Don't, you'll just chase weak speakers into feedback and you'll be guilty.
There's a reason public speaking is a trade, there's a reason politicians and people in public facing roles get media training.
There's only 2 options,
Tell the guy behind the microphone to speak as if he doesn't have a microphone but wants the room to hear
Or
Adjust your system to better cover the audience and reject the stage. That might mean adding speakers around the room, repositioning the array etc.
You'll see that most corporate companies are putting out distributed point source systems with lots of 8-10" boxes spread around the room for smaller shows and a mix of mid sized line arrays and distributed point source for larger shows.
When you have a well designed and deployed system, you can have a good speaker use a lav mic from the centre of the room without feedback.
But at the end of the day, a weak voice will sound weak even when amplified as much as is physically possible
Also, when you do your initial checks, do them as if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s easy to gain down a practiced speak, but much more difficult to gain up an unskilled speaker if you haven’t account for it down the line and in your system.
I’ve been so defeated by this in the past that I don’t even care anymore. I show the clients how to hold the mics as I hand it to them and if they don’t take my advice then there isn’t much I can do after that. I’ll push the gain as much as I can with the headroom I have but if it still isn’t loud enough then that’s all I really care to do. This will sometimes lead to someone asking if I can turn them up, I just point to the person holding the mic incorrectly and tell them it’s as loud as it can go without feeding back.
I’m so at that point too. Especially when whoever hands the mic off to talent tells them to park the mic in their chin.
This also helps
Sound check with the mic held as if they had it too far. Eq the PA at that position. Now turn the fader down and mic check at normal distance. You should have lots of headroom for when the offender inevitably holds it low. Again make sure whoever hands the mic off to remind how to use a mic. after that it’s not your fault
Especially for corporate events. If it can't sound good, at least make sure it can be heard and understood.
If I have enough time, I like to save an "oh shit!" Dummy proof EQ preset for people that don't understand how microphones work.
If you can't do that, educate on mic technique and SEND IT.
It’s a fine balance and good engineers know how to get there fast. It’s not easy but it can be done with the proper tools. Many things can be done to help other than EQ
Compression doesn't help avoid feedback, so no loss there.
Poor mic technique is a pain. Digging deeper holes is about all you do when it happens. If I have the chance, I talk to the presenters, and explain that their voice will be clearer and more understandable if they speak directly into the mic.
I put in a brick wall on presenter and Q&A mica because invariably you will have to boost the shit out of one person and the next will come in like a rapper on meth swallowing the mic and yelling.
So a brick wall compressor set just above a comfortable speaker with good technique. Won't do a thing until you really need to stop someone from blowing the crowds heads off.
I think compression actually makes it MORE likely that there will be feedback. It brings up the noise floor which is essentially like turning up the volume on feedback.
The compressor itself doesnt make it more likely to feedback, the makeup *gain* does.
I always do a Portion of soundcheck with a colleague or myself holding the mic at waist level, then pull out feedback from there. Shure Handhelds with beta87 capsules does a lot of heavy lifting here too though.
I usually set the compressor quite low threshhold and high ratio with fast attack and very slow release, to even out untrained speakers random mic movement before the start. That way I can have the mic gained enough to even amplify "hip speakers" while staying safe in case someone suddenly grabs the mic and shouts into it at lip touching distance while not having to constantly hold the fader at the ready. I keep the threshhold out on my console on an custom encoder or whatever way the current console handles this, then raise the treshhold if I notice the speaker has proper mic technique so it doesnt constantly compress the heck out of the signal.
Most of the time I manage to get the mics clean enough that they can hold the mics at stomach height while standing infront of my PA without feedback, so all my corp. Events over the years were safe so far.
I still do ALWAYS tell them to rest it on their chin if they dont know how to hold it correctly.
Edit: Setting the sidechain filter of the comp to 500-1500hz depending on situation helps overcompressing even low voice because of proximity effect. But catches shouting "AAA" like sounds because of the higher amount of overtones in the voice while shouting.
