Re: Mics for stage
 

Yeah, when I first hooked up the Bartlett, I "pointed" it longitudinally at the actor's space. Then I looked at the arrow on the mic's bottom...

Regarding the direction of the feedback, the speakers were on the left and right sides and were pushed reasonably forward of the mic. (I'll push them even further forward with longer extension cords in hand.) But I found that I didn't hear much from them while standing on the stage. The venue is so live that you hear the room, not the speakers. The experience is not one of hearing yourself from the speakers. The experience is hearing the tones in the room that were excited by your voice from the speakers. Without a PA, the experience is similar, though a bit quieter. (I can't sing, but I can make the room sing!)

Re: Mics for stage
 

Jon, thanks for passing along the comments from Bruce Bartlett. I've never used a Bartlett mic, and I'm sure Mr. Bartlett knows what he's talking about so that should be useful information.

I can't quite visualize the file folder gag, but it sounds interesting. You said "in front of the mic" but do you mean "on the live side" or perhaps "on the dead [audience] side"?

Be that as it may, I am curious about his comment that the filters in feedback suppressors are too wide. I checked the specs for a few Sabine units and they claim 1/10 octave wide. Traditionally, bandwidth is specified at the -3dB point, and that would make the Sabines a lot narrower than a conventional 1/3-octave graphic. As I say, I'm not disagreeing ... just curious.

Re: Mics for stage
 

I suspect it's when they are trying to recognise ringing. This is not an individual tone but a cluster of individual notes spanning a quite wide range. My old symmetrix had variable width filters that closed u in width as the attenuation increased. I don't think the more modern units have this mode any longer. I mention feedback killers to a visiting engineer and he said they are as much use as a plastic hammer!

Re: Mics for stage
 

I found the reference on Page 312 here under "Baffles Improve PCC Rear Rejection":
http://www.crownaudio.com/media/pdf/mics/memo22yr.pdf

(Lots of interesting reading at that link!)

This shows the mic on the folder. in the email, Bruce noted that having the file folder placed under the mic slightly degrades the mic's frequency response, so it might be preferable to turn it around. The key is having the vertical part between the mic and audience and allowing it to move freely.

Re: Mics for stage
 

FWIW,
Bruce used to work for Crown.

Re: Mics for stage
 

A quick update:

I set up the system for use in the Drama Camp next week. That same evening, the art director was there with a small crew (her family) constructing and rigging scenery. With more junk on the stage and in the room, the feedback problem was significantly reduced. It's still far from great though...

I ended up placing the speakers very wide in order to accommodate the needs of the space. I tried them with and without the feedback killer and ended up turning the FK off. I found it better to ride the gain just before feedback without the suppression as the initial ringing frequencies are also audible signal.

I tried the paper folder trick that Bruce mentioned, but there was no noticeable improvement in gain before feedback. I think the folder is more about isolating the orchestra pit. We don't have a pit. (We do have a community orchestra though. I play violin with them. But we aren't performing for this show.)

Here's a funny thing. My wife was near one of the speakers and said, "hey, this one's making noise." Turns out the stage mic was open and it was picking up the sound of a paintbrush ten feet back on stage. Hey, it works!

After I got everything secured with gaffers tape and all of the labels and default settings marked on our tiny mixer, the director's 14-year old daughter was bored, tired, and getting cranky. I asked her if she wanted to learn how to mix, and she absolutely lit up. The director came over to listen and learn as I taught the daughter.

There are just eight knobs for her to handle: gain for the Master, Stage Mic, Announcer's mic, Electronic Piano, and Laptop. Also, high, mid, and low EQ for the stage mic. Everything else is marked for a default setting. She quickly picked it up, we did some tests and she was able to ride the gain and EQ of the stage mic very nicely. By the end, she was like, "this will be my job all week!" She was beaming. At one point, her dad turned down the master when there was some feedback, and she said, "no Dad, this is the stage mic gain." Then she started to tell him about EQ...

She's got it handled. :)