www.sounddesignlive.com: There is nothing worse than spending an entire event struggling with feedback demons. You may have been taught to fight feedback with a graphic EQ, but there is a better way. Actually, that’s not true: there are six better ways. Use my guide to controlling feedback onstage and mix in fear no more.
3 comments:
I love when previous classes I’ve taken can help me better understand and write about these blog articles. In production audio we talked a lot about feedback and what it is and how to troubleshoot it and how to prevent it. I also experienced feedback during the run of Cabaret, last semester. I clearly remember having the opportunity to explain to both A2’s on Cabaret what feedback is, and how they can help our mixer whenever he asked them to take a look at x, y, or z. That was one of the most fun experiences because I was able to see a real life application of something we were experiencing in class. This article is definitely right about a couple things, there is nothing worse than struggling with feedback during and event, performance, or just a gathering. This article provides some really simple, yet effective ways you can prevent feedback.
This article takes an interesting approach to answer a question by having a conceptual twist - getting rid of feedback without graphic equalizers. Now, I’m not qualified enough to know how much I should trust the author of this article with this claim but it is an interesting one that is worth noting. I love the format of this article. It is great to read about a concept and then be provided lots of examples. The method number zero was a great way to start the article and a great reminder about how to deal with any problem-solving issues. I think that several of the problems that are faced in the School of Drama production process could be fixed by looking at how the thing is done in the first place. Not making the assumption that the thing was perfect in the first place is a great way to get rid of silly errors. I don’t know if I agree with the author’s last strategy, which seems to lump all audience members together and just be rash.
Microphone feedback is certainly the bane of so many audio engineers when working on a musical or other theatrical productions.-I appreciate how this article steers away from the details of how to properly EQ a system since often that simply isn't enough. The philosophical approach Nathan uses here is important not only to control the sound to eliminate feedback, but also on how you can best work with the performers to avoid the problem before anything gets powered on. I remember working a concert this summer as the lighting tech and the audio engineer was struggling with a saxophone player wandering all over the stage during the concert, causing lots of feedback issues. This was, of course, due to a lack of communication with the performer, and the discussion of how that would affect monitor levels should have been addressed early on. As the article points out, "Explain your limitations to the production team and discuss ways to best accommodate the actors". As TDs, we often have the unfortunate responsibility of saying "That's not physically possible that specific way, but we can work around it if you do x", and I think the same right applies here with microphone feedback.
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