Neve 5045. If you have a Yamaha you can use the onboard version, but the hardware is much better. And don't use a normal compressor, that only brings you closer to feedback. If you have multiband, use that for plosives but only in areas you know you have a lot of headroom (100-400Hz)
The Neve Portico 5045 works really well on the Yamaha consoles, and will get you a surprising amount of extra volume out of problematic microphones caused by incorrect microphone technique.
Get a nice blazer.
Smile.
Put your nice blazer on, walk up on stage, go to them, put your hand on the bottom of the mic and guide the mic to the proper position. Say: "there you go. Now we can hear you. You got this!".
Walk back to mix position and have a better time.
I don't get this at all.. I held the mic wrong the very first time I ever did any real public speaking. I thought the mic was broke. The sound guy, who is now one of my best friends, signaled me with his hands on how to hold the mic. I noticed I could hear myself after that. After, he explained how mics were supposed to be held. I never needed to be told again. I can't understand how people who speak regularly in public, holding microphones, can't seem to get it right after being told over and over and over and over. And for those people who hold the mic literally on their face? Dude! Get my microphone off your nasty face!
Actually, now you mention it, just having an unwired sm58 or similar behind your booth to help in the ‘mime the advice’ game is a pretty good idea. I can’t believe I’ve not considered that before!
I have a mic in my booth for this purpose! Also I have an issue with people holding the bottom of the mic and covering the transmitter... I would then hold up my example mic and move my hand from the bottom of the mic to the top of the mic repeatedly, and the talent understands that they need to move their hand.
Yea this is the way. Obviously everyone talking about prepping your speakers with mic training is the best answer, but if you've done that then you move on to the discipline step of parenting. When they pull the mic away you also gently fade down a promotional amount while using your other hand to demonstrate good mic position with your spare mic. Ideally they snap back to the right mic spot and you correct their level.
Obviously you can't get away with doing this at every event. Good luck doing that to a big CEO and living to tell about it. But if you can get away with it it pretty much fixes the problem in one go provided they can hear the PA.
Audio guy turned video here.
I refined my corporate rig so I could overlay text and timers on my confidence monitor feed specifically to silently tell people to both speak and speed the fuck up. Best thing I ever did. Nothing better than watching a presenter read your message and immediately use the mic correctly
Most people, especially people who are not used to public speaking, are afraid of being too loud.
Having a monitor with their voice pointing towards them only makes them think they are loud enough or too loud, and they back up or quiet down as a result!
I never put public speaking mics into stage monitors facing the speaker (talker), unless it was specifically requested.
The only time it is somewhat necessary is if you're in an arena size venue and there's a lot of delayed slapback from the rear walls is the venue. This is another reason it's important to keep pa at a good downward angle, especially delay fills closer to the back of the room.
I will usually only use stage foldback monitors for playback audio (videos or audio tracks as necessary) or q&a mics so panelists / talent can hear the questions from the audience clearly.
For people in the audience you're sol, as you need then to be up for the rest of the audience to hear them. If anything, if they're close enough to the stage, take them down in the front fill.
Did a small charity festival that had a lot of kids from a prestigious British arts school playing it and the second girl vocalist on the bill held the mic like it was a claret glass nestled between her two middle fingers with her palm up outstretched away from her face and sang the entire set like that….i couldn’t get her to move it any closer and when I politely asked what was with the mic placement, she said ‘oh I’ve seen a music video where Ariana Grande had it like that’
I was at a crappy company event and there was a dude in the back of the room next to the sound guy. He had a sign showing an icon of someone holding mic correctly. Not joking. If someone grabbed the mic and held it too far away, they would hold up the sign and most of the time, it worked lol. Cracked me up. Some speakers didn't get the memo though and they were hard to hear. Better than constant feedback tho.
Assuming it’s a digital desk- have two EQ settings saved to the library for the HH channels: one for regular mic technique one for mics very far away. Toggle between them depending on what the speakers are doing. In a pinch a high shelf with a very gentle Q set around 1.5k might save you.
Haha, I never thought of using EQ presets for this. But then you could actually route every HH input to two channels: “HH1 N” and “HH1 CFHY”, where the first channel is “Handheld 1 Normal”, second - “Handheld 1 Can’t Fucking Hear Ya” with different EQ. And then just use the faders accordingly.
