JLNorthGA
Active Member
We had an act in this past weekend. "Hard Travelin' with Woody" - basically a one man act with the actor singing and performing as Woody Guthrie. It was a really nice short act (~ 1 hour). What was interesting was that he just used one microphone. He had a Sterling Audio ST55 - which is basically a recording microphone. It was mounted in his shock mount on one of our stands.
The sound was excellent. He didn't need a SM57 or a DI box for his guitar. He didn't need anything for his harmonicas. He just played, sang and talked in front of the ST55. I was quite impressed with the frequency response. I was also impressed with the vocal and instrumental quality. Again, it was the only microphone he used.
For most musical acts - we use an instrumental microphone or they plug into a DI box and we feed from that to the stage snake. We have vocal microphones for the singing. I realize that having only one input might be problematic - you couldn't really balance the vocals with the instrument.
But what was nice was that he could move around quite a bit. This got me to thinking. Would this work for small group a cappella singing? Like a quartet? Do y'all think this would be reasonable for a single performer singing and playing on an acoustic instrument? At $200 for a package, it isn't cheap - but you'd be effectively replacing two microphones, so the cost is essentially the same. Once the microphone was set, that would be it. It is fragile. But the sound is REALLY nice.
Opinions?
Sterling Audio ST55 Large Diaphragm FET Condenser Mic | Musician's Friend
The sound was excellent. He didn't need a SM57 or a DI box for his guitar. He didn't need anything for his harmonicas. He just played, sang and talked in front of the ST55. I was quite impressed with the frequency response. I was also impressed with the vocal and instrumental quality. Again, it was the only microphone he used.
For most musical acts - we use an instrumental microphone or they plug into a DI box and we feed from that to the stage snake. We have vocal microphones for the singing. I realize that having only one input might be problematic - you couldn't really balance the vocals with the instrument.
But what was nice was that he could move around quite a bit. This got me to thinking. Would this work for small group a cappella singing? Like a quartet? Do y'all think this would be reasonable for a single performer singing and playing on an acoustic instrument? At $200 for a package, it isn't cheap - but you'd be effectively replacing two microphones, so the cost is essentially the same. Once the microphone was set, that would be it. It is fragile. But the sound is REALLY nice.
Opinions?
Sterling Audio ST55 Large Diaphragm FET Condenser Mic | Musician's Friend