lavier mics

If you need a 30 band eq or a feedback exterminator a single mic, the speaker cluster has been improperly designed. In Broadway musicals 20 wireless mics are are the norm. They never need 20 - 30 band eqs to make it not feedback.

Tony

[kbob]

True-but individual channel multi band fully parametric eqs for each channel is generally beyond all but the largest houses of worship. On the other hand, a stereo 30 band eq can still be found relatively cheaply. Used in conjunction with a real time analyzer, it can make setup of clip-on and handheld mikes relatively simple. Even without an RTA, the thirty band eq is often easier and less expensive for the average house tech to set up and use.

Like any tool, though-use just enough and not too much. Since a lot of churches only have a single mid sweepable eq, or only a 3 band fixed eq for each channel, and 30 band eq's are still very common, I figured the instructions for both might be easiest. Especially if the elimination of the low frequency thump reveals another feedback frequency somewhere in the mid-range. With a 3 or 4 band eq with sweepable mids, you frequently run out of bands of adjustment with respect to wireless mics.

As for not having the speaker cluster adjusted correctly-you are right again. A lot of churches, mine included, don't have a cluster, but either free standing or ceiling mounted speaker enclosures. Ringing them out helps a lot-but the freedom of movement of wireless mics makes them a challenge unto themselves. It's not that we need five different bands of adjustment for each mic-rather, it lets us keep the parametric adjustments for tonal control, and use the 30 band for reltively precise feedback control.

I have read all of you all advice and am looking at the different choices and making some adjustments. Now my speaker set up is different from the norm. I have to house speakers set up left and right about five feet behind the pulpit sitting on top of two 18" subs. Have have to wedge montiors have front of stage for singer and pastor about middle. I am how using the wl 93 with feed back problems in a few places, but i still have a problem with spl (sound pressure level) i believe that is what you would call it. When my pastor says are gets loud I get like a distortion clip noise or something. the peak light on the receiver is not going off but the mike is putting out a noise like it can't handle him sometimes. I really don't know how to explain what i am hearing but i am hearing. Hopefully some one can identify and help me fix the problem
That's what we are here to do right.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! GOD BLESS YOU!!

[jklein]

Dsound,
If your Pastor is speaking with an omni in front of the main house speakers, that's likely a major factor. When we do dramas, they build temporary stages on the sides of the main stage that put the actors forward of and very close to the house speakers; feedback is a constant battle to the point that we have to tape the lapel mics to the actors' heads or cheeks to get enough gain before feedback. That's the first thing I'd look at fixing.

Second, the distortion likely could be from the body pack gain being set too high, which wouldn't show up as peaking on the receiver. A receiver usually only peaks if the receiver gain is set too high. Try dropping the gain of the battery pack down; if it's way up, try starting at halfway up (that's where I start). If it's still distortion, drop it down further, maybe have someone holding the bodypack while the Pastor (or similar voiced helper) is talking loudly and slowly bring up the bodypack gain. If you have a sensitive mic, don't be surprised if the bodypack needs to be turned down quite low.

Our headset mics that we bought (Countryman E6's) have 3 varieties: 0 dB, -10 dB (for theater work), and -20 dB (for loud singers and shouters). We have the -10 dB variety and they work fine for anyone that's used them so far, but I could see the 0 dB version being to sensitive for louder talkers.

Hope this helps some,
Merry Christmas,
Jeff K.

The WL 93 is a hotter mic and it is most likely distorting the preamp in the transmitter. As has been said you need to decrease the gain on the transmitter. What I usually do to prevent this is to shout into the mic while listening to the receiver on headphones and adjusting the gain so the mic doesn’t distort. It is better to do this while someone else is shouting into the mic. But you don’t always have another person around when you are doing this.

To the person comparing what is done on Broadway to what one has to do in a church. Keep in mind that on Broadway the system is specifically designed just for that show by some rather highly paid people. Most churches are lucky if they get even close to a decently installed system. I have said many times it is easier to do sound for a Broadway play then it is to do sound in a church. If anyone wants I can explain that statement.

I try to never put a lav back to the stage thru monitors but I have many times had the person wearing the lav in front of the speakers. The way I deal with this is to have the sound system optimized as best as it can be. I tune the system for linearity – what goes in is what comes out. I feed the subs so the vocal mics are not going thru them. I then insert the appropriate EQ into a subgroup of like mics. For example all lavs in 1 subgroup and all hand-held vocal mic in another. I then EQ those subgroups for best gain before feedback. I use SMAART (audio analysis software) and one trick I use (after tuning the system for linearity) is to make (in this example) the lav my measurement mic. I clip it to something on stage in the area it will be used and then I pump the reference signal (pink noise) thru the house speakers and I see where the lav is sensitive to the pink noise and I take down the problem frequencies. I used to do all of this with feedback and ringing it out by ear but since I started using SMAART (years ago) I find I can get a more accurate and consistent result much quicker and less annoying to anyone standing around. I of course then listen to the results to see if any more tweaking is necessary. I then save the channel EQ for tapering the input to the person’s voice.

Mic (lav) placement or selection. The Countryman E6 and B6 are great mics I just finished a Christmas musical where all but 1 of the wireless transmitters had the E6 and the other one had the B6. If you can get the mic on the person’s head then you don’t have to deal with the varying distance of the mouth to the mic when it is placed on the chest somewhere. If the person wears glasses and leaves them on I have had great results taping the mic to the side (earpieces) of the glasses. If the mic is really small the person (pastor) usually won’t mind. If you have to put the mic on their tie a trick someone told me a few years ago is to have the person look down at their chest and move the mic up the tie till they cant see it (the top of the mic) anymore, at this point move it back to where they could last see it. This is the placement that seems to be the best for a mic on a tie. Try it, it gives a much more consistent sound. I should mention that this is for men only; on a woman you can put the mic much higher without the problems that would be present on a man. On a woman I can clip an omni directional mic right at the neck and it will work fine.

If can clarify any of my statements please let me know.

[jklein]

Bill Johnson of Kenneth Copeland Ministries (head sound guy) has a good paper on EQ'ing a lav mic with an external EQ inserted in the channel (or subgroup). Having to separately EQ a lav mic isn't all that uncommon, give it a try as see how it works for you. (http://www.johnsonaudioworks.com/gro..._technique.htm).

Jeff K.