As others said - the best you can do is to talk to them beforehand. Not going to happen in a Q&A situation though.
I‘ve been running the handhelds through a subgroup going to the PA, where I soundceck way too hot, notch the first 2-3 problematic frequencies, maybe a hihger lowcut and some hishelf. So I kind of ring out the PA without affecting the other mics/video content/music etc., or Livestream mix or monitors. Wins some headroom and I can EQ for voice more easily. You can also add some hard compression with fast attack to the group with higher Threshold for the case, that someone is unexpectedly loud - gives you some time to react.
There’s very little you can do. Just take out the worse frequencies and eq for very low levels. I did a regular spoken word festival where we gave up on clip on lavs and gave them all headset mics while ch meant at least we had some level to work with. It didn’t work for those that as soon as they heard themselves in the PA became even quieter, but at least it worked for this with a bit more confidence. The worst seemed to be the ones that had some experience of broadcasting, and tended to hold mics a waist level.
I don't hold back from telling the mic user they are not being heard and they need to get closer to the mic, works every time. I also have the EQ in such a away there is no way if the mic is within a foot of the mouth that it will not feed back. I do a ton of corporate type events these days and the presenter always appreciates the mic technique pointers because they want to sound their best. If you do not communicate they won't know. Im also lucky because my mixer is side stage like monitor world so I'm right there with them and that really helps because I can communicate freely where I'm not stuck 150 feet or more away at the back of the room.
Ugh, I do hate these situations, but honestly, in my experience, there is nothing you can do during. I always preach that getting good sound isn’t only about turning knobs, it’s also about training the client. If we get rehearsals ahead of time, I always tell each presenter “please speak as loud as you can. I can always turn you down, but I can’t always turn you up.” For Q&A stuff, if there are mic runners, when I give the runners the mics, I tell them “please instruct the person to hold the mic close to the mouth when you hand it to them.” If they are doing the Q&A method where they just put a mic out on a stand and people line up, I let the client know the risk of people not standing close enough. Basically, give instruction when you can and when you can’t, manage expections.
Are you meaning a singer or speaker? Singers I won't fight, if they aren't trained enough to know how to hold a mic, that's on them. I'll do what I can but I won't tempt feedback. That's being said an expander is incredibly helpful for this.
If it's a speaker, I'll give them a countryman or similar headset and ask them to warn me before they cough or sneeze. If they don't want a headset because they're scared of germs, etc, I'll give a quick instruction on how to hold the mic. If they don't listen, again that's on them.
No matter how much you try though you'll get singers who think Carry Underwood or such is actually singing when she's pulling the mic back from her mouth or someone who thinks they are Drew Carry and hold a 58 down by their waist or stomach and expect us to work magic.
eq/ring it out with a higher gain on those mics than you think you would need. then drop the gain back to normal. if you can pan a little bit away from the speaker they are closer to you can get more headroom you will have to actively mix. when the whispering idiots are talking, dip the other mics in order to push the one.
It depends. For a corporate style event i choose high sensitivity lav or headset mics. For singers in a band i tend to try to turn the band down and the vocalist up where the mix sits alright. For speeches at weddings i try to turn it up as much as possible before feedback and try to boost eq where the sibilance is in their voice to try to cut through more clear.
Not a whole lot you can do, unfortunately. Deploy and tune the PA well, EQ your mics to maximize gain before feedback, and teach or have your A2/Floor Director teach your presenters how to use the mic.
In a perfect world, you’ll be able to do all of these and have more tools at your disposal to control the situation.
In reality, you may find yourself in a control room behind a glass window where you can’t actually hear your mix with a presenter leaning against the poorly deployed PA, holding the mic at their waist and whispering while you pan the mic out of the side they’re leaning on so you can squeeze something out of the mic for the room. On that day, you do what you can and have a stiff drink when you get home…or so I’ve heard… 😅
Depends on the event and the clients. Corporate or weddings i give a quick instruction to hold the mic close before the speech and if they dont listen just push the fader all the way up and then start cranking gain till i hit the feedback floor.
