Problems with floor mics

[Kevin Cole]

I am currently working on my high schools spring production Radium Girls and having a lot of sound issues.

This is a fairly large show (about 26 cast members) and putting a wireless mic on everyone is simply not in the budget. We have tried to get the actors to project but these highschool actors simply cannot project and fill our 1240 seat auditorium. So we have turned to floor mics,

Unfortunately a large part of the play takes place on or near the apron witch happens to be directly under our speaker arrays. I have placed 3 floor mics on our apron in an attempt to capture the actors however as soon as I turn the mic up I. Order to hear the actors I get feed back. I am currently completely lost and have absolutely no idea what to do. Any help is appreciated!

 

[DaveySimps]

Welcome Kevin! When you have a chance, stop by the New Member Board and introduce yourself to everyone.

What you are expirencing is common. Do a search for floor mics and area micing, and you will see a few tips and tricks to try. I will not repeat too many of them since it has been talked about to death.

Ultimately, it sounds like you have a proximity issue of the floor mics to speakers. You admittedly have issues with actors projecting, and cannot afford the wireless systems, so you are in a bit of a tough spot. Since this is such a large issue and the production is not until the spring, is there any way to restage blocking so that you can increase the distance of the mics to the speakers? Or, a less than ideal option, could you adjust the speaker arrays to accomplish the same thing? If they are line arrays, could you just go with out the bottom box, and substitute front fills to make up the coverage area since patrons in this section are closer to the actors (and, hence, should be able to hear them better)?

~Dave

 

[RickR]

I've wrestled with exactly this issue in a local school. The apron is fairly deep and so it intrudes on where the designer probably never dreamed there would be microphones.

The least expensive fix was a 32 band graphic equalizer after the main mix to kill the feedback frequencies. A true feedback eliminator is more effective but much more expensive. We already had an old 12 frequency one but it wasn't enough. Newer digital ones involve some detailed setup. Either way you get more end volume before feedback. Relocating the speakers is major task but is likely to give better end result.

The best solution came up when the district decided to rebuild the school. Not always practical

 

[Focus]

You would probably be better to run you floor mic to a group, than insert a 31-band on that group so you are not chopping up the entire mix.

 

[themuzicman]

The least expensive fix was a 32 band graphic equalizer after the main mix to kill the feedback frequencies. A true feedback eliminator is more effective but much more expensive. We already had an old 12 frequency one but it wasn't enough. Newer digital ones involve some detailed setup. Either way you get more end volume before feedback. Relocating the speakers is major task but is likely to give better end result.

A "feedback eliminator" is a fancy word for an auto-equalizer, sometimes with compression, and can do more harm than good in many scenarios, often chopping up the frequency response of your system to the point of unintelligibility. A parametric equalizer with adjustable frequency and q paired with a good ear is just as good a tool and should get the job done without the need for expensive gear.

---
Kevin Cole: You can trace the root of your problem back to the choice of gear -- foot mics are great if you want to pick up just that, the actors feet. You'll hear walking and floor noises so you raise the gain to get vocals and soon enough you have feedback. Shotguns on the floor pointed up are a much better solution, as are hanging microphones in a grid. Either way, get an EQ on there, a 31-band will do nice, but I find a good 3 band parametric with adjustable frequency and q along with a HPF will more often than not get the job done if you know how to use it.

 

[DrPinto]

So we have turned to floor mics,

What kind of floor mics are you trying to use?

 

[Kevin Cole]

Thanks for the help everyone! I have been working with crown PCC-160s, I have used the 31-band EQ we have on our ls9 console and eliminated most of the issues. It isn't perfect but it's better than before and it will work for our show in a couple of days!

 

[Footer]

Also, using a PEQ instead of a graphic to kill feedback prone frequencies is usually a better solution. Most digital consoles have 6 band EQ's on all mixes or subgroups that you can then route to your mains. Odds are if you chop up more then about 6 bands on a graphic EQ your not going to have much left.

 

[Focus]

PEQ is certainly better sounding and more flexible than GEQ, however GEQ is probably more common to find available for a simple, cheap solution. Even if it means running FOH mono in order to use the other side of the EQ for a mic group. If there is money to spend, then certainly a PEQ would be better. I was just assuming that budget is an issue here, even picking up a used GEQ at the local music store can be very affordable and at least get a little more gain out of those mics.

However, Now that we know they have an LS9, The problems can be mitigated in the console.(but it will still only sound slightly better than a Bag Of.............M7)

 

[brubart]

I am currently working on my high schools spring production Radium Girls and having a lot of sound issues.

This is a fairly large show (about 26 cast members) and putting a wireless mic on everyone is simply not in the budget. We have tried to get the actors to project but these highschool actors simply cannot project and fill our 1240 seat auditorium. So we have turned to floor mics,

Unfortunately a large part of the play takes place on or near the apron witch happens to be directly under our speaker arrays. I have placed 3 floor mics on our apron in an attempt to capture the actors however as soon as I turn the mic up I. Order to hear the actors I get feed back. I am currently completely lost and have absolutely no idea what to do. Any help is appreciated!

Here is an article on preventing feedback with floor mics or hanging mics: http://www.bartlettaudio.com/pages/preventing-feedback-with-floor-mics