Getting feedback? Try stepping back!

This piece is about an observation that I have had with many performers as of late, specifically singers that play guitar. Some people just don't know how to properly position themselves in front of a wedge monitor to optimize how they are hearing its output. I suppose that not everyone considers the mechanics of the speaker and what is typically ideal for positioning of the floor monitors. For some it just takes some road experience.

First let's think about what you want to hear the most. If you are a vocalist you will want to hear your own voice primarily and you will be looking for it to be fairly clear and clean and loud enough to cut through loud amps etc. Until you are able to hear it that way you are likely going to ask the monitor guy to turn it up. Next thing you know you are getting blasts of feedback? What is the sound guy doing? He's just giving you what you are asking for but it's still not right, right?

Here' a simple idea you can try. Back up! Yes, your body, the mic and stand should move back about a foot at first and hear the difference that makes. Too often I see people burying the base of the mic stand under the bottom of the wedge, this brings the capsule of the microphone in line with the top edge of the monitor wedge and then they ask for more and more monitors till they get their head cut off by sharp short burst of high end feedback.

Next problem is when you are moving around with your instrument that close to the monitor, the high end is hitting your instrument and deflecting directly into your microphone's capsule and bypassing the mics natural rejection ports. This is what produces the loud, high squeals.

So what does backing up do? For one it puts you in a better placing for the horn to reach your ears. Each horn (the speaker that delivers high mids-high frequencies) has a dispersion ratio which might have a ratio of 90 degrees by 30 degrees. So if you are a tall person standing within that ratio, there is a possibility that all of the high end is going to your belly, being absorbed by your body and not even getting to your ears, hence the feeling that there is not enough clarity/volume.

I have experimented with this the past few sound gigs I have done. When I know I am already feeding a lot of monitor signal to a performer who keeps asking for more, I go have a look at their position relative to the horn's dispersion and then ask them to try backing up, or I simply pull the monitor back. More often than not, this not only does the trick, but they ask me to lower the monitor volume. The other bonus is that the feedback stops happening pretty much entirely.

When you move back, you put your ears and the microphone directly into the path of the high end dispersal and then the microphone can do it's job properly of rejecting the feedback frequencies. This way, your ears get the clarity a singer needs to perfect intonation and enunciation, improving the performance greatly.

By having an understanding of how the speakers work, how the microphones work and how they reject feedback naturally, you can get a better sense of how you can affect what you hear on stage and not always rely on the sound guy to "fix it" for you. Take responsibility for how you perform with all of the gear involved in your performance and you will find your shows go more easily every time.

So the next time you get a blast of feedback and want to scowl at the sound guy... just back off! ;-)

Sound Advice – AMP IT UP!!

This first edition of Sound Advice from LeGiff will focus on my number one pet peeve of many musicians but most notably of keyboardists, which is showing up at a venue without proper amplification/personal monitoring for their show.

Electric guitarists and bassists would never dream of showing up to a gig without an amplifier and why should they? It is often essential to their tone which can sometimes be the whole identity of the band, based on the specific amps and tones they choose. There are pre-amps and drive channels and various pedals for them to hook in to the signal chain that makes up the rest of their sound.

So why is it that keyboardists will come to the gig and say “I can just go directly into the PA”? Every other non-amplified instrument with the exception of acoustic guitarists or horn players needs an amp so why not keyboards? There are a few reasoning points that they will use:

• They don’t need a pre-amp to build their tones as they are mostly electronic generated sounds.
• They don’t use outboard eq as it’s often built into today’s synths/electric pianos
• They don’t (though some occasionally will) use foot pedals for delays or distortions or other effects as those options are often featured in the keys themselves.
• They do it in their practice space and it works just fine there.

As an audio engineer/musician that has worked and played in pretty near every type of venue, I know all too well that every house is different with a different PA system and monitor rig.

For example for the 3 or 4 years I worked at London’s “Embassy Hotel”, it was a punk club with a ramshackle kind of sound system and more often than not I could only offer one or two separate mixes of stage monitors. One band that showed up often was “Farewell to Freeway” with a sweet, talented girl on keys by the name of Michele.

