How To Eliminate Microphone Feedback | 5 Must-Know Tips 

It's so refreshing to have a question answered straight away without promos and call to action first. Gladly like and follow. Thank you 🙏🏾😁

I've been in the business of live sound for over 20 years and I approve of everything said and shown here!

With many years of audio reinforcement I glean the review of the basics. It's great to think in it's most fundamental cause. Sometimes it's hard in the middle of a feedback event. In ears save 95% of feedback occurrences. Loving in ears finally becoming common

This video has helped me a lot as a live sound engineer. Thanks a ton! NO MORE FEEDBACK!

My mentor used to tell us that microphone placement had 2 priorities: #1 is to point the rejection axis of the mic at what you don't want to pick up. #2 is to point the pickup axis of the mic at what you do want to pick up. If you follow those rules in order, you'll be off to a running start. Anyway fantastic video, thank you for going through some of those practical tips.

yeah, proper gain staging is super important at FOH but if you're handling both FOH and Monitors from the same desk, RTA YOUR MONITORS/SETS PRE DOORS AT CHECK! It only takes a few mins and if you know your freqs/zones, it's easy as pie. Have your techs/singer wave that mic aimed right down at em, especially if they like to get out front and into the first row of the crowd. Good content, keep it up!

Thank you for explaining so clearly.

Great video, great graphics and very well explained! Thanks for uploading!

You are a FANTASTIC teacher, I learned a lot from only about three videos. Can't wait for you to get the big audience you deserve!

Super helpful !! So helpful, in fact, I subscribed. THANK YOU.

Very Valuable Lesson ! Thank you !

Been running live sound for nearly 15 years now and learned something new. never thought to bring up my monitors before setting the preamp gain. I've always set that first according to the meter. Ill have to try out your method for ringing out monitors next weekend.

Your channel is a goldmine thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Thank you! Very informative video.

Great content. I've been following for a couple of weeks now and I must say your content really is help. My approach is usually first gain staging, all channels across the board. This helps when I have to run FoH, monitors and even running a 2.0 to my computer for multi tracking. Now that all systems have an adequate input signal, then ring out speakers. Each mix/auxiliary master channel to Unity, gradually bring the most common or spec resilient Microphone on stage. Then having a reasonable amount of Gate (the open and closing points set to sound as natural as possibly can) also helps cut every inactive signal at a given time. Oh and I use a QU32.

Fantastic video, very clear and to the point, thanks

Thank you sir for such a great guidance actually recently I got your video links from that day I am so much happy to watch and improve my system sounding thanks again

Thank you. I learnt two new techniques

The preamp gain control is there to send a healthy signal through the E Q,s FOH and monitors it is also possibly the only true gain control in the signal path the rest being attenuators

Wow! Das war sehr lehrreich! Vielen Dank!

Bro these videos are so informative it's unreal

Very useful! Thank you!

Nice lesson. I usually start by teaching the difference between "feedback" and Static or white noise. A common mistake is they describe the problem to me over the phone or via text. I can talk them through any issue unless they use the childhood mistake of identifying every sound as "feedback". This communication problem can fix any problem by properly identifying the problem.

There's lots of useful information here.

All good advice.

Hey Kyle, I really enjoy watching your RU-vid Channel for your great advice in learning audio properly. I’m working as an Audio Engineer on many Hotel Meetings & Corporate Events doing live sound in a different Ballroom every week. I’m considering purchasing a reference microphone and could really use your help in learning the proper process of using it. I couldn’t find any clear direction on RU-vid showing how to properly use this type of microphone… Any chance you could please put out a video showing us how to setup and properly use a reference type microphone??? We would all greatly appreciate it if you could. Many Thanks!

I have limiters in the monitor chain. For real problems, I drop the threshold of the limiter down very low, then raise the gain on the mic. When it feeds back, the limiter will catch it and it will feedback at a low, controlled volume. Now with relative immunity of the feedback running away and damaging your ears or speakers, you can play with the 1/3 octave to find the most sensitive bands, or if digital, see it on an rta. You can play with it, cupping it, or hold a guitar which also will affect the response. After you stabilize it, reduce the gain to normal, then raise the threshold of the limiter to where it just kisses the signal at the loudest points. A slight limit on your monitor helps everyone with audio fatigue, and helps to protect the system overall.

