Re: [Callers] sound equipment [Callers Digest, Vol 36, Issue 1]

Hi all-- Been providing sound equipment for about half the dances I do, many of them private gigs in all sorts of indoor and outdoor locations. In really live setting, like old mostly-concrete school gymnasiums, the most valuable tool in my rack is the 31-band equalizer, which I've learned to use moderately well to identify and suppress the sound frequencies that echo loudest and cause feedback. The process ("ringing out") is tedious and I'm wondering if anyone's been using a digital "feedback-destroyer" sort of appliance to automate the task. The trickiest part of setting up has been adjusting monitor placement and levels for the musicians. They usually ask me to make adjustments after the dance is in progress. Give them too much, and the mics start picking it up, sometimes creating a shower-stall reverb effect or feedback. My dream: inconspicuous wireless monitor headsets with volume controls for musicians. Besides that, I've seen enough other people's rigs to realize that usually you get what you pay for, quality-wise. I started out with cheapo mics and found that replacing them with Shures made a huge difference. My first speaker stands were very affordable, but the knurled knobs to clamp the poles in place gradually stripped their threads so they're now history. Haven't gone to a wireless mic yet, but someday! Whenever I can, I do small gigs with no equipment at all, perhaps like the era when this genre of music and dance was more or less contemporary... Chip Hedler