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[Gary Merker]

We have a nine-piece rock band with horns (lead, rhythm, bass, kb, drums, trumpet, sax/flute, and two trombones.)  Until now the horns stood in a line to stage right of the drums.  One of the bones also sings both lead and backup.  We had him on the end.  When he sang he would walk from the end to center stage where we had a vocal mike for him.  I have been using 57's for the brass (87's for the sax/flute) and 58's for the vocals.

We are going to move him permanently to center stage.  He wants a separate mike for the bone and one for vocals.  Is this a big deal?  I would rather he used two mikes so I don't have to constantly change a single mike from vocal to bone and back.

Is there a best way to handle this?  Should I set his 57 away maybe 3 feet from the vocal?  Should I set them close and try to mute whichever he isn't using?  I am concerned about this as with 9 musicians to handle I am afraid I will miss something with him or them.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[Eric Snodgrass]