You are awesome man. RU-vid didn't recommended this video to me. U deserve more subscribers and blah blah blah.

I have a limiter in my monitor chain. For problem hard to find freq’s, I drop the threshold of the limiter as low as it will go. I then raise the gain of the mic till it starts to feed back. Because of the low threshold on the limiter, the limiter will only allow it to feedback at a very low volume, not allowing it to “run away”. At this point you have immunity, and can play with the 1/3 octave, pushing faders up to see which is the problem freq, or cup the mic causing to feedback, all at a low, controlled volume. Or, view the problem freq’s on an rta. Afterward, bring the mic back to a reasonable volume before raising the threshold back up. I eventually set the threshold to just kiss the louder stuff, helping the musicians from going through too much audio fatigue, and protecting you amps and speakers. Btw, I trim my mics cold so there’s much less chance of distorting the mic pre. Remember, a distorted signal can derate your speakers handling power by as much as 90%!

in a small basement room with ductwork and no treatments, its very hard to get mics loud enough without feedback. interesting video.🍻

Im ur new subscriber from the Philippines. All off the technicalities you mentioned are all true & correct! You must be an expert!

Kyle you are a good teacher!

Great video!!

big guy u are clear and really good

Thank you for this video. This is great. Several years ago I was going to buy a 500 watt speaker that went down to 32hz. I wanted to hear my recording on my keyboard and the speaker on pole would be next to me. The speaker manufacturer told me I could not do that, as my mic would be aimed at the speaker. He told me I could not do what I wanted to do without using ear buds. I bought it and have placed my mic right in front of speaker. No feedback ever. I contacted the manufacturer 2 years later, and he still insisted I could not do that. I said I have a powered Yamaha mixer and gave model#. He then said, "Oh that has feedback suppression. That is why you can do that. " The rule is always quoted, but if you do not give the exception with it, then you have given wrong information. Thank you for giving us good info.

Nice Video sir. n. IMP. Information Thanks sir.👍👍👍

Thanks for the video! I'd like to mention that gain is in everything throughout the signal path, not just the preamp gain control. I think the term could be more clear if called "maximum total amplification before feedback", meaning that it has to do with all the amplification stages the signal goes through. Electrical noise also has to do with system feedback, so it's always good to set the preamp with the proper gain for the instrument, and letting a bunch of unnecessary noise get through by using the output levels as input levels. I agree that preamp gain has to be set properly, but that means not that too much as well as not too little. It depends on the signal level coming from the instrument, not on feedback.

Thanks mate.

Exactly what i was looking answered all my question thank youbso much and im using the exact mic in ur explaintion😅

Thx a lot !!!! Very helpful

Valuable information.

I enjoyed this, thank you

Well information.

Thank you

You are the best. Appreciation from Pakistan!

Trying to discuss audio rationally these days is becoming as difficult as discussing politics. My advice for the new folks is to listen well. To your sound that is. If you have issues, give videos such as AU's a watch. If someone tells you 'This is the absolute and only way to approach this issue.' Just say thanks and look elsewhere. Spent 50 years in this business. From tube to solid state. From home made to $100,000 mixers. Helped engineer a gold record before leaving the studio for live and still love doing it. But I or no one is perfect. You never stop learning. If you think you know it all you'll be left behind. And in my travels I found that AU's videos are the most concise, no frills approach to achieving good sound. After all it's not just Kyle's educated opinion, he researches this stuff confiding in experts in their fields. My best advice is to always maintain a healthy positive attitude and you'll get through. Happy mixing.

Nice voice and explanation.

Good tips. I totally disagree with # 4 though. Set levels based so they don't clip THEN send to musicians.