Poor Michele often got stuck on that small stage at the very back between the bass amp and the drums. She didn’t have an amp and I had 2 monitor mixes to offer over maybe 3 wedges. Without an amp she was relying on me to feed the monitors with keys. Herein is where the problem lies.

With 3 vocalists upfront and a keyboardist stuck behind a wall of noise, Michele was constantly demanding more monitor for her keys and the vocalists were constantly complaining about not hearing themselves. The vocalists were getting frustrated and so was Michele so what did I do? I turned her down and when she asked for more I ignored her. What choice did I have?

Michele came up to me later and asked me why I didn’t give her more monitors and I politely explained that the monitors weren’t capable of covering the vocalists and the keys when all 3 boxes were up front and she was at the back. I explained that in nearly any rock or punk venue you should expect them to be used solely for vocal monitors.

Realistically, if you are not a top touring act that can demand via “riders” that the club have separate monitor mixes for each band member; you should expect to have an amp for your non-amplified, non-acoustic instrument. This will allow for your own monitoring so that you can hear your instrument above the din of the guitars drums and bass etc. and also contribute to the stage sound so that all others can hear you. I told her bluntly but with a smile and a wink, “Don’t come back to this venue without an amp”.

The next time she was there, she had forgotten to bring an amp. So I told her that I had seen another band there for the night that had brought one specifically for keyboard and set her on the task to find out who and if they’d let her borrow it. She did and she tried the amp and later admitted to being far more comfortable with an amp of her own and sure enough never again showed up at the venue without one.

Now I did mention that horns and acoustic guitars didn’t always need amps but then again have you ever seen a horn player ask for more monitor? More often than not they ask for the mics to be low in the house since horns are so loud. Acoustic guitars have their own pre-amps most often or require a microphone and since in a rock setting they are largely used as a rhythm/backing type instrument, you will never have to feed too much into the monitors thereby not crowding out the vocalists.

Keyboards on the other hand make no noise whatsoever until you plug them in. You cannot mic most keys (Pianos excepted but who brings a heavy, unwieldy piano to a rock gig?) and while some have built in speakers, they are rarely sufficient to be heard over a full band with drums.

That being said there have been drummers who bring electronic drum kits with no amplification and the same thing happens when there aren’t many monitor mixes to be had. I have told them the same thing, if you expect to be heard and to hear yourself then be pro-active about it and either ensure the venue can accommodate you or bring your own amp!

Some suggestions for what to use:

• Some of the best success I have had with keyboardists is when they bring the Yorkville KW series (50 watt or 100 watt models) wedge style amp. It allows for multi channels so that you can mix all of your keys into one amplifier and have a line out that can go straight to the FOH snake. My good friend Scotty “Doc” Parker of Staylefish/Two Crown King uses one and loves it. He never has an issue when he has it with him and says his performing life was changed when he started using it.

• Any kind of amp will do. Bass amps work better than some guitar amps but Scotty has a small practice amp (Hannah Montana model!) that does him fine for rehearsals and smaller venues. It doesn’t get the same low end response as a proper keyboard amp or bass amp but still helps him to hear himself. If at a decent venue he might also ask for a bit of keys in the wedges but not enough to crowd out the vocals.

• Roland has a great amp (PM-30) that has a stereo pair of adjustable speakers mounted to a sub. It has multi channels and is made for electronic drum kits though I’d bet it’d kill for a keyboard setup as well.

• Look around. Do what guitarists and bassists do and find your fit. Take your time and research what’s available in your price range. Nobody said being a musician was going to be cheap so if you are on a budget, plan both of your keyboard and amp purchases accordingly. You may have to give up on fancy features on one for better functionality on the other. Regardless, there are many options out there to fit your budget and performance needs.

• Taking your own DI boxes can also be a great help but again if you are at a decent venue, they won’t always be necessary. There are many such items that can be bought for a reasonable price and the benefits down the road of having your own gear that works really well will be invaluable to your advancement as a musician and a band member as well as to the band as a whole.

My main point is that unless you are sure that the venue will have separate monitoring to accommodate your personal needs, (i.e. – your very own mix over one or two wedges) then go prepared, otherwise you are simply being a burden on both the venue and your band and likely won’t be satisfied with the performance. In the best interest of the band and the overall show;

AMP IT UP!