[Scott Dorsey]

DanielleOM wrote:

Although I have used a DAW compressor, I have not used one in a live sound
setting. I host a weekly open mic in Windsor, CT. It seems I always get a
few people with tremendous dynamic range where they go from almost a whisper
to screaming vocals.

Any one use one for that type of environment?

Yes, it can work. BUT... remember that when it's quiet and the compressor
is wide open and you have all that make-up gain going on, you have just
reduced the system gain before feedback by that much. So you need to start
out with a quiet system that has plenty of room before feedback in the
first place.

You may find limiting is more effective than compression, depending on
the performer. You may not.

A judicious hand on the fader and a copy of the score is still required
no matter what... the use of compression does not eliminate the need for
the operator to pay attention to what they are doing and ride the faders,
but it can make that job easier. It can also make it harder. Try it out
and see.

If you have huge amounts of gain before feedback and unskilled performers,
one solution can be to use an area mike pulled way back from them, like
a 441 maybe two feet away from their main mike. For singer-songwriters
in a small room this can work very well, you just mute the main mike and
get a very natural sound from the distant mike, and bad mike technique
of all kinds becomes less of an issue.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."