I think preamp gain should be set based on what is required for a great basis for front of house mixing. Ideally you want to have all faders for FOH sound to be within -15 to +5 db area. (Exact markings depend on the mixer, some mixers mark this aforementioned 0db as -18db and then have 0 where you got horrible digital clipping, but should still portray the logarithmic scale on fader markings.) Higher gain than necessary results in lower fader position, where even a small movement of fader is a big change in sound level. And lower gain than necessary will cause you to run out of the fader travel without getting enough sound level. And on a multichannel pre-fader multimonitor setup you better not touch the gain after you have set it, no time to compensate everything down the line in a live setting. There is a simple trick to get the monitor levels to be at unity if you want to have that: turn down the monitor amp volume control, set the monitor sends, and then turn the monitor volume slowly back up where it is needed.

If you set the input gain low, you will end up with poor S/N on that channel. This is because all electronic circuits generate an electronic noise floor that is independent of signal strength. If you have a low signal at input, then the noise floor will be a higher percent of the signal level, when you amplify the signal late in the signal path to get to the VU you need, then the noise floor already contained with the signal is also amplified with it. Which is a bad thing. So the way to get a very clean signal, is to amplify the signal to unity (0VU) at the earliest possible point in the signal path. This is usually at the mixer input gain. Then any electronic noise added will be a small proportion of the signal. Now most decent size mixers will have groups. You will have several channels going to the 1 group and you want to avoid overloading the group input. So treat the faders as both mix controls and group input gain controls, so that you get the mix you want at unity gain. Next, your combing the groups into the mains, using the group faders to control the main mix and also the main input at unity gain. In the same way, have the amp input gain already setup to reach your target room SPL at unity gain from the mixer. Use the main fader to control the signal to the amplifier. This simplified description gives you unity signal through every path of your audio chain & that will give you the cleanest S/N performance achievable on whatever gear you have. Of course there is going to be some kind of EQ as well but there are many different ways that may be implemented, so I have ignored it for now, but hopefully you get the principle involved here and can apply it you whatever your setup is, including fold back systems. Some people like to use inline phantom powered mic preamps plugged directly into the base of low sensitivity dynamic mics for this exact reason. The following gives a rough guide where the mixing faders need to average around in order to achieve unity input gain to the next signal path stage. 2 ch @ -3-0 dB = 0 dB 3 ch @ -4.8 dB = 0 dB 4 ch @ -6.0 dB = 0 dB 5 ch @ -7.0 dB = 0 dB 6 ch @ -7.8 dB = 0 dB 7 ch @ -8.5 dB = 0 dB 8 ch @ -9.0 dB = 0 dB 9 ch @ -9.5 dB = 0 dB 10 ch @ -10 dB = 0 dB Probably just remembering the following will prove sufficient: 2 ch @ -3-0 dB = 0 dB 4 ch @ -6.0 dB = 0 dB 8 ch @ -9.0 dB = 0 dB

Keep posting, please.

Provided you are mixing FOH and Mons from the same console, I am not sure I agree with your definition of "Proper Gain Staging". I don't think that setting your gains with the main goal of maximizing aux send resolution is the best practice (when it comes to live sound anyway). Now, I'll admit you did mention that you do that when "mixing monitors", in which case, if you're only mixing monitors, that might actually be a good idea. Not having a go, I think your channel is really good. Just wondering what your thoughts are regarding what I said. Thanks for sharing knowledge!

Great work got some good tips Thanks

Thanks

I am from India. Learned a lot from your explanation. Very good ...

Hello and thank you for this information. I have subscribed to your channel. Do you have any advice regarding musical theater actors wearing face mics? And another question, the actors want to be able to hear themselves out of the stage monitors. Is putting vocals in stage monitors is a bad idea? Where’s the best place to put these monitors? THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE!

It might be fun to do a case study on the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound, and explain why the vocalists used 2 mikes. They explain this somewhat on the Grateful Dead movie.

GOOD TECHNICS

Mic gain must be set according to the input level meter - not to an aux pot position! Simply because that is the base for proper gain staging through the whole PA and monitor system. Especially in the analog domain.

