Hey guys;

I have been away for quite a while. I've revisited because I have a few audio questions. As I recall, this community was not only a great place for SAC advice and education, but the combined experience of this forum was a great place to post general audio questions.

I've been gone for a while, but never moved away from my love for music....

As I'm sure you're all well aware, I'm not just an audio engineer, but I'm a professional musician, as well. It's funny how these two jobs seem to ebb and flow. If the band thing declines, the audio engineering gigs come in, and vice versa. Lately, I've been doing more mixing than performing.

Audio equipment has certainly changed....

As I'm sure you're all well aware, there are many digital offerings on the market these days. Behringer seems to have the lion's share of the "budget conscious" music community. Though I still haven't purchased any of their digital offerings (and honestly don't plan to unless I can integrate it with SAC), I still have - and occasionally use - my ADA 8K's and 8.2K's. I don't mix on SAC as often as I used to, but I DO get to occasionally dust that rig off. It's always solid. I love it. That said....

Because of the low price point, most of my band clients have purchased their own X32's (in varying permutations) and QSC speakers. Where I once used to provide an entire P.A. system for a price I'm ashamed to publish here, for the same fee, I now show up with a pair of iPads, which either allow me to mix virtually, or amend Behringer's X32 consoles. Regardless of the digital console I mix on (all Presonus and Berhringer offerings so far), nothing equals the power of SAC. I look forward to seeing what leaps SAC has made in the past couple years I have been absent.

My questions...

On occasion I do Public Address work for a pastor, who is one of my better clients. While running sound in his church is pretty easy, he also hires me for one of the most difficult gigs I have ever done in my life. He occasionally holds "church" at our state capital building. Aesthetically-speaking, the building is opulent and beautiful. Acoustically-speaking, this is a worst-case scenario. I don't think I could design a better reverb chamber with 360° of marble in all directions, and a 60' ceiling in a room which represents a large cylinder. This, combined with low-talkers who stand far from the microphone make this gig a nightmare. Like most of you, I can do dozens of gigs without so much as a squeak of feedback (Exception made when I ring out a room, which purposely generates very low levels of feedback). But this gig gets me every time. I never allow "runaway feedback," but the looming frequencies (which I dial out, but after pulling 5 or 6 frequencies, I can see I'm just chasing my own tail) are the bane of my existence.

I know a large part of the problem is the SM58 I'm using, which simply is not designed for poor public speakers in a large reverb hall. I know no microphone out there is perfect, but can anybody in this forum recommend a better mic for this situation? Out of desperation, I've thought about building something with a parabola behind it to narrow its acoustic "field of view." I'm looking for something with a very narrow cardioid (30° perhaps?) that I can mount to a podium and literally aim at the speaker's mouth. I know such a rig is ridiculous, but there has to be either a microphone or a way of creating a very narrow acoustic "field of view" that's both practical, not over-the-top expensive, and aesthetically non-offensive.

The fact that there was massive feedback at the new CIA Director's swearing in this morning makes me believe that there is no such solution. If THOSE audio engineers, with their vast experience and unlimited budgets, can't reel in feedback issues from low talkers in bad acoustic situations, how the heck can I?

Keep in mind, the preacher is a great speaker with good mic technique (hand held). And his strong voice makes podium-mounted mic situations workable. It's his guest speakers, who often have very little public speaking experience, who are the bane of my engineering existence. Gaining them up to an audible level is a real challenge.

I think starting with a better mic will help. I've avoided condenser mic's, but maybe that's the direction I should take????

I'm purposely using K8's for their wide dispersion, (so everyone can hear). But maybe I should rethink this and use my K12's? I'm concerned front-row-center will not benefit from the amplification.

Thanx a ton for any help you can give. It's good to be back.