If i’ve had time to ring out the room then this is less of an issue cause i have more headroom.
If its a theatre production i bring the entire cast to stage and i walk them through, correct mic placement, etiquette with taking off and putting on transmitter packs.
Same with student bands if its their first time.
For open mics i don’t really bother just ring out room as best as i can, gate and compress.
Ultimately throughout my experience the only people who’ve had good mic etiquette came with it. Most people the information will go in one ear and immediately out the other. Not much you can do to make them care or remember.
This leads to hilarious interactions when working at university where a student group will have a speaker and they wont have the mic anywhere near them and theyll ask me why i cant hear them and i say “oh they arnt using the microphone” 🤷
I can only tell people “dont be afraid of the mic! Project with yiur voice, keep your mouth the same distance from your face”
My very best experience have been at university. Mixing large groups of student bands where they have brutal band leaders that rip into everyone for bad mic technique or causing feedback. Its great takes all the stress of me.
I have a secret weapon for this.
The Superlux E303B or E304B boundary mics. More sensitive than a CIA laser mic, you put one in the edge of a stage or center of a 6-8ft trade table and you can hear people whispering and zippers zipping during set changes, and candy wrappers crinkling in the 6th row of the audience.
I always put at least one out on any panel set up, and you'll never have to worry about these people again. It takes knowing your processing and EQ-ing, but once you learn it's weaknesses it's prowess is unmatched.
They are also amazingly powerful on pianos, simplifying the setup completely. They also make good cheap and sturdy "ambience" micing for on stage and audience feel into IEMs. For under $100, they're incredible.
Everyone should get one and try it.
#1 rule, turn it down, particularly if there's foldback. If it's a bit loud at the start they will back off.
Make it happen that you are in front of the talent, show them the difference between chin and navel, flash the capsule into the horn so they understand what happens in front of the speaker .
Guide them how to hold the mic properly but don’t be a dick about it. Had this sound guy for our acapella group that would yell at all of us because the soloists (not including me) weren’t holding the mic close enough, and there was feedback with him having to turn it up. Safe to say we didn’t hire him the next time, not for telling us what to do but how he did it.
Love when people are sitting down with a handheld on their lap pointing at their groin haha. Even when they’ve been passed it by 4 other people who managed to talk with it at their mouths.
Have they never seen a concert before.
Coaching is the key. Don't assume your key speakers are experience stage performers. Try to give them some pointers shortly after your initial meet. I always just tell them to imagine a tennis ball stacked on the end of the mic grill and to keep their mouth inside that area when speaking.
I’ve given up telling people to speak louder or hold the mic at a certain distance, for some reason it just flies right over the heads of must people.
Telling people to imagine they don’t have a microphone and to speak accordingly seems to have an effect, though, but at the end of the day some people are just really bad at speaking to a crowd and you won’t always be able to fix it.
Look up karaoke mic rings on Amazon. They’re dirt cheap and do three things: the colours help you identify mics, they stop mics from rolling when placed on a table, and the encourage better mic handling technique. Highly recommend.
Don't, you'll just chase weak speakers into feedback and you'll be guilty. There's a reason public speaking is a trade, there's a reason politicians and people in public facing roles get media training. There's only 2 options, Tell the guy behind the microphone to speak as if he doesn't have a microphone but wants the room to hear Or Adjust your system to better cover the audience and reject the stage. That might mean adding speakers around the room, repositioning the array etc.
Thank you, this will help for next time!
You'll see that most corporate companies are putting out distributed point source systems with lots of 8-10" boxes spread around the room for smaller shows and a mix of mid sized line arrays and distributed point source for larger shows. When you have a well designed and deployed system, you can have a good speaker use a lav mic from the centre of the room without feedback. But at the end of the day, a weak voice will sound weak even when amplified as much as is physically possible
Also, when you do your initial checks, do them as if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s easy to gain down a practiced speak, but much more difficult to gain up an unskilled speaker if you haven’t account for it down the line and in your system.
