PA system noise reduction?

[wretchedspawn]

What are my options for reducing the hiss coming from the PA system? With our setup we had it where it was completely silent when we weren't playing. But now, since we have a vocalist, everytime there is a stop or in between songs the hiss from the PA drives me crazy....even when its only there a little. So what can I do?
Thanks.

~Garret

 

[MF_Kitten]

get a volume pedal for the microphone maybe? so when he´s not singing, he can turn it down...

 

[wretchedspawn]

Though that would eliminate noise from the mic it isn't going to eliminate the noise from the PA itself, which is where about 95% of the noise is coming from.

 

[MF_Kitten]

well, then it´s just a noisy PA i guess... maybe the problem is that the mic signal coming in to the PA is too low, and you have to turn it up to get the right volume, thereby making hiss... if you try to turn the mic signal going IN to the pa up, but not too much, you don´t want it all distorted, then you´ll get more mic sound, less PA noise...

 

[wretchedspawn]

I'll give that a shot.

 

[MF_Kitten]

well? what happened?

 

[Tombinator]

I know that dirty preamps and any of the pots in the signal chain can cause unwanted noise. Using outboard equalizers, then finding the proper frequency and cutting it out can also help. Could also be the cables.

How do you have everything hooked up? Are you running this through the FoH?

 

[Christopher]

Sounds like a gain staging issue. My best assumption guess is that the PA you're using doesn't have nearly enough horsepower to keep up with the back line and so you have to gain the vocal mic up to extremes to keep up. More gain will bring up the noise floor.

Can you give us a quick and dirty on the system?

What mic are you using for the vocals?

What does the back line look like?

Are you having feedback issues as well?

Is the noise hiss or hum?