I’m a solo singer performing with backing tracks, using an Allen & Heath SQ5 and in-ear monitoring (IEMs) directly from the console.
I recently bought a DPA d:facto 4018V, and I absolutely love the tone and clarity.
However, I’ve noticed that when I stand too close to my PA speakers, I hear quite a lot of bleed from the PA into the mic.
That bleed reaches my IEMs slightly delayed, causing phase cancellation between the direct mic signal and the sound leaking from the speakers as a result, my vocal sounds thinner and doesn’t cut through my ears properly.
With my Shure Beta 58A, this doesn’t happen the tighter pickup pattern gives me a clean IEM sound without that phasey effect.
I’m already using a gate, but that only helps when I’m not singing.
Has anyone found a good solution or workaround for this on the SQ5, when using a DPA d:facto (or other condenser mics) in live solo setups?
Any advice is welcome I think many singers experience this without realizing it’s caused by latency and mic bleed. but what can I do about on the SQ5 & CQ serie ?
This is more a mic placement and pick-up/pattern issue than something to do with the SQ. You could however, add a commensurate delay to your IEM mix, the amount being proportionate to the FoH to mic distance.
Your console can’t distinguish between your direct voice and the one delayed by the entire signal processing plus the natural sound propagation time through your speakers.
I believe the best and easiest way to avoid phase problems caused by the inevitable overlay of the two signals is simply not to get “too close” to your speakers.
You actually try to keep the already critical latency of an IEM as low as possible.
That’s why I don’t understand adding an additional delay to the IEM.
Because adding an appropriate delay to your IEM feed means that the audio arriving in your ears will be more likely to be coincident with the audio arriving via the mic pick-up/bleed from the FoH. Given you said the IEM feed is direct from the mixer, it will arrive in your ears much earlier than the bleed from the FoH ;because that has the mixer/Pa latency plus the time for the audio to cover the air-gap twixt speaker & mic.
Unfortunately, I don’t quite follow you.
My understanding of the problem is that the original voice and the voice coming from the speaker are hitting the same microphone, overlaying in the microphone channel, and thus causing phase issues in that channel.
In my opinion, this can’t be corrected in any way during live performance.
And regardless of that, any additional latency or delay in the IEM is pure poison for any singer.
Because adding an appropriate delay to your IEM feed means that the audio arriving in your ears will be more likely to be coincident with the audio arriving via the mic pick-up/bleed from the FoH. Given you said the IEM feed is direct from the mixer, it will arrive in your ears much earlier than the bleed from the FoH because that has the mixer/Pa latency plus the time for the audio to cover the air-gap twixt speaker & mic
Regarding your 1st answer:
It could well be close to a feedback, but it doesn’t seem to be happening yet.
And the 2nd:
I don’t see it that way.
It’s just the wrong microphone position.
Delaying the IEM mix would only make things worse in this case.
Singing directly on top of the mic so you can lower the mic gain, not getting so close to the mains, going with a different mic all in some combination would help.
The obvious answer is: Avoid standing too close to your loudspeakers.
For reasons of bleed, gain before feedback etc.
We have a bunch of the 4018VLs at my gig, great mic. It has a very extended response compared to something like a beta58, and that is likely why you are perceiving more audible phasing.
Most productions going with in-ears do a fair bit to reduce main PA bleed on stage - this cleans up the signals from the stage mics and as a result makes the ears mix cleaner and easier to manage.
Even if you didn’t like the other answers, I’d like to mention something else that caught my attention.
Thomann mentions in passing that “The d:facto is also available with a … capsule that, with its double omnidirectional polar pattern, is suitable for interview situations”.
So depending on where you bought it (e.g. also second-hand), it could well have a different polar pattern on board, the one you expected, which would also explain your bleeding problem.
Nevertheless, depending on your genre, speaker systems, room and volume, you might not experience any noticeable feedback issues.
It’s quite unlikely, but certainly possible.
There are three components to what you’re hearing: the PA, the IEMs and internal bone conduction (in conjunction with the direct mouth to ear sound. The IEM latency issue becomes a problem between your direct hearing and the IEM audio - shorter is better. The latency between the mic and the speakers (internal electronic) is going to be pretty short, and can only be increased with delay. The biggest contributor is probably the acoustic travel time through air; around 1 ms per foot. If you’re getting comb filtering or phasing in your IEMs, it’s most likely a bleedback sending the original vocal sound and the resend of the speaker’s sound through the mic. There’s nothing that will help this electronically. Mic pattern and speaker placement are pretty much it.
You might consider some heavy EQ on the IEMs making the bleed less annoying.
