Mic feedback

I too wouldn't expect feedback to just come out like that out of the blue unless there was a seriously messed up PA system.
That sounds like what happened when a tech last year couldn't get any volume out of the choir mics, and just kept upping the volume with no result. Then flipped on the phantom power without turning it all down!

Was that a certain person we both know who has now left the school?
 
Normally I hate the feedback suppressors. I feel that they cut too much of the original signal and that any sound engineer worth half their weight in salt should be able to attack feedback with proper mic/speaker/monitor placement and the knowledge of how to properly use an eq. After working sound for a high school production with 30 lavs (and only 3 had countryman headsets), I have found that these are a nice safety net, especially with inexperienced actors and a house PA system that was not installed to minimize the possibility of feedback occurring.

The dbx unit is very nice, and cuts the frequencies in very small increments (1/80th of an octive). I ran the unit as a back up and it caught 2 feedback loops in the 12 night run of the show. There was a split second "woooop" but the filter caught it and it was gone. I believe that I was the only person that noticed it.

The customer was VERY happy, as they have had such problems with feedback and low volume problems that they were expecting another problem filled performance. The director said that they had even forgotten at several points that the actors had mic's on, which has never happened before because they were so worried about feedback.
 

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