sounds to me like you have your PA in a small jamming room... it would be helpful to mention you room size and your PA layout....

BTW, should you be using your FBQ1502 instead of the onboard EQ fro EQing...

Lastly, are we in the right forum? ;)
 
i apologize for posting in the wrong forum, but since this has alreeady started, might as well go on... yes my room is pretty small and boxy, the speakers are set up across the room from each other, facing each other but not directly at each other. They are placed on top of some old speakers i'm not using, because i thought it may improve the sound a bit if they're not on the floor. and yes i will try using the behringer eq, i just havent had much luck with it.
 
for your application, (small jamming room)... one speaker on a corner should be sufficient....

then the singer should be singing facing the speaker....

You'll get the best result with the minimal volume level.... ask the drummer to stop banging the drums....
 
Depends on the mic you're using ... there's a definite something or other on the E835 that can jump at you if you're not careful. It's the same thing that makes it sound good though in my experience.

I would agree that your room won't be helping, and there's a problem in that the PA just amplifies what you put into it, so if your voice is making a peak there, then creative EQing is going to be your only answer probably!!
 
A graphic eq is not the right tool for notching out problem frequencies (assuming that is the source of your problem).

As you have discovered you cannot make drastic cuts without effecting neighbouring frequencies and so having a detrimental effect on the overall sound. This is because each band covers too wide a frequency range.

You need a parametric eq to make those narrower cuts.
 
Yup, decent little speakers. Good choice for the money.
Like Leeking said, use the 15 band. It will cut fewer freqs when the volume is low, but still be effective when you need it. There isn't a speaker on the planet that sounds the same loud as it does quiet. A 31-band would be better, but you gotta work with what you have. :)

Also try backing off the mic when screaming or hitting those high notes, or use some compression.

revamp said:
i will try using the behringer eq, i just havent had much luck with it.
Click to expand...

I'm not surprised, for a few reasons.
1) Your voice has a high-mid peak
2) Your mics have a peak in the same range.
3) The speakers probably do too.

Not many EQs are going to be able to get around all of that. 12 db of cut probably barely brings you back to flat.
Speakers also tend to lose coherency when pushed hard. Floppy bass, smeary highs, and peaky, beamy mids are the usual result. 15" two-ways are vulnerable to particularly assy-sounding mids at high volumes within an octave of their x-over point (usually somewhere in the 1.5-2.5k region)
Also, your vocal hot spot might not be at 4k, if the Behri isn't helping at all.
 
all the replies have been helpful so far. and yes the E835 does have that problem, which is why I am going to sell it and use the Audix OM2 instead. i will play around with it some more, and give an update. thanks!
 
i've been tweaking it often, but now I think I notice the speakers being a little distorted.. it's not really that obvious.. could i have blown the speakers or did the mixer break this soon...? maybe it's all in my head.. how can i tell if speakers are broke? i notice that there is some rattling when the bass is loud, the bass still sounds full but there seems to be a bit of rattling in the speakers.. keep in mind these are 500 watts speakers connected to a 200 WATT Mixer

I got them at Guitar Center, if theyre broke I wonder if they'll replace it being that they were damage from misuse, please help
 
I thought about speaker damage, but figured there was no way you were clipping your amp hard enough. It could be possible, if you play very loud. Constantly clipping the amp could do some damage to the tweeters. Each of those speakers only has 100W available, which is less than I thought, but should still be pretty loud. I see that thing has output meters. You keep it in the green, right?

I also thought that maybe you were clipping the channel when you were screaming. That would cause distortion, but no damage. It can be hard to tell when there is no channel meter.

Is the cab rattling for sure? A lot of times something in the room is rattling, and people think it's the speaker. :)

If something in the cab really is rattling, most likely a brace is loose. That isn't from anything you did, I almost guarantee.

Take them outside and fire them up. Speakers can act funny at high volumes in small spaces, as can your ears. I'd start there.
 
hey.. it's hard keeping it in the green because to get a reasonable amount of volume so i can actually hear my singing over the drums and everything else i have to go past 0db up to +6 db which is the yellow area just before the limiter kicks in, i did not think this was bad.
 
You can get rattling from anything in the room if you happen to get sympathetic vibrations, i.e., the frequency and power that you're putting out happen to equal the resonant frequency of something in the room (and in a small boxy room you can have lots of standing waves). Putting that aside, I would first make sure you had a flat frequency response mic. I like those better for singing since I rather get a good natural sound first, and then I can EQ in anything I want to later. These days I've been using an ADK Hamburg and it has a pretty flat response except for a slight kick up in the mids.
 
i think that the bass seems to be fine.. but there is somewhat of a fuzzy sound coming out of the speakers.. i used a different mixer and the fuzzy sound is still there, what could be wrong? u cant really hear it when u have music playing, but only when singing into a mic
 
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my voice has an annoyingly sharp sound when i sing while high, too. :-D

wakka wakka wakka


cheers,
wade
 
Well, for sure, you are really underpowered, your set-up needs work so you can optimize what you have, or both. Pushing the amp that hard most likely is what damaged the tweeters. Although that amp would have to be pushed hard for a good long time to do it, so it may just be a bum set.

See if you get get them fixed under warranty. If not, get the diaphragms and replace them yourselves.

Just take them back, and tell them you have a problem of unknown origin, ask what they think. Yamaha may have to make the determination of whether they are covered. I've never dealt with them on warranty stuff.
 
The system you have is great for low volume stuff and not made to be hammered in a rock band. If your are having feedback problems in a small room there is not much you can do but tell everyone to turn down.
The truth is a amp or mixer on a pa that is putting out 100 watts per channel is very small and not designed to be loud.
100 watts is in the minimal monitor range and is not up to much more than that. You need more power. If you did blow something it is most likely cause of low wimpy power that is sending a square wave of distortion to your speakers.
Sorry but thats the facts.
 
Herm said:
The system you have is great for low volume stuff and not made to be hammered in a rock band. If your are having feedback problems in a small room there is not much you can do but tell everyone to turn down.
The truth is a amp or mixer on a pa that is putting out 100 watts per channel is very small and not designed to be loud.
100 watts is in the minimal monitor range and is not up to much more than that. You need more power. If you did blow something it is most likely cause of low wimpy power that is sending a square wave of distortion to your speakers.
Sorry but thats the facts.
Click to expand...

Except for the inaccuracy that square waves and the resulting distortion cause speaker damage, you are correct. Way underpowered.
 
hmm well then it was the guy's fault at guitar center for recommending me wimpy powered mixer!! i will return this w/out guilt!! thanks everyone
 
The 57 should be good for taming annoying mid range peaks. If feedback is a problem then try putting a popfilter on the 57 and sing very close. Try the one speaker like Leeking suggested.

You should also have some type of acoustic treatment especially in a small room. Check out the studio building forum for some ideas. At worst a thick comforter hung on the wall behind the singer will help a bit in controlling feedback.
 
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