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In Reply to: Help with over microphone use. posted by Chris ... Oppdal on March 4, 2002 at 14:37:56:
Individual mics for 75 people is crazy. Forget the cost, no sound guy in his right mind would be willing to mix that many singers at once. Here are a couple of other ideas you might want to consider.What works best for me in most situations is to use a few high quality cardioid condensors on tall boom stands (I like lighting stands cause they don't tip over as easy) a few feet in front of the choir placed as high as the heads of the people in the back row and aimed at the the heads of the people in the back row. The idea is that the people who are farthest away from the mics are on axis with the mic (it's most sensitive direction). The people who are closer (and would otherwise be louder) are off axis from the mic which drops their level some. If you position the mics correctly this will give you a fairly even mix. Obviously this only works if your choir is on risers. Don't try this if they are all on the same level, then you will need overhead mics which don't work as well.
Never violate the 3 to 1 rule. This means that any time mics are used for groups of people they must be 3 times as far apart from each other as they are from the people you are trying to pick up. If you get the mics too close together you will get nasty sounding phase cancellations from individuals being picked up in more than one mic. The 3 to 1 rule limits the total number of mics you can use pretty quickly.
Don't put the choir in their own monitor mix. The choir monitor is for them to hear the band, not themselves. They need to be listening to the people around them to be able to blend well. If they can't hear themselves, then get the band to turn down their on stage amps (you may need to go to in ear monitors for the band members). Another thing that can really help are portable sound panels. These are available in lots of different shapes and what they do is make the choirs environment sound smaller and more intimate (more like the rehersal room). These can be a God send, especially if you have to play in lots of different venues since they isolate the choir from the stage noise of the band and reflect the sound of the choir back on to themselves so they can hear themselves better.
It may not hurt to give your soloist their own mics, if you do then you can experiment with using a little of them in the choir monitor mix (sometimes it can help struggling singers stay in key). If you notice choir members sticking fingers in their ears while singing then they can't hear themselves.
Phil
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Follow Ups
- Re: Help with over microphone use. - Haldor 16:03:55 03/14/02 (0)
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