feedback problem on vocals

[pchorman]

Got a problem I'm hoping you guys can help me with. My band's new (female) singer has a great voice but cannot belt out the tunes with any significant volume. As a result she requires an inordinate amount of gain and some careful EQing to be heard well. And as a further result we are fighting some nasty feedback problems.

This may be a common problem to which there is no easy cure other than better mic technique or getting another singer, but if you experts would kindly toss a suggestion or two my way it would be much appreciated. Perhaps a mic with a much tighter pattern might allow us to safely pump up the volume on her? We're being careful not to direct the mic toward the speakers.

Thanks for any advise

 

[vox]

Is the feedback from the mains or monitors?

Some general tips.

1/ Make her kiss the mic, let her keep her lips right on the grill

2/ make sure she doesn't 'cup' the mic, it causes feedback

3/ turn the rest of the band down if possible (give the drummer lighter sticks)

4/ get a 31 band graphic EQ and 'ring out' the monitors/mains at soundcheck, or get a Sabine feedback eliminator, I prefer the manual method but the Sabine should be ok.

5/ If possible move her farther from loud instruments so she wont need so much monitor gain.

6/ Get in-ear monitors

7/ If the feedback is from the mains try moving them farther forward and make sure she is behind them

8/ Use less compression on her vocal mic

9/ Sometimes too much reverb can cause feedback

10/ Get a banner of the bands name on heavy cloth and hang it as a backdrop, it can stop highs bouncing of the @#$%$ mirrors
some asshole decorator thought would be a great 'look' for a stage (YES I have seen this)

11/ Place monitors in the null points of the mics pickup pattern

12/ Always cross your fingers and pray to the gods of live sound before every gig lest they smite you with feedback

13/ be nice to your mother, actually when was the last time you called her?

Good Luck

 

[ametth]

turn the band down
In ear monitors
less effects on the voice

 

[ametth]

what mic are you using?

 

[Mark H.]

All good advice above, and another alternative is to buy her a $150 head mic with a hypercardioid or "differoid" element, so that the pick up is always in exactly the same place in relation to her mouth, regardless of what she is doing with her hands (or the rest of her body). Just having the element in that close should take care of the excessive gain and reduce the likelihood of feedback.

Best wishes,

Mark H.

 

[ametth]

(it's a joke, calm down)

All good advice above, and another alternative is to buy her a $150 head mic with a hypercardioid or "differoid" element, so that the pick up is always in exactly the same place in relation to her mouth, regardless of what she is doing with her hands (or the rest of her body). Just having the element in that close should take care of the excessive gain and reduce the likelihood of feedback.

Best wishes,

Mark H.

I guess that would work...if she wants to look *stupid* on stage.

 

[Mark H.]

Waaah! I thought band members went out of their way to try to look stupid. When did head mics become unhip? I need to know, because the trend will hit our area in about six years....

Mark H.

 

[pchorman]

Thanks for the earlier replies. I got a better idea what we're using for gear so if this alters your suggestions in any way please let me know.

The mic is a Sennheiser of unknown model #. We also tried an SM57 which was a little worse with feedback.

We have no floor wedge yet, and are using a couple of Peavey columns as both monitors and main speakers. We layed one column down on the floor in front of our singer and oriented it like a monitor. I understand this needs to change and we need to get a half decent wedge. Any suggestions within a couple hundred bucks?

The PA is a no-name (Spectra?) 100 W job with 12-band EQ and compressor/protection circuitry, of which only the power section is being used. Two ART mic pre's and faders from an 8-track recorder are serving as the preamp section.

Bottom line is the gear leaves much more to be desired, but we're trying to run with it for now.
Thanks again for the good points made above.

 

[vox]

Are you using seperate mixes for mains and monitors or is it all one mix? if you can, seperate the mains and monitors, get a cheap stereo 31 band eq put one channel on mains and the other on monitors, use it to gently pull out the problem frequencies until they stop ringing, go easy and only pull out as much of a frequency as you need to stop it ringing.
Peavey used to make an eq which had a little LED over each frequency fader that would light up when that particular frequency was feeding back so you could tell which one it was, I've never used it but I thought it was a good idea.