Riaan
Hey guys...this is a real newbie question. Strategies to prevent feedback?
I know that one should not stand in front of, or too close to the amp especially when playing loudly. But what if space or a room's setup doesn't allow that?
My main concern: in a one-room studio, playing DI with direct monitoring, to enjoy the sound it's obviously best to stand right in front of the monitors and play. What about feedback then? How to prevent this?
Now a totally different thing: I've heard guys like David Gilmour use feedback in an artistic way...how on earth do they do that?
AlanRatcliffe
Good question Riaan.
There are two types of feedback from electric guitars, one desirable, one not. The desirable type is when the sound of the guitar from the speakers makes the strings vibrate in sympathy, enhancing sustain and making the guitar a living animal in your hands. At volume, any note you play will feed back and sustain indefinitely. Takes some getting used to, but once you do, there's no going back. The most obvious example of this is the sustained note in the live version of Parisienne Walkways.
The other, undesirable feedback is pickup squeal, which is when the wire coils vibrate around the magnets, making them microphonic. Feedback from microphonic pickups shows up as a high-pitched "squeal" as the sound from the speakers makes the windings move. Pickup coils are usually potted in wax to minimise microphonics, but at extreme levels or with tons of distortion, sometimes even this is not enough. Even well potted pickups used regularly in loud playing situations sometimes have their windings work loose from the constant high level of vibration and become microphonic over time.
High gain players have discovered that as pickup squeal tends to show up when they are not playing (a big problem when you are playing the typical "start-stop" rhythms that are common in metal), that a noise gate can get rid of most of it along with the hiss and hum. As they stop playing, the gate kicks in and cuts the guitar output, stopping the squeal before it starts.
The good news is that in your playing situation, feedback is not usually a problem. Key to either kind of feedback is lots of volume and if you are getting feedback while DIing, you are quite simply monitoring too loud.
Riaan
That's really interesting Alan. I thought Gary Moore used some sort of a sustain pedal to get that long note. I'm only now beginning to appreciate how wide a variety of sounds is possible in the hands of a good player with techique alone, and that not every trick or unique sound is created with effects pedals as I once thought.