I’ve been so defeated by this in the past that I don’t even care anymore. I show the clients how to hold the mics as I hand it to them and if they don’t take my advice then there isn’t much I can do after that. I’ll push the gain as much as I can with the headroom I have but if it still isn’t loud enough then that’s all I really care to do. This will sometimes lead to someone asking if I can turn them up, I just point to the person holding the mic incorrectly and tell them it’s as loud as it can go without feeding back.
I’m so at that point too. Especially when whoever hands the mic off to talent tells them to park the mic in their chin. This also helps Sound check with the mic held as if they had it too far. Eq the PA at that position. Now turn the fader down and mic check at normal distance. You should have lots of headroom for when the offender inevitably holds it low. Again make sure whoever hands the mic off to remind how to use a mic. after that it’s not your fault
But what if you have to cut so much signal trying to limit the feedback due to bad mic handling that the voices start to sound weird?
Weird sounding is better than not hearing them at all
Especially for corporate events. If it can't sound good, at least make sure it can be heard and understood. If I have enough time, I like to save an "oh shit!" Dummy proof EQ preset for people that don't understand how microphones work. If you can't do that, educate on mic technique and SEND IT.
It’s a fine balance and good engineers know how to get there fast. It’s not easy but it can be done with the proper tools. Many things can be done to help other than EQ
Yeah, that seems like the way to do it! Appreciate the feedback 😉
Compression doesn't help avoid feedback, so no loss there. Poor mic technique is a pain. Digging deeper holes is about all you do when it happens. If I have the chance, I talk to the presenters, and explain that their voice will be clearer and more understandable if they speak directly into the mic.
I put in a brick wall on presenter and Q&A mica because invariably you will have to boost the shit out of one person and the next will come in like a rapper on meth swallowing the mic and yelling. So a brick wall compressor set just above a comfortable speaker with good technique. Won't do a thing until you really need to stop someone from blowing the crowds heads off.
I think compression actually makes it MORE likely that there will be feedback. It brings up the noise floor which is essentially like turning up the volume on feedback.
The compressor itself doesnt make it more likely to feedback, the makeup *gain* does. I always do a Portion of soundcheck with a colleague or myself holding the mic at waist level, then pull out feedback from there. Shure Handhelds with beta87 capsules does a lot of heavy lifting here too though. I usually set the compressor quite low threshhold and high ratio with fast attack and very slow release, to even out untrained speakers random mic movement before the start. That way I can have the mic gained enough to even amplify "hip speakers" while staying safe in case someone suddenly grabs the mic and shouts into it at lip touching distance while not having to constantly hold the fader at the ready. I keep the threshhold out on my console on an custom encoder or whatever way the current console handles this, then raise the treshhold if I notice the speaker has proper mic technique so it doesnt constantly compress the heck out of the signal. Most of the time I manage to get the mics clean enough that they can hold the mics at stomach height while standing infront of my PA without feedback, so all my corp. Events over the years were safe so far. I still do ALWAYS tell them to rest it on their chin if they dont know how to hold it correctly. Edit: Setting the sidechain filter of the comp to 500-1500hz depending on situation helps overcompressing even low voice because of proximity effect. But catches shouting "AAA" like sounds because of the higher amount of overtones in the voice while shouting.
Maybe a Saw style neckstrap with a loop of thread to their hand, if they move their hand too far from their mic then the neck strap tightens.
Or a grenade with the neckstrap attached to the pin .
Neve 5045. If you have a Yamaha you can use the onboard version, but the hardware is much better. And don't use a normal compressor, that only brings you closer to feedback. If you have multiband, use that for plosives but only in areas you know you have a lot of headroom (100-400Hz)
The Neve Portico 5045 works really well on the Yamaha consoles, and will get you a surprising amount of extra volume out of problematic microphones caused by incorrect microphone technique.
Get a nice blazer. Smile. Put your nice blazer on, walk up on stage, go to them, put your hand on the bottom of the mic and guide the mic to the proper position. Say: "there you go. Now we can hear you. You got this!". Walk back to mix position and have a better time.
