• Audio

  What Lectern mic should I be looking for?

  Posted by James Dow on March 4, 2019 at 4:32 pm

  I do A/V for meetings that are usually in high school gyms. I’m currently using Countryman M4HP5RF18E (19″)
  lectern mics on a podium. Usually the presenters are bad about adjusting the mic position before they speak. I run the mic into the phantom power on a Mackie Pro FX12 mixer. The output goes to 4, or 6, JBL Eon 15″ powered speakers. I have lots of problems with feedback on these mics. I’m careful about speaker placement in relation to the mics. What should I consider to make this a better set-up?

  Thanks,
  JPD

  JPD

  Richard Crowley replied 7 years, 4 months ago 4 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Eric Toline

  March 6, 2019 at 1:17 pm

  Most likely it’s your gain setting or speaker placement. Make sure the speakers are in front of the lectern and not behind them. A good graphic EQ unit or feedback eliminator will help you notch out the offending frequencys.

  \”I push the RECORD button and hope for the best\”
• 

  James Dow

  March 6, 2019 at 2:23 pm

  I’m very careful on the speaker placement, so I’m pretty confident its not that. I have a Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro, but I’m not sure how good that model is. Any thoughts on that?
  In regards to the gain setting, could you be a little more specific? I push the level as much as I can, without getting into clipping.

  Thanks,
  JPD

  JPD
• 

  Ty Ford

  March 7, 2019 at 3:25 am

  Hello James and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

  Eric has given you very sound (pun intended) advice. As you may know, feedback happens when sound coming out of the PA makes its way back into the microphones.

  Fewer speakers and/or fewer mics are the answer. You say “mics.” How many mics are you using at one time?
  Are you wrapping anything around the back-side ports of the mics? Closing the back ports instantly makes a directional mic into an omni and increases the possibility of feedback.

  Perhaps you could show us an overhead view of the mics and speakers.

  Regards,

  Ty Ford
  Cow Audio Forum Leader

  Want better production audio?: Ty Ford\’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
  Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford\’s Blog
• 

  Richard Crowley

  March 22, 2019 at 12:43 pm

  If you are operating in an acoustically-unfriendly space like a gym then you are starting out at a disadvantage with a difficult situation.

  And if your presenters won’t stand stock-still directly in front of the microphone, then you have the same problem that most of us have. Modern speakers often move around and there is really nothing we can do about it.

  You need to get better “signal-to-noise” (SNR) from the microphone. If you are getting too much ambient (amplified) signal back into the microphone, then you will have feedback problems. If this is the main speaker, I would be VERY insistent on putting a wireless mic on the presenter. Preferably a “headset” microphone. Or a clip-on lav mic which wold not be as good as a headset mic.

  Of course a wireless mic properly attached to the presenter wouldn’t be appropriate for brief speakers (like the person making announcements or introducing the main speaker). For that, you need a mic on the podium. But for the main presenter, clearly that isn’t working for you. If the speaker moves around there is no amount of money you can spend on a microphone that will fix that problem. You are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Been there, done that, have the T-shirt.

  ———————————————————————————
  Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

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