Microphone Feedback Help

[DazzyD]

I don't get this business about mics at all.

You provide karaoke. The main business of karaoke is to get people singing. To get people singing using a microphone. Now if the mic is crap quality and you can't hear the singer or it is feeding back, what is the point?

Shure PG48s or 58s are less than £50.

I'm sure I paid £29 for my PG48s. Must have been in a sale as they're £39 now:

http://www.images2.co.uk/cgi-bin/PG4..._ST708035.html

I'd still recommend them for karaoke as well as PA mics.

That's why you have a Senny or SM58 under the table.

I do have several SM58s and two of these:

http://www.decks.co.uk/products/sennheiser/e825s

but my favourite, which only the most reliable singers get to use, is one of these:

http://www.swlighting.co.uk/products...s-122/2242.htm

(actually, you can see it better here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CLEARANCE-ITEM...QQcmdZViewItem

I'd rather lose my right arm than lose this. It's the best UHF radio mic I've ever come across (well, under £500 anyway!). It gets used for karaoke, quizzes, speeches, PA work and DJing so I guess it's a good all-rounder. Battery life is good too and I never get any feedback unless I walk right in front of the speaker (which I did once and my ears took about a week to return to normal - won't do that again!).

I said to a singer last saturday, please be careful with my mics and what did she do?

Yup you guessed it! dropped it. My shure sm58 and it survived. Built like brick whatsits!

Plus the fact I have a clause in my contract that states: you break it, you pay for it! Haven't put that to the test yet, and don't want to.

The good thing about the SM58s is if they do get dropped there's a good chance only the round grille will get hurt. Replacement grilles cost less than a tenner:

http://www.images2.co.uk/cgi-bin/RK1..._ST708454.html

so they won't break the bank and you don't have to replace the whole mic when it starts to look worn.

[Excalibur]

I can feel a thread coming on about mic preference.

The SM58 corded is one of the most robust mics available. Sadly the radio version isn't quite as bombproof.

[pineapple]

Thanks for the help guys and just buyed a 2 mic pa mixer and will test it out but also seen you can buy a feedback distoryer on ebay but just how it gos now

[DazzyD]

I can feel a thread coming on about mic preference.

What? Another one???

The SM58 corded is one of the most robust mics available. Sadly the radio version isn't quite as bombproof.

Totally agree. The radio one is awful lot more expensive, though.

[Excalibur]

What? Another one??? .

Hey! Where does it say there's a quota?

Totally agree. The radio one is awful lot more expensive, though.

Yeah, and I've now got one of each, thanks to folk on here. I love my cordless one.

[Ajaysdisco]

but also seen you can buy a feedback distoryer on ebay but just how it gos now

One word of warning about feedback destroyers
They work by cutting certain frequencies so the can make the person sound worse.

But on a plus point they can help when all else fails.

I don’t know what it about people, despite you politely asking them to stay away from the speakers, they always want to stand directly in front of them!

[Excalibur]

I don’t know what it about people, despite you politely asking them to stay away from the speakers, they always want to stand directly in front of them!

They're like homing beacons to them!

[DJ Jules]

I don’t know what it about people, despite you politely asking them to stay away from the speakers, they always want to stand directly in front of them!

I appreciate a lot of these points have already been made, but copied/pasted from an email I sent to someone else asking the same question a while ago...

If you want to reduce feedback:

1. Get good (ok, not £90 a pop, but at least £20) microphones, you'll always have to turn up the gain un-necessarily on bad ones as the mic wanders away from the singers mouth which will always lead to feedback.

2. Get a reasonable quality mixer, or at least ensure that the mixer in your Karaoke box is up to the job. This'll allow you to adjust the gain on each mic carefully and if you get one with some effects (reverb/echo) will allow you to make the bad singers at sound a little better.

3. Consider the position of your kit carefully. Ideally put the speakers forward in front of where people will be singing, if you can't do this, position them as far away from the singers as possible and angle them slightly away from them. Bear in mind that as you reduce the chances of feedback, you're also reducing how much the singers will be able to hear their own voices so you'll inevitably get to the point where you'll need monitors (and everyone who starts to sing will tap the Mic and ask "is this on?")

4. Good feedback destroyers work by using Digital Signal Processing to analyse the sound going into the mic and filtering out sounds which have already been heard by the mic once (reducing slight echos and eliminating feedback). Good boxes do this really well without affecting the output, bad ones strip whole frequencies out in the process which can lead to some really weird things happening. Another approach which can work is to put a time delay into the line to the speakers which will reduce ear piercing feedback to an annoying echo - it's better to just get rid of feedback though as you will really need to have monitors, otherwise your singers will start getting really confused....

5. Here's the really simple one - always give your singers a quick tour on how to hold the mic (close to their mouths), and another tip I've seen work is to get hazard tape from a builders merchants and tape a rectangle (or a couple of lines) on the floor and tell them to stay inside the lines - at least it then gives them some kind of visual guide (well, as much as singers are "visual" after 10pints on a Friday night). Experience in where to set up the kit in any given venue (screens for lyrics, speakers, decks, etc) can also be key in working out where to put things to gently constrain your customers (e.g if you put your kit in the right places then to some extent you can fence in the customers and stop them from wandering off).

Julian

[Excalibur]

5. Here's the really simple one - always give your singers a quick tour on how to hold the mic (close to their mouths), and another tip I've seen work is to get hazard tape from a builders merchants and tape a rectangle (or a couple of lines) on the floor and tell them to stay inside the lines - at least it then gives them some kind of visual guide (well, as much as singers are "visual" after 10pints on a Friday night). Experience in where to set up the kit in any given venue (screens for lyrics, speakers, decks, etc) can also be key in working out where to put things to gently constrain your customers (e.g if you put your kit in the right places then to some extent you can fence in the customers and stop them from wandering off).
Julian

For some of the ones I've seen you'd need Razor Wire and a Cattle Prod.

[DJ Jules]

For some of the ones I've seen you'd need Razor Wire and a Cattle Prod.

That can be arranged...

Did I mention the backup plan? Wrap the hazard tape around the punter and hold the Mic in front of them - then if they want to be heard they HAVE to go where you're leading them

Julian