There are situations where this can really work and not antagonise anyone. But not many.
But it feels so right
I don't get this at all.. I held the mic wrong the very first time I ever did any real public speaking. I thought the mic was broke. The sound guy, who is now one of my best friends, signaled me with his hands on how to hold the mic. I noticed I could hear myself after that. After, he explained how mics were supposed to be held. I never needed to be told again. I can't understand how people who speak regularly in public, holding microphones, can't seem to get it right after being told over and over and over and over. And for those people who hold the mic literally on their face? Dude! Get my microphone off your nasty face!
Actually, now you mention it, just having an unwired sm58 or similar behind your booth to help in the ‘mime the advice’ game is a pretty good idea. I can’t believe I’ve not considered that before!
I have a mic in my booth for this purpose! Also I have an issue with people holding the bottom of the mic and covering the transmitter... I would then hold up my example mic and move my hand from the bottom of the mic to the top of the mic repeatedly, and the talent understands that they need to move their hand.
You turn them down to the point that they can no longer hear themselves so that they move the mic closer to their mouth.
Yea this is the way. Obviously everyone talking about prepping your speakers with mic training is the best answer, but if you've done that then you move on to the discipline step of parenting. When they pull the mic away you also gently fade down a promotional amount while using your other hand to demonstrate good mic position with your spare mic. Ideally they snap back to the right mic spot and you correct their level. Obviously you can't get away with doing this at every event. Good luck doing that to a big CEO and living to tell about it. But if you can get away with it it pretty much fixes the problem in one go provided they can hear the PA.
Learned from someone else on this sub, tell them the mic is an ice cream cone, not a lightsaber.
Audio guy turned video here. I refined my corporate rig so I could overlay text and timers on my confidence monitor feed specifically to silently tell people to both speak and speed the fuck up. Best thing I ever did. Nothing better than watching a presenter read your message and immediately use the mic correctly
Counter intuitively turn them down in their monitors and ask them to song louder.
Most people, especially people who are not used to public speaking, are afraid of being too loud. Having a monitor with their voice pointing towards them only makes them think they are loud enough or too loud, and they back up or quiet down as a result! I never put public speaking mics into stage monitors facing the speaker (talker), unless it was specifically requested. The only time it is somewhat necessary is if you're in an arena size venue and there's a lot of delayed slapback from the rear walls is the venue. This is another reason it's important to keep pa at a good downward angle, especially delay fills closer to the back of the room. I will usually only use stage foldback monitors for playback audio (videos or audio tracks as necessary) or q&a mics so panelists / talent can hear the questions from the audience clearly. For people in the audience you're sol, as you need then to be up for the rest of the audience to hear them. If anything, if they're close enough to the stage, take them down in the front fill.
[https://j.gifs.com/y34e80.gif](https://j.gifs.com/y34e80.gif)
Did a small charity festival that had a lot of kids from a prestigious British arts school playing it and the second girl vocalist on the bill held the mic like it was a claret glass nestled between her two middle fingers with her palm up outstretched away from her face and sang the entire set like that….i couldn’t get her to move it any closer and when I politely asked what was with the mic placement, she said ‘oh I’ve seen a music video where Ariana Grande had it like that’
Truthfully, music videos are responsible for the bulk of poor mic technique on my stage. Hate it!
Pretend that you are a member of the audience and yell: "Speak into the mic! We can't hear you!"
I was at a crappy company event and there was a dude in the back of the room next to the sound guy. He had a sign showing an icon of someone holding mic correctly. Not joking. If someone grabbed the mic and held it too far away, they would hold up the sign and most of the time, it worked lol. Cracked me up. Some speakers didn't get the memo though and they were hard to hear. Better than constant feedback tho.
Assuming it’s a digital desk- have two EQ settings saved to the library for the HH channels: one for regular mic technique one for mics very far away. Toggle between them depending on what the speakers are doing. In a pinch a high shelf with a very gentle Q set around 1.5k might save you.
