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Feedback on Sennheisser cordless mic
Hey, we just got a new mic for lead vocals: Sennheisser ew165G2. It is supposed to be good for minimizing feedback - it is also supposed to be really sensitive (the reviews said "I don't have to eat the mic for it to pick me up" and stuff like that).
So ... here's the problem in a nutshell: small stage, big microphone ... big feedback!
We immediately adjusted the sensitivity on the microphone. That helped a bit, but our sound guy had to max the volume as a result. We also adjusted gain and compression as much as possible and turned the acoustic amp off to the side.
I'm not sure if we are getting the feedback from the amps (which are within 5 feet of mic) or from the monitor/main placement. Our monitors are 5 feet off to either side - our mains are suspended from the ceiling only about 5-8 feet in front of the monitors.
Our platform is less than 10 feet deep (but 20+ feet wide) - there is no "back stage" or doors off to the side where we can place the amps. This puts all our musicians in a row. Left to right, it's drums (no mics/no shield), bass guitar & amp, acoustic guitar & amp, electric guitar & amp, and keys. Due to the projector screen placement, etc, keys and drums must stay where they are.
Am wondering if you all have any ideas on how to make this mic work at our church?? Would it help to do a direct box on the acoustic guitar (we used to do that). I don't have a pod or anything for the electric guitar, so that amp has to stay.
thanks!
So ... here's the problem in a nutshell: small stage, big microphone ... big feedback!
We immediately adjusted the sensitivity on the microphone. That helped a bit, but our sound guy had to max the volume as a result. We also adjusted gain and compression as much as possible and turned the acoustic amp off to the side.
I'm not sure if we are getting the feedback from the amps (which are within 5 feet of mic) or from the monitor/main placement. Our monitors are 5 feet off to either side - our mains are suspended from the ceiling only about 5-8 feet in front of the monitors.
Our platform is less than 10 feet deep (but 20+ feet wide) - there is no "back stage" or doors off to the side where we can place the amps. This puts all our musicians in a row. Left to right, it's drums (no mics/no shield), bass guitar & amp, acoustic guitar & amp, electric guitar & amp, and keys. Due to the projector screen placement, etc, keys and drums must stay where they are.
Am wondering if you all have any ideas on how to make this mic work at our church?? Would it help to do a direct box on the acoustic guitar (we used to do that). I don't have a pod or anything for the electric guitar, so that amp has to stay.
thanks!
Tags: Sennheisser, cordless, feedback, mic, microphone, small platform
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tricia on -
You know what ... I have used the term feedback loosely. We are not getting the screeching high pitched feedback that comes when you point your mic to the monitor.
It is more a low bass tone/drone. It can get very loud though, loud enough to hurt your ears ... I guess I call it feedback because it is the mic's reaction to something. But that might not be the best word for it!
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Permalink Reply by Bill Lunsford on -
Hey Tricia! You are right. It's still feedback but as you say not what we were thinking about. Al is right about this one. That kind of "noise" is generally caused by over-compression. I would suggest by-passing or turning of the compressor/limiter and see if that does not relieve the problem. If it does, you will need to readjust the compressor/limiter to the new mic, much like the ringing out process. Start at 0/minimum and work your way up to what you like. What kind of compressor/limiter are you using?
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Permalink Reply by Al Hilgendorf on -
It might help to understand exactly what feedback is. Feedback is a "loop" of sound. The sound enters the mic, comes out of a speaker and is picked up by the mic again. If this "loop" continues it becomes feedback. Of course the most prominent frequencies will show up first. These frequencies can be amplified by your room, especially the lower ones, which will be picked up by your mic again. The good news is that lower frequency feedback can be controlled easily in a vocal mic by using an eq to roll off the low frequencies. You may even be able to use the low eq knob on the mixing board to tame this.
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Permalink Reply by Tricia on
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Just wanted to follow up ... the mic was doing much better this Sunday after some more adjustments.
thanks everyone for the tips - they came in very handy!!
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Permalink Reply by Mike Wilson on -
Try putting a -6db freq of 3.5 and see if that don't help
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Permalink Reply by Kasper Veenvliet on -
A Wireless mic receivers delivers a line level signal.
Does the channel on the mixer have any line-padding button?
When pressed, it gives you better trimming options.
Is the feedback really one frequency/ tone? Maybe this new mic is more wide-range sensitive and picks up more frequencies? In that case your tech should be able to turn back a little of that frequency with a parametric eq on that channel.
Hope this helps.
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Permalink Reply by Stevo on -
We have several of those and they do fine until someone drops their hand and waves it in front of the monitor.
Can you not turn on components one at a time to isolate the feedback source? You may have more than one feedback loop. But its all about "gain before feedback". That means that you get your source as loud as possible as close to the mic.
As for mains, I'm not crazy about those in the first place. Usually they're omnidirectional and not even remotely useful for what you're doing. What are you using them for? Ours are never used unless it's a choir situation with nothing else.
Can you post more pictures of your stage setup?
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Permalink Reply by Tricia on
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Just to give an update ... the mic has not been feeding back much lately. But this is due to less overall stage volume, thus the mic doesn't need to be turned up so high. Our electric guitarist has been on sabbatical (of sorts) and he was the largest source of volume up there. We did have a fill-in electric guitar on two occasions - a professional. The first time he didn't use distortion and was turned down very low; the second time, we had distortion on some songs and he turned up higher, but it was still no comparison to the usual stage volume when we have all five instruments.
I don't think we have an inline padding button (not that I've seen, it's a simple board).
The mains are used for the speakers for the main congregation and, yes, they are omnidirectional. Because our space is L-shaped (wider at the back of the congregation), we have added two fill speakers in the back too.
**I think we've got the feedback issue relatively under control now. I'll check back if we have more problems when we reintroduce the electric guitar.
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