Jordan Wolf
Forum Replies Created
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You might want to look into the Nyquist Theorem a little. It’s a bit tough to grok, but it may reveal some things about the digital and analog domains that you hadn’t thought about.
Wolf
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I also understand where you are coming from. I was a broadcasting major in college and have done many shoots where you have to roll with the punches.
Until you get the feedback under control, don’t use a compressor on the reinforcement mix. When the unit ceases to clamp down on the material, the feedback will come back with a vengeance from the newly-added gain.
Also, another potential solution might be to use a microphone with a Figure-8 pattern. Since there are deep, consistent nulls on the sides of the microphone, and very little bleed from surrounding sound sources, I think it may be worth a try. Just make sure that the other side of the pattern isn’t catching reflections from the top of the lectern.
Wolf
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Every time you half the distance between the sound source and the microphone, you gain a free 6dB of SPL. It’s called the Inverse Square Law and it’s a wonderful thing. All that to say: keep your sources as close to the mics as possible and correct with EQ when necessary for proximity effect (the increase in low frequencies as you get closer to the microphone diaphragm).
I still highly recommend posting on PSW. Hope to see you there.
Wolf
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Alright Mark, I think that at this point, a dedicated sound reinforcement forum would be the best place to go.
Check out ProSoundWeb’s Sound Reinforcement forum, the “LAB Lounge“. You have to log in to post, but I guarantee (1) you will NEVER receive spam from them and (2) it is the best place on the Internet to talk sound reinforcement. MAKE SURE YOU USE YOUR REAL NAME!!!
You’ll get the answers you need to hear, though they may not be what you WANT to hear. Take it all in and think it over before responding.
Wolf
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Ah, I see. Well, a plug-in or program would work for you nicely. If you’re the experimental type who likes projects, you could wire up a midrange driver from a 3-way speaker and play the V/O through that, mic it, and see your results. I always enjoy finding out new ways to do things.
Oh, you could always try having the talent hold a paper cup next their mouth when doing the V/O. That’s one of the ways they did/do it on radio. 🙂
Wolf
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Why don’t you ask a local school or sports team if they have one you can borrow for a session or two?
Just make sure you have enough headroom and record away.
Wolf
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Feedback Fighters are not the cure-all to feedback that they are popularly marketed to be. Any good ones will have different types of filters that can be set to certain frequencies that always feedback versus filters that adapt to the frequencies that pop up in different venues, temperatures, etc.
First and foremost: we need more information. What are you doing with your system – talking head gigs, bands…??? Next, give us a list of the gear that you are using. Make sure you tell us the exact order in which everything is hooked up, too, so we can analyze any problems there, as well.
Next, you need to identify the actual problem. You see, feedback is not the problem – it is a symptom of a problem. Often times, feedback cannot be corrected by EQ because it is not an amplitude issue, it is a phase/time-domain issue. By properly orienting the main speakers and microphones to each other, in BOTH space and time, you can achieve better Gain-Before-Feedback.
Without knowing any more information than you have given us, my first recommendation is to check your speaker placement. You’ve tried mic placement, but have you tried moving the main speakers?
More to come…
Wolf
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You could also ask for Karl Winkler…he’s a great one, too.
Wolf
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Tom,
That seems like the correct way to me. Personally, I’d rather have Line Level all the time. You might know this already, but it’s best to add as much gain as possible/needed as early in the signal chain as you can. That gives you the best Signal-to-Noise Ratio.
You might want to check the user manual on a couple of things:
1. Whether the nominal output is actually Mic Level and is having gain applied to it by changing the setting the output to a higher level.
OR
2. Whether the nominal output is Line Level (+4dBu) and is attenuated when setting the output to a lower level.
It may be a combination of the two. Either way, there should be a specification where “unity gain” is at.
My thinking behind this is that you may be attenuating a Line Level signal and then adding gain again, which can lead to a higher noise floor along the signal chain.
Hope that gives you some food for thought. 🙂
Wolf
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If you’d do a little searching, I think you’d find this is a VERY common topic.
But…to indulge you…
The Schoeps CMIT 5U is the industry standard (if you can afford it). Basically, you want a microphone that has linear rejection of frequencies off-axis. Most shotgun mics reject high frequencies, but accept lower frequencies off-axis, often resulting in a muddy mix.
Wolf
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