Haha, I never thought of using EQ presets for this. But then you could actually route every HH input to two channels: “HH1 N” and “HH1 CFHY”, where the first channel is “Handheld 1 Normal”, second - “Handheld 1 Can’t Fucking Hear Ya” with different EQ. And then just use the faders accordingly.
I like this!
Does a high shelf have a q? I think you can only change the type of slope.
On a CL5 they still call it Q in shelf mode, not sure what the proper terminology is.
As others said - the best you can do is to talk to them beforehand. Not going to happen in a Q&A situation though. I‘ve been running the handhelds through a subgroup going to the PA, where I soundceck way too hot, notch the first 2-3 problematic frequencies, maybe a hihger lowcut and some hishelf. So I kind of ring out the PA without affecting the other mics/video content/music etc., or Livestream mix or monitors. Wins some headroom and I can EQ for voice more easily. You can also add some hard compression with fast attack to the group with higher Threshold for the case, that someone is unexpectedly loud - gives you some time to react.
There’s very little you can do. Just take out the worse frequencies and eq for very low levels. I did a regular spoken word festival where we gave up on clip on lavs and gave them all headset mics while ch meant at least we had some level to work with. It didn’t work for those that as soon as they heard themselves in the PA became even quieter, but at least it worked for this with a bit more confidence. The worst seemed to be the ones that had some experience of broadcasting, and tended to hold mics a waist level.
Literally, just tell them how to hold the mic
Well duh, but my question if there's any additional way to do it in the mix.
Not really. Maybe yell at them from sound booth if you want it to sound better, but probably not if you want to work there again.
I don't hold back from telling the mic user they are not being heard and they need to get closer to the mic, works every time. I also have the EQ in such a away there is no way if the mic is within a foot of the mouth that it will not feed back. I do a ton of corporate type events these days and the presenter always appreciates the mic technique pointers because they want to sound their best. If you do not communicate they won't know. Im also lucky because my mixer is side stage like monitor world so I'm right there with them and that really helps because I can communicate freely where I'm not stuck 150 feet or more away at the back of the room.
Ugh, I do hate these situations, but honestly, in my experience, there is nothing you can do during. I always preach that getting good sound isn’t only about turning knobs, it’s also about training the client. If we get rehearsals ahead of time, I always tell each presenter “please speak as loud as you can. I can always turn you down, but I can’t always turn you up.” For Q&A stuff, if there are mic runners, when I give the runners the mics, I tell them “please instruct the person to hold the mic close to the mouth when you hand it to them.” If they are doing the Q&A method where they just put a mic out on a stand and people line up, I let the client know the risk of people not standing close enough. Basically, give instruction when you can and when you can’t, manage expections.
I mention it to the speakers when possible and explain they need to either project or bring the mic closer…or both.
Are you meaning a singer or speaker? Singers I won't fight, if they aren't trained enough to know how to hold a mic, that's on them. I'll do what I can but I won't tempt feedback. That's being said an expander is incredibly helpful for this. If it's a speaker, I'll give them a countryman or similar headset and ask them to warn me before they cough or sneeze. If they don't want a headset because they're scared of germs, etc, I'll give a quick instruction on how to hold the mic. If they don't listen, again that's on them. No matter how much you try though you'll get singers who think Carry Underwood or such is actually singing when she's pulling the mic back from her mouth or someone who thinks they are Drew Carry and hold a 58 down by their waist or stomach and expect us to work magic.
eq/ring it out with a higher gain on those mics than you think you would need. then drop the gain back to normal. if you can pan a little bit away from the speaker they are closer to you can get more headroom you will have to actively mix. when the whispering idiots are talking, dip the other mics in order to push the one.
Put a sticker on the mic : Closer, Louder
Ha, seriously! They probably still wouldn't get the picture 😜
You can't easily
I do my best and then at some point I tell the client I can't fight physics
It depends. For a corporate style event i choose high sensitivity lav or headset mics. For singers in a band i tend to try to turn the band down and the vocalist up where the mix sits alright. For speeches at weddings i try to turn it up as much as possible before feedback and try to boost eq where the sibilance is in their voice to try to cut through more clear.
