Karaoke Forums

The typical setup is obviously FOH speakers either side of the stage, and a monitor for the singer, or FOH speakers positioned so the singer can hear.

Anyways, I did a little staff party that was in a very small room, narrow and longish; barely room for the singer, and no room for FOH speakers.

Room was so small I only used only hauled in one 15” speaker, but I put it on the opposite side of the room facing the singer.

Man, it was cool. I was surprised… the mind’s ear really didn’t register where the sound was coming from, the singer heard perfectly, and no chance for feedback.

Later I ran a little talent show at the small school where I teach, and decided to experiment with the same concept, ‘cept with two stacks, one on each side, but BEHIND the seating facing the stage area, spaced wide and aimed inward at the center of the stage area.

There were quite a few singers, for which I used karaoke, and even at maybe 40’ away from the mics (seating was wider than deep), it still worked perfectly.

Keep this in mind when setting up in small or weird sized room, or really anywhere. Again, perfect hearing for the singer and no feedback.

Just a thought.

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Hate is like taking poison, hoping the other guy gets sick

I haven't, but I have been seeing one fellow who has just a single 15" speaker as his main. Given the right power, it sounds great with some thumpin' bass. He also uses a monitor speaker, with the main pointing away from the singer. But your idea sounds pretty good.

I think for my next small venue gig I will try it, though I will probably bring a monitor speaker just in case.

I have never thought about using just one speaker but I have always set both of my Speakers placed about 25-30ft from the stage and pointed back towards the singer and KJ booth. Some rooms are tough to set up this way but I have never had to use a monitor for singers. It makes mixing and volume control very easy. Proper speaker placement to get the correct coverage of the room takes a bit of tweaking but once you find it the sound is great.

Most shows I see have the speakers placed at the sides of the stage and facing the audience and have a monitor for the singer, or no monitor at all. Not that this is a problem as it works ok too. I just never liked being behind the speakers.

I just like the music coming directly at the singer and the KJ. I like hearing exactly what the singer is hearing. I too have found that feedback is rarely an issue.

The only exception to this is when I run my Bose L1 I place it about 4-5 ft behind the singer and slightly to the right. The sound pretty much covers every square inch of the room and is very easy for me to hear no matter where the KJ booth is placed. I have no feedback issues with it when using my Shure SM58's and using their tonematch presets.

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

It works The wedding we did was sort of along narrow room. One speaker on the opposite end on the left and one 20 feet from the back corner on the right. Unless it is a very large room I plan to have one or more speakers towards the singers. The singers like it better and the overall is easier to adjust. Dont point the speakers directly at each other.

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I've never thought of doing it that way. Actually - thanks for the idea !

I can see it working great if you have the right enviroment.

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Just to be clear, I wasn’t promoting the one-speaker concept,

but putting the speakers on the opposite side of the room facing the stage/singers.

I wasn’t sure if anyone else did that, and it seems at least one here does.

It works pretty well imho, and surprisingly to me, even at a distance.

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Hate is like taking poison, hoping the other guy gets sick

The first time I set up I was behind the speakers and I could not hear the mix nor could I judge the volume level. Karaoke cdgs are generally recorded at different levels and it made it very difficult to maintain a volume setting that was consistent. So I decided to try it that way and viola it was an amazing difference in my ability to hear everything. So anytime I could set up that way I did so. That meant 50ft cables but it was worth the investment.

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

I have tried that speaker placement and had some problems with it. The first one I noticed is that the singer is always slightly behind the music due to the relatively slow speed of sound. Everyone in the house has heard the background music before the singer has a chance to react to it. Second, if you have hard surfaces in the walls there is a lot of sonic reactance and resultenant distortion by the time it hits the singer. Third, again depending on room acoustics you may get what I have come to call the "Muddy bounce" where the music hits the singer coming from the front of the room, bounces off the back wall and hits the singer again, and if it's a long narrow room you get bounce off of the side walls as well leaving the singer wondering which of these musical cues to react to. Lastly, there's "The Big Feedback" Depending on the room of course. I was playing this long narrow bar once made of cinderblock and I got "The Big Feedback" I swear the place rang for ten seconds after I pulled out the plug and everyone was half deaf. Shades of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge disaster.

I'm not saying don't do it just be aware that these things can happen with this speaker placement.

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Okay, who took my pants?

Interesting.....I have never experienced these results and have been doing it for 9 years now. I've played in rooms that have tough acoustics like cement floors and plaster walls and ceilings etc. Occasionally I would have problems with venues that had
glass walls opposite the speakers. I found that by moving the singers and microphones away from the glass it would eliminate feedback issues. Other than that I have had isolated issues with acoustics. Normally it takes a tweak here or there.

Could be the way I EQ the room but I'm sure glad you brought this up as some folks can possibly have problems.

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

Using powered speaker/subs precludes doing this as the speakers need to be within a certain distance of the board - can't image buy 50-foot mic cables ... $$$$!, but if you were using passive stuff, it sounds like it'd be a great way to saturate the room with sound and allow the singer to hear very easily.

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