I recently had the same problem while playing live with my classic rock/soul band. I use a clip-on wireless microphone, wireless Shure in-ear monitors and the feedback went straight in to my ears, OUCH!

My bass player who is an electronic expert/freakazoid let me use his Behringer Shark DSP110, and I am now virtually feedback free.

B

 

... wireless Shure in-ear monitors and the feedback went straight in to my ears, OUCH!

If your in ear monitors were loud enough to cause feedback to your microphone, then they were probably loud enough to damage your hearing many times over without causing any feedback.

I'm not really sure how you managed to build a signal chain where your in-ears were able to produce feed back, but it must have been so extreme in some other part of the signal chain that it probably damaged some other pieces of gear along the way.

Feedback is controlled through gain, and equalization. Dynamics processing isn't really part of that equation and just using a compressor isn't going to help you reduce feed back. If anything, it will cause more feed back as the purpose and usage of a compressor is to keep the levels below a certain point. If you compress the signal, and then boost it up after compressing it, that's only going to cause more feed back since the entire signal (not just the transients which the compressor is working on) will now be louder.

If you want to reduce feedback, do it with a better microphone (super or hyper cardioid pick up pattern), a tighter monitor wedge, less gain, better EQ, or lower the ambient stage volume. Compression isn't the tool to accomplish what you are trying to do.

 

Thanks JC. I think my mic is OK (EV RE20) but the backline is usually very loud, so the monitors have to be cranked up. vicious circle!

should I leave the compressor in the studio or is there a place for it live at all?

 

should I leave the compressor in the studio or is there a place for it live at all?

There is certainly a place for compressors in a live situation. But I'm not sure that you understand the purpose or function of a compressor. Compressors are used in a studio for the same reasons that they are used live, to control the hard transients of the audio signal. This is called dynamics shaping. What you may be referring to in a studio situation is mastering compression, which is done after the mix is built and rendered to a two track final output. Mastering engineers will apply multi band compression and EQ and limiting to boost the overall final output of the music, thus making it louder on the CD. (Google "loudness wars").

See THIS POST ABOUT COMPRESSION to learn more about how dynamics processing and shaping works.

Generally, compressors are one of those things that the FOH engineer uses while he or she mixes the band. Players on stage don't normally use them, because they are on stage and can't hear what it sounds like in the house.

Please disregard anything that a guitar player is doing with his pedal board. They do a lot of things in a slightly different manner and for different reasons than what we are talking about here.

 

It think it might be useful if you use it correctly. Many horn players (and vocalists) "work" the microphone during a live performance. Backing away from the mic a bit when a loud passage is played and moving closer when a soft passage is played. In other words, in a live situation, the player is acting as their own "compressor". If you used a compressor live, you could get right up close to the mic all the time, even during loud passages and let the compressor do the work that you would normally do. This should allow you to turn the mic level down a bit (since you are close to it at all times), and perhaps reduce the probability of feedback. At least that's the theory. I am happy to be corrected on this though.

 

Or you could play with dynamics and keep the mic at a consistent distance.

 

The Behringer trick mentioned earlier is a winner - and some of the literature or the other gives it credit for some compresion function...works WELL...

 

Many horn players (and vocalists) "work" the microphone during a live performance. Backing away from the mic a bit when a loud passage is played and moving closer when a soft passage is played. In other words, in a live situation, the player is acting as their own "compressor"

I have not seen this excellent and most valuable suggestion in years!! "Working a mic". So important yet seldom done.

Thanks Woosax!

 

I'd say the first thing to do is to work the group dynamics...if it's so loud that you can't hear yourself, what is the audience thinking?

After you get that under control, then start thinking about shaping the sound with compression.