Replacing sound equipment

[raymond.faccini]

we are a small theatre group performing variety type shows in mainly village hall type venues with a stage area of about 20/24ft wide by 10/14ft deep, We are using a Carlsboro Cobra amp with only 4 chanels, small behringer mixer, 1 cheap uhf radio mic 2 cheap vhf radio mic also 4 cheap [£10/£12 ]audio mics two of witch are being used as overhead mics on stage.None of these are now not realy fit for purpose.

We are thinking of buying Berhinger pmp 1000 mixer amp,2 Shure pg58 Mics,2 condenser mics for overhead use,and uhf 2mic radio system.

Your views please

[peza2010]

A few questions.

 

What do you want to achieve?

How many mics/channels do you need?

 

What speakers are you currently using?

 

In what ways is this setup not doing what you want?

Is it lack of volume? Lack of mics/channels etc?

 

 

Cheers

[raymond.faccini]

Answers to

what we want to achieve .Good all round sound without feedback and other unwanted noises

how many mic chanels. at least 6 preferably all balanced

Our Speakers. 2 Calibro [I think 150 what]

What is our equipment not doing using verbal mics over top, these are not doing the job, geting to much feed back, radio mics not allways working properly

[peza2010]

without wanting to teach you to suck eggs (I dont know your background etc)...

 

 

where are the speakers in relation to your microphones? if they are infront, your going to have problems from the outset.

to improve the chances of having less feedback, use a "graphic equaliser" to "ring out" your system. googling the terms in speech marks will throw up lots of information about it.

 

 

Radio Mics. whats the problem? lack of range? breaking up with interference?

[S&L]

where are the speakers in relation to your microphones? if they are infront, your going to have problems from the outset.

 

 

I'm stunned how often people/bands etc. position mics ahead of speakers, monitors in mic field etc. and then don't understand that they get feedback. half my 'job' seems to be teaching bands how to set up on stage!

 

 

[raymond.faccini]

We don't appear to be getting the answers we are looking for we are awear of plalcing speakers and and mics etc, what we are looking for is oppinon on our choice of replacement equipment eg; Behringer pmp1000 mixer amp 2x shure pg58 vocal mics for front of stage [singers ,monalogues etc] 2x condenser mics for over head , 1x uhf radio mic system with 2 mics etc,also possibly some nem balanced mic lads and anothr radio mic system

[peza2010]

right okay. If your not taking anything in thats being said we cant help you!!

old equipment has got NOTHING to do with your feedback problems!

 

 

if you want to read back through the thread and take on board the post's and then come back and ask then thats up to you.

 

 

but just buying new mics wont make your problem go away - simple.

[ramdram]

Raymond.f,

 

I would suggest you have a look around here:

 

http://www.astralsound.com

 

Plenty of tutorial notes which may be of some use if you have not encountered some of the issues explained therein. You mention feedback problems and that is usually down to mic/speaker positioning, not, as you might have thought because of the kit you own being a tad long in the tooth.

 

Apologies if you know some of this anyway.

 

Ref the kit. You will know that the quality of kit depends on how deep your pockets are. To some the "B" word is enough to induce a touch of the vapours and to others a powered mixer is "rubbish". The Shure mics are reasonable quality certainly. The use of condenser mics all depends on how you place them.

 

The radio mics could cost a lot more than you might realise. Other threads in the forum will perhaps give you an insight to the rms not working properly. It is worth bearing in mind that some problems are caused by outside electrical influences and not by your kit per se.

 

A note of caution here, some radio mic frequencies are changing next year so do not be tempted to buy some kit at what appears to be a incredible bargain price. Not all suppliers are reputable and some will be dumping old stock. Search BR on this topic before you part with any cash. Factor in too the cost of operating licences.

 

It may be that you could look for used kit and build up from there. And, not knowing your budget leaves us no wiser about what sort of quality leads you would be afford to afford. The forum, on the whole, tends to endorse Neutrik kit but it will be expensive. Van Damme leads are excellent quality but not especially bargain basement.

 

Others, such as myself would suggest you think about buying decent used kit on the grounds it is likely to withstand the rigours of touring more than cheapo stuff.

 

There again you might consider hiring stuff first and seeing how you get along with that and then buying used.

 

Lastly, and this comes with a t-I-c warning, if you tour VHs then it may be you just need to "project, dahling, project!" Unless the VH is the size of the Albert you may be able to save your cash for other stuff.

 

HTH

[paulears]

It does seem a little strange to want to change what could well be perfectly fine equipment to cure feedback? Like the others' maybe you are just expecting too much.

 

A £400 overhead microphone could well be worse for volume before feedback if the lobes happen to be 'wrong' for the equipment placement.

 

If you are asking if your new system, complete with it's more modern budget equipment will be better, then it seems you've forgotten the speakers - if you have speakers that have output from the rear, then any attempt to replace the source equipment will fail. Feedback simply means the mics can hear the speakers, and hence, themselves - you have to reduce this coupling. Better speakers with tighter coverage might help, as might some acoustic treatment in the room - but what matters is that it isn't age, or even quality that makes feedback an issue, it's how the system works as a whole. Your Carlsbro amp might make no difference whatsoever - but the description makes us think of a quite low power system that is a bit unstable - so you need to consider why it's unstable, fix that, then buy new kit for the bits that need improving.

[stagemanagement]

Without going into the finer points of what you are using and how, the equipment you have listed seems to be a reasonable choice for a small format system, to be used in a fixed setup on a tight budget.

 

The only thing I would suggest looking at your picks so far is checking out Thomann's "T-Bone" range of mic's.

If there is a preferred mic of choice to be found for individual applications throughout the industry (vox mic, kick drum mic, overhead etc) then there is usually a "T-Bone" version to be found.

They are robust, offer reasonable results and are cheap (and therefore more easily replaceable) - and that's the 3 most important aspects for most purchasers.

[goboloco]

I strongly rate thomann stuff on price . Excellent value IMO