I liked tip#3 because its very specific haha I usually just pulled all the frequencies on my geq by 6

LIKED & SUBSCRIBED 😆

Thankyou sharing how to hapen feedback from micraphone with speaker most of the time mixer gain control system and monitor distance including diraction and ilike your explanation keepit up

Amazingggg

thanks you so much for explain

Because I’m usually the only person in my studio, I just simply either turn right down or Off my monitors and use IEMs when singing into the Mic just to be safe. I’m currently using one of those Zoom H2n Recorders (just for its Microphone) and plug its Line-Out into an audio interface. I do plan on buying a regular Condenser Mic later on though because I’m really interested and want to try one out!

Awsmmmmmmm brother

Great stuff, but one thing that wasn’t mentioned in regards to feedback: venue size and construction Having mixed in many small, acoustically poor venues, the gain staging will usually have to be approached differently for each venue, as the process for the last venue won’t work due to excessive reflective signals off walls, girders, etc. Still great to know these basics though

The music/sound industry misuses the term "feedback." Feedback occurs any time that any portion of a system's output reaches its input. This happens very frequently and often with acceptable results. The sound we call "feedback" is more properly "oscillation due to feedback." Before the system begins to oscillate, however, feedback has other effects. The most common effect is a change in frequency response, AKA "tone" that results from constructive and destructive wave interference. The statement "The point at which the sound from the speaker becomes louder at the microphone than the sound from the vocalist, [oscillation due to] feedback will occur," is incorrect. Consider that oscillation due to feedback can occur regardless of whether a vocalist is even present. Oscillation due to feedback occurs when the in-phase loop gain at any frequency exceeds unity and the oscillation occurs at the frequency with the greatest loop gain. In addition to microphone selection and speaker placement, the architecture of the stage is a factor. Especially, small stages with close back walls can be problems because that wall bounces sound from the monitor speakers toward the microphones.

Hi Kyle, I watch all your videos and I'm very grateful for them. I'm self learning live sound reinforcement and studio recording as a hobby. Can you tell me more about your thoughts on setting the Aux to unity and then using the pre amp gain to get your level. You say that with the Aux at 0db and using the gain to regulate the level the musician needs, you can keep the gain low. This struck me as I thought gain should be set to 0db using PFL to ensure the optimal signal to noise ratio (SNR). Will your method of keeping input gain low result in a weaker signal and bring in ambient noise and then the high Aux level on the output side amplify the artist signal and the ambient noise also resulting in a degraded sound? If there is a reason what I'm saying doesn't apply or is wrong, I'm really interested to know why, as it means I am carrying around some misconceptions or living by hard rules that don't always apply. Thanks for all your videos and looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Damn l didn't know Brick from "The Middle" ran sound too!

Excellent video! Be careful with #4 - the resultant signal might be too weak for post production.

Great video in general, but i dont think tip 4 is right.. what you said i think is the oposite of proper gain staging.. cheers from paraguay

You know how you can establish a loopback track where you send your desktop sound into your DAW to record it? 1. How does that work compared to microphone-speaker feedback loop. 2. Also why do tutorials say to mute the loopback track you're recording? 3. And why does muting it not mute the audio recorded from your desktop sound ? Thank you!

Hi Kyle nice to meet you!

Nice info. 😊

Hi from Philippines 😁💖

I have a 2 channel power amp available to connect to an Allen/Heath PA28 mixer. The user manual talks about using FB1 for monitors, which I have configured the A-B outputs where 'A' is used for monitors via one amp channel and 'B' for Mains via the other amp channel. Is this the proper way to hook up the monitors or should I be using the Aux send? I have no individual control of instruments/vocals to specific monitors but I assume that's because I'm limited to just two power channels?

