Vocal mic feedback / practice space / annoying!!

[bryan_kilco]

It's not a huge deal by any means, just really annoying at band practice. We have our gear set up show-style, basically. but the PA speakers are on stands almost behind or flush with the line of gear, in each corner of the room. It may be the way we re-arranged the jam room.....but anyway, yeah - horrible feedback any time the vocalist isnt screaming and is just holding the mic.

How do you guys deal with this? I read about surgically EQing the freqs that may be causing the feedback on the graphic EQ, but I figured that'd cause the vocals to sound funny. I thought about using a noise gate as well, as that seems like it'd be the cleanest way.

this issue really isn't that big of a deal since it's only the practice space, but at the same time it annoys the living hell out of me!!

 

[dcb]

ive been through that too and the only way to sing properly is inears.

 

[~BURNY~]

Make sure the singer is not covering the back of the capsule with his hand(s).
Gate if possible.
Eq out the offending frequencies if possible.
Make sure the nul point of the mic is aimed at the speakers.
Make sure the gain staging is correct and doesn't generate distortion.
Filter out everything that is not vital in both the bottom and top end.

 

[arv_foh]

get a 31 band eq and pull out the offending frequencies.

 

[bryan_kilco]

get a 31 band eq and pull out the offending frequencies.

You know, I have one in my rack that I've been meaning to take out......I may just have to do this.

 

[Trevoire520]

Dont cup the mic
Face the mic away from the PA
31 band eq can help by cutting the offending frequencies

 

[Extreme Vocals]

Getting a lower gain mic with a tigher pattern will help allot if you aren't already using one. I can recommend the Audix OM7. Great for screamers, especially male tenors.

 

[Trevoire520]

Excuse my ignorance, but I've never understood why a lower gain mic will reduce feedback? After all you just end up having to add more gain at the mixer so it ends up at the same level anyway. So how is a low gain mic with high gain at the mixer any less likely to feedback than a high gain mic with low gain at the mixer?

 

[Extreme Vocals]

Excuse my ignorance, but I've never understood why a lower gain mic will reduce feedback? After all you just end up having to add more gain at the mixer so it ends up at the same level anyway. So how is a low gain mic with high gain at the mixer any less likely to feedback than a high gain mic with low gain at the mixer?

REALLY common misconception. I thought the same way for a long time. Here's the science- Think of a mic as a vacuum for audio. It sucks in sound indescriminately from all sources, not just what's closest to it.

A high gain mic pulls not just the voice, but guitars, drums, etc in as well. The more gain it has the more it will pull in from the entire room. Pump that through the monitors and it results in faster feedback.

A lower gain mic combined with a tight pattern will only be picking up what's closest to it and very little from the rest of the room. The mic should be boosted by the mixer. It's the one with the voulme knob after all! A cleaner signal will go to the monitors and result in much less feedback. Often the frequencies you are notching out aren't even coming from the singer. It's the bleed from cymbals and guitar high end. Eliminate that and you can have a much better result.

You'll also be able to send more signal to the monitors letting the vocalist hear better, and the band hear him as well.

Try it yourself. You'll hear the difference. Remember though, on a tight pattern mic, the vocalist has to be tight to the grill all the time. Making the switch to these mics saved me tons of grief on the road.

Hope that covers it for you.

 

[Wohma]

Audix OMs are great, can vouch for them too. OM-2 is good as well if you're on the budget.
I've found that the biggest differences (apart from the mic itself) are in the PA, room shape and treatment (it pays off to treat to room somehow, even improvisedly), arrangement of amps in the room and of course the overall volume

 

[Nimvi]

Cool post Extreme Vocals! Didn't know that

I guess that's also one of the reasons why a sm7 picks up almost nothing of the room?

 

[Extreme Vocals]

Cool post Extreme Vocals! Didn't know that

I guess that's also one of the reasons why a sm7 picks up almost nothing of the room?

Exactly Nimvi. Same reason why we don't use a condenser mic live.Being the singer has it's advantages. Always being the one with sound issues live and at practice are not one of them!

Just a thought that hit me as well that might help. If the monitors are on stands that are placed so that other instruments are in between the vocalist and them, it could be causing you to use way more volume then you need.

I changed my rehearsal setup and it worked out really well. I added floor wedge directly in front of myself just for me. I then brought the speakers on stands to about 2 feet in front of me and faced them towards the band. I could hear really well and so could the band. The only speaker facing me at all was the floor wedge so it really cut down on feedback potential when i moved around as well.