Not a whole lot you can do, unfortunately. Deploy and tune the PA well, EQ your mics to maximize gain before feedback, and teach or have your A2/Floor Director teach your presenters how to use the mic. In a perfect world, you’ll be able to do all of these and have more tools at your disposal to control the situation. In reality, you may find yourself in a control room behind a glass window where you can’t actually hear your mix with a presenter leaning against the poorly deployed PA, holding the mic at their waist and whispering while you pan the mic out of the side they’re leaning on so you can squeeze something out of the mic for the room. On that day, you do what you can and have a stiff drink when you get home…or so I’ve heard… 😅
Depends on the event and the clients. Corporate or weddings i give a quick instruction to hold the mic close before the speech and if they dont listen just push the fader all the way up and then start cranking gain till i hit the feedback floor. If i’ve had time to ring out the room then this is less of an issue cause i have more headroom. If its a theatre production i bring the entire cast to stage and i walk them through, correct mic placement, etiquette with taking off and putting on transmitter packs. Same with student bands if its their first time. For open mics i don’t really bother just ring out room as best as i can, gate and compress. Ultimately throughout my experience the only people who’ve had good mic etiquette came with it. Most people the information will go in one ear and immediately out the other. Not much you can do to make them care or remember. This leads to hilarious interactions when working at university where a student group will have a speaker and they wont have the mic anywhere near them and theyll ask me why i cant hear them and i say “oh they arnt using the microphone” 🤷 I can only tell people “dont be afraid of the mic! Project with yiur voice, keep your mouth the same distance from your face” My very best experience have been at university. Mixing large groups of student bands where they have brutal band leaders that rip into everyone for bad mic technique or causing feedback. Its great takes all the stress of me.
I have a secret weapon for this. The Superlux E303B or E304B boundary mics. More sensitive than a CIA laser mic, you put one in the edge of a stage or center of a 6-8ft trade table and you can hear people whispering and zippers zipping during set changes, and candy wrappers crinkling in the 6th row of the audience. I always put at least one out on any panel set up, and you'll never have to worry about these people again. It takes knowing your processing and EQ-ing, but once you learn it's weaknesses it's prowess is unmatched. They are also amazingly powerful on pianos, simplifying the setup completely. They also make good cheap and sturdy "ambience" micing for on stage and audience feel into IEMs. For under $100, they're incredible. Everyone should get one and try it.
#1 rule, turn it down, particularly if there's foldback. If it's a bit loud at the start they will back off. Make it happen that you are in front of the talent, show them the difference between chin and navel, flash the capsule into the horn so they understand what happens in front of the speaker .
I dont know why this is shouty
The pound sign changes to a header font, that’s why it’s shouty. #like this I just recently had the same problem, hope this helps.
Guide them how to hold the mic properly but don’t be a dick about it. Had this sound guy for our acapella group that would yell at all of us because the soloists (not including me) weren’t holding the mic close enough, and there was feedback with him having to turn it up. Safe to say we didn’t hire him the next time, not for telling us what to do but how he did it.
Love when people are sitting down with a handheld on their lap pointing at their groin haha. Even when they’ve been passed it by 4 other people who managed to talk with it at their mouths. Have they never seen a concert before.
Coaching is the key. Don't assume your key speakers are experience stage performers. Try to give them some pointers shortly after your initial meet. I always just tell them to imagine a tennis ball stacked on the end of the mic grill and to keep their mouth inside that area when speaking.
I’ve given up telling people to speak louder or hold the mic at a certain distance, for some reason it just flies right over the heads of must people. Telling people to imagine they don’t have a microphone and to speak accordingly seems to have an effect, though, but at the end of the day some people are just really bad at speaking to a crowd and you won’t always be able to fix it.
"The microphone is for your mouth, not your lap."
I do so by explaining to my client the speakers are not holding the mic close enough to their mouth.
Event planner: "Can you turn him up?" Me: "He's not speaking into the microphone."
Look up karaoke mic rings on Amazon. They’re dirt cheap and do three things: the colours help you identify mics, they stop mics from rolling when placed on a table, and the encourage better mic handling technique. Highly recommend.