Maximizing the amount of sound my PA produces

[LTJ386]

The PA my band uses is never loud enough to hear the vocals very clearly, even with amps on low volumes and no drums. Vocals are the only thing we are running through the PA. We have two speakers similar to these. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Live/Sound/Speakers?sku=601389
I know those speakers could get pretty loud. We try to turn the mic volume up as much as possible until it starts feeding, but the vocals never seem to cut through. What could be the problem?

This is our mixer
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Live/Sound/Mixers?sku=634246

[isojoe420]

I don't see why that wouldnt work out for you. Seems like a good setup to me. Especially if all you are running only vocals. Have you tried messing around with the EQ and other settings on that mixer?

[Hadji]

You probably have poor eq, mic positioning, and speaker positioning.

[LTJ386]

You probably have poor eq, mic positioning, and speaker positioning.

Where exactly would we want these things to get maximum use out of our PA?

[Nicko_Shmicko]

Where exactly would we want these things to get maximum use out of our PA?
turn down the highs can generally help with feedback and your mic should never be pointed at your speakers.

[Idle Mind]

Yeah like people said, make sure none of the mics are pointing towards the speakers...if possible get the back of the mic pointing directly towards the speakers because thats where the mic will pick up least sound.

Use the small graphic EQ on your mixer...turn the mics up until you start getting feedback, take a guess at what frequency it is and cut that back, if you suck at telling the frequency then just go through and turn each of the sliders right down on the EQ one by one, and see which one gets rid of that feedback, turn that frequency back up til just below it starts feeding back so you're not affecting the actual sound too much. Then turn the mics up some more til they feedback again and it should be a different frequency this time, repeat everything above until they're loud enough.

Sometimes dodgy mic technique can cause feedback too..like if you're holding the mic with your hand over some of the grill, that's affecting the mic's response, so try to avoid doing it, and try not to shove the mic right in your mouth either, just sing close to it.

[diesel]

Other little tricks from an audio engineer.

Lay one speaker down on the floor and point it up, with a low ceiling it'll reflect most of your sound down and into whatever is behind you, if it's open space, carpet, or drummer, you should get quite a bit of gain. If it's a nice hard flat wall, you're going to get all your sound right back at you. You might have to re-arrange yourselves into a performance arrangement to get the speakers to stay out of the mics.

You can use a little EQ to cure a little feedback, but even with a 31 band EQ, you won't get as much gain as you're looking for. The only time an EQ will cure that much feed back is when you pull back the master level fader on it. The one thing I think every band should consider is going with headphone monitoring for rehearsal, or even in-ear monitors (IEMs) for the more lavish bands. Most head phone mixers can take a few signals, so with a little creative work with your mixer, you could tweak mixes so everyone gets what they want to hear. Plus, with everyone in cans, you can have everything much quieter for the rehearsal, which makes things so much easier when it comes to parents/neighbours.

[LTJ386]

bump