How to Get Feedback Out of My Contact Mic

Produce feedback with a contact mic by causing sonic vibrations in the body of your instrument.

Contact microphones are small microphones used to amplify the sound of acoustic instruments. Whereas other types of microphones pick up sound as sound waves vibrating air molecules, contact mics work by picking up the vibration of the body of the instrument itself. For this reason, it is more difficult to produce audio feedback using a contact mic than it is with another mic, but it is still possible if you are able to make the contact mic's loudspeaker output vibrate the body of the instrument.

Instructions

1. Prepare by inserting musician's earplugs into your ears.

2. Turn up the volume on the loudspeaker through which the contact mic's output will come. Make sure the volume is loud when you play your instrument, but not loud enough to damage the speaker.

3. Stand directly in front of the loudspeaker. Get as close as you possibly can.

4. Play your instrument. The sound waves from the loudspeaker should vibrate the body of the instrument, producing feedback.

5. Experiment with feedback to find a sound of your liking. Step back from the loudspeaker to reduce the effect and closer to the loudspeaker to increase it.

Tips & Warnings

• Always wear ear protection when playing loud music.

• Do not turn the volume on your loudspeaker or amplifier up too loud when experimenting with feedback or you could damage the device.

References

• Violin Microphones: What To Use - How to Use Them
• Astralsound: Microphones in Live Sound