Looking for a mic

[DHSLXOP]

Hi everyone,

We do a song fest every year at my camp where the groups take songs and change the words to be judged by the camp staff. Last year, the judges (in the back of the room) could not hear anything. I decided that I have to make it easier for the judges to hear, and that I would need to figure out how to get better mics.

Last year, we used 4 hand held mics on mic stands. I know that obviously these do not pick up very well (especially when they are at the front of the stage and people are dancing all over the place). I was thinking about using hanging mics, but I realized that the pipes are too high, and, since we don't have a fly rail, it would take a lot of work to hang mics (especially for one day). So I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on a good mic type that I can use to pick up kids around the stage. According to the website, the stage is 22 feet deep, so I wuld need a mic that would pick up both people standing close to them, but also if they were all 22 feet back.

Thanks in advance, and if you cannot understand what I'm asking, please just tell me and I'll rephrase something.

 

[stantonsound]

Unfortunately, there is no "Magic" mic that will do this for you. I wish there was. I have mic-ed musicals with no bodypack/lavs, and we ended up with condensers everywhere (it seamed, at least) and fair sound at best.

I would say give it a try, but sometimes it takes a great deal of work for a one day show. Think about all of the work that goes into setting up a concert at an arena for a couple hour show. Don't be afraid to run some cable and hang a few mics. Also, instructing the actors as to the proper technique for projecting their voices will work even better for smaller shows.

 

[SHARYNF]

There are all sorts of threads re hanging mics and using floor mics etc. So to take a different aspect of this, many times the problem is the room, you have to many reflections that obscure the sound so that it cannot be heard.

Sometimes just draping some material on the sides and especially the rear wall can help, again, this whole area can be pretty complex, but there a lots of rooms with horrible acoustics where no matter what you do mic wise you are not going to get it to work, and addressing some room treatment can make all the difference


John

 

[BillESC]

Depending on your budget, I'd suggest the Audio Technica U853AU. The 90 degree acceptance angle of this cardioid condenser mic allows for greater gain before feedback.

Although designed as a handing mic, they are shipped with a stand adapter. We have used them for a number of production situations mounted to boom stands raised to the max and pointed slightly down.

http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/ca61a0c15b86c1dd/index.html

 

[SHARYNF]

Everyone has theirou own technique for all this, so here is my suggestion and comments.

Typically if you try to put mics on stands along the front of the stage, even with a narrow pattern mic, you wind up with feed back problems since the PA placement of the speakers typically assumes that mics are on stage and back from the front. In addition mics along the front will be quite a bit influenced in level based on where the performer is in relation to the mic, so you will have all sorts of possible level problems, definitely not a set it and for get it

Crown makes floor mics called PCC 160, which work quite well for this type of application since they use the floor surface as the pickup reinforcement

If you were to place several of these along the front of the stage, and again based on the blocking of the production, possible along the sides, it could work well, not be intrusive as mics on stands and more effective

Sharyn