Hey man... thank you for this great video! One question. What would you recommend for a congregation type setting? In our Hall, we have like 15 ceiling mounted speakers. Most of the time, there's no issues, but for some members, when they comment, instant feedback. We have to lower the volume pretty much all the way down making it hard to even hear their comment. Something about their voice tone or frequency that causes feedback, I don't know. Most of the time, it happens with the soft-spoken members. Anyway, we're using a TOA 900 series amplifier for the volume control. We're using the Shure SM58 wireless mics with a Shure BLX4R receiver. What would you recommend we do to help avoid that feedback?

Great video, but a question I have is… What is the SPL of the stages you are doing monitors on? The stages I are for metal bands where it’s super loud. Will these techniques work for that?

I love your videos. Thank you for sharing. I have shure sm58 and sm86. Sm86 gave me a very bad feedback, where as sm58 have me minimum feedback when sing live. You have anything that you recommend when buying my replacement for shure sm86? Or just buying the same 58

굿!

How about the octave down feedback loop trick?

Are you suggesting attenuating the input gain of each channel on a main mixer according to the maximum monitoring levels on stage, or for the situation you have a separate mixer for monitoring? I get the idea, but to me this wouldn't make much sense on a main mixer in terms of gain staging. Maybe I misunderstood

do have can you do a video on signal to noise ratio

Any videos on using lavs? I usually have to use 4-6 wireless lavs for panel discussions and have a horrible time keeping them open (so I don’t need to ride the faders) and not getting feedback (all presenters are about 3’ apart from one another) In addition, what’s the best way to provide them a monitor? Thanks in advance.

Good day sir kindly I would you to help learn how to set sound from begining . I have no knowledge of sound system.

Question; I have a Karaoke bar and constantly deal with feedback issues. The room is mostly surrounded by glass, so sound is bouncing off the glass and into the mic. I am currently looking for the best method to eliminate this issue. What do you recommend between getting an EQ or one of those Feedback eliminator devices? Something that you set and forget, and dont need to constantly adjust frequencies. Thanks!

why don't you set the GAIN in PFL before everything on each instruments before to let out the signal to the monitor? THANKS!!!! explain it, I think it's really important!!!

Hai ..how setup speaker ..mixer and microphones At home (indoor ).Thks

When you're cutting out frequencies on the graphic, is that just over the feed to the monitors or over everything?

My name is Cristian I have a question, I can do recording using headphones output ?

How do you know what frequency is starting to feedback and which EQ band corresponds with feedback frequency?

if you set your monitor send and channel send at unity then add preamp gain to desired loudness you are changing the preamp gain in the front of house. not having tried this method, my immediate concern would be improper gain at front of house (too low, too high). I have always dialed in preamp gain with the FOH. then while running monitor at unity i'll adjust the channel send to musicians needs. I typically find the musician has enough perceived loudness well before the channel send reaches unity or feedback ( given that the musician doesn't cup the mic and the stage is set up properly)

In general, your tips are good, just, sometime, the word ‘speaker’ means 2 different things, 1) the wooden box, 2) the guy using the mic. When I heard you say placing the speaker as far as possible from the mic, I was a bit uneasy. I know, at the end you use the word ‘vocalist’ to mean the human using the mic. Just my 2 cents.

You should make a video on Dante and Rednet

Hi..so sickening,,is the musician/operator..at..these..situations,,its,,,crystal clear guide...SALUTE,,,DrNanda...India

How do you know which frequencies are causing feedback?

Please sir make some video for pro tools software mixing mastering tutorial video

I always thought about this because when I record on my scarlet and the audio is playing thru my headphones does my mic pick that up to or ?

Question . How do you connect a Behringer FBQ2496 feedback destroyer to a Behringer PMP6000 powered mixer? I am only using this for home karaoke parties. I don't have a full band equalizer to do what you taught. Only an onboard 7 band equalizer that doesn't seem to help. A detailed description of using what cables involved ie an insert Y-cable to what input of the mixer. It was not recommended to insert into the FBQ into the microphones' s insert channel per the manufacturer. Their connection diagram on the user manual doesn't seem to suit mine. I have 2-3 microphones, 3 sound sources and 2PA speakers and 2 Powered Subs. Thanks for any helpful answers.