There’s new AI-based technology that’s been making inroads into the professional sound world over the last year, Defeedback from Alpha Labs. As a sound engineer you should still practise all the usual techniques for avoiding feedback – positioning, equipment choice, EQ and so on, but up until now I used to say to clients that ‘you can’t break the laws of physics’.
Now you can, with some AI processing.
It’s not magic, it doesn’t cancel all feedback, but it does make new scenarios viable.
Where previously you might not have been able to get a mic loud enough, now maybe you can. Where previously you might not have been able to speak in front of the PA, now maybe you can. Where previously the signal from a mic might have had too much background noise and reverb – it’ll be better.
That last point is an interesting one. In actual fact what the processing attempts to do is recognise the voice part of the signal (from its training during R&D), and then cancel other sounds. The other sounds could be feedback, room reverb, air conditioning noise, traffic noise, mic handling noise — they all get cancelled by maybe 6-8dB.
The end result is much cleaner mic signals during non-ideal situations, which include unsuitable positioning, poor mic technique, noisy backgrounds, and reverberant rooms.
Defeedback in Use (Exeter Cathedral, Devon)
Here’s the system running at one of my PA jobs in a cathedral. The speaker position was not ideal (a bit upstage, so the mic was in front), the room is reverberant, and a number of people will use the mic and may not have great technique.
The radio mics (flight-cased) run through the sound mixer on the right. Using digital inserts, the microphone audio is passed through Defeedback running on the laptop, returning ‘cleaned up’ before going out to the PA.
Without Defeedback, some of the audio would have been less clear from room noise and reverb, and I would have had to turn to down when one of the presenters was too much in front of the PA.
I’m offering Defeedback as a standard part of various PA services now. Conferencing and speeches are obvious beneficiaries. Not all sound companies have caught up with this technology yet, but the benefits are huge. Now I can break the laws of physics for you! Contact me for a chat about pricing for PA services for your event.