Karaoke Forums

Hello...

I have a concern and I would like to run it by all the good people here...  My new Mackie CFX12 mixer Clip light blinks every
time I push up the mic for my brother because he has a strong voice and sometimes he screams into the mic.  I have heard
that it's not good to have the Clip light blinking because it can kill my system right???  
Not sure what the full reason for the Clip light, but a friend of mine told me it's not good to have that light blinking.  
But on the other hand...when my sister sings...I push up the mic for her because he has a soft voice..but then I got a lot of
feed back....

1.  So can some body explain to me why the clip light blinks when I push up the mic for strong voices??  And everytime I push
the mic up for soft voices...there's feed back...!!!  So I have to lower the mic, but then the music over powers the soft voice...

2.  Is there a hardware that I can buy to boost up mics for soft voices and it wouldn't have feed back???  I've heard of a
feed back destroyer...but how does that work??  Let say there's feed back when I push up the mic...does the feed back
destoryer mute the sound of the mic so it would save my speakers but I would not be able to hear the singer at that time right???

Thanks!!

I don't get this -- you "push up the mic" for both strong and soft voices?

The clip light doesn't have anything to do with the main fader. That is controlled by the trim (assuming the Mackie has a trim, which I presume it does). You should trim the channel once, so that it clips only just a little in the strongest passages of the strong-voiced singer.

For the strong-voiced singer, you should adjust the mix so that you have plenty of headroom, i.e. the channel fader should not be as high as the 0 db mark. When the softer singer comes up, you should boost them on the main fader. The trim knob is normallly not adjusted.

You might also consider having, like I do, a strong-voiced mic and a weak-voiced mic. I set the trim different on the two.



No, not really. With an equalizer like the Behringer Ultragraph Pro, you can watch the lights in FBQ mode and get an idea of which frequencies are causing feedback. But if you cut those some and still get feedback, the answer is to get the singer to sing into the mic. Face it, that is usually the problem.

The clip light is to inidcate that you are overdriving the channel.  If the clip light is blinking during the brothers song, you need to turn the GAIN down until it is off (or just blinks on occasion - you do not want it steadily blinking).  Then control with the fader, but try to keep it around the 0 mark as mcky suggested.  Whichever subgroup you have the mic going to would also be around the 0 mark if possible.

On the soft voice singer, she needs to hold the mic closer to her mouth!

The feedback destroyer is just an aid piece, it is not a miracle worker & can actually ruin the overall sound.  The rest of the system still has to be setup properly & adjusted properly to where you aren't getting much if any feedback to begin with.  Way it works is it senses the frequencies that are feeding back - & pulls out those frequencies automatically, but if you have constant feedback, it will continue to pull out frequencies until your mix sounds so bad that you would have been better off just turning the system down.
Also if your mics are too close to the speaker or are in a manner where the mics are being pointed at the speakers, then you need to change around to get further away & pointed away from them.

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Thanks for bringing up the gain and fader issue. I went to a show locally and the guy had NO idea how to run a board. Every single person had feedback...EVERY ONE of them. He asked me to call up the next singer and get them going while he went to the bathroom. I step up, look at the board, his gains are shut right off, he is running mics straight off the faders...faders are halfway up on both mics (or even less), and everything is feeding back.

On my systems I have NEVER gotten feedback. I run faders at UNITY and use gain for mics.  When I very first started out, a sound guy said, "Can I spend 5 minutes with you and show you some things?"  Amen, brother, it was like God dropped out of the sky. I've never forgotten the info he gave me. It has served me well, and I am always surprised that more people don't understand that you should use gain for volume adjustment, and failing that, resort to fader control.

I find it really interesting that with my Mackie 350s and Mackie sub, Sure mics, Mackie 12-channel board, and in confined rooms, that singers can almost stand right in front of the speakers and there is NEVER feedback.  I don't have a feedback destroyer on my system, and in fact my system is very simple.

I've always had outboard effects but with this new Mackie it has the built-in effects. Not the best effects, but mixed judiciously they do the job. Have to have a very gentle hand to adjust them, too - way easy to go overboard and sound terrible.

I'm not sure why, but when I sing on my own system, it is really effortless. People often comment on that, too - never have to sing too hard. I know part of it is mixing but even when I go to others' shows, where they seem to have a good handle on mixing, at times I feel like it takes way too much energy to sing. Hubby and I did a 3-hour singing gig (just the two of us) on our system, set up in a big showroom. We split the songs, sang for 1-1/2 hours each, and I did not feel like I had sung for that long.  I know there are other systems if I had tried that, I would have collapsed with lung failure.

I wish people would be more forthcoming for advice on how to actually learn to run sound right - sure would eliminate a lot of frustration for singers whose ears are destroyed by feedback at a show.

k

Thanks for all the suggestion...I think I'll do what Karen K has suggested...  I am going to push all Fader up to "U" which is 0 db I think..and just adjust the Gain of the Mic and the Music when needed...

Thanks again!!!

That is a sign of good gain structure across the board and the correct choice of mic. You are good.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

youve got that wrong, you want to adjust your gain so that the light just blinks with really strong vocals (when all else fails read your manual, it does explain this). then use the fader to set the volume of the mic so your vocals mix with the music. my experence is you will end up + or - 10 db on your fader depending on the singer. I have the powered mackie with rotory faders. I can go to almost 3/4 of the way up the fader without feedback most of the time. as long as the singer isn't an idiot and pointing the mic at the speaker when they arent singing into it..another pet peave of mine is the singers who hold the mic a foot from there face and sing...dugh..cupping the mic drives me nuts too, at least most of those get it close to there face.  Ive come to the conclusion that some singers do not want to be heard , or they would not whisper at the mic a foot from there face. I cant fix this so I turn the mic up to +10 and hold my mic close to my mouth when they look at me with that "I can't here myself" look. some get it some dont (I can't fix stupid)

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

Oh don't let's get started on mic peeves!  Geesh, I've more than one time walked up to a singer who is singing, put my hand on the bottom of the mic, and pushed it toward their mouth...Once people get used to how clear their voice sounds, they are less apt to hide from the mic.  Cupping? Slap them! Holding it upside down? Slap them! I think there are a lot of shows with very inexpensive mics that seem to be very, very loud, and people are afraid to get up close and personal with my 58s! (take it how you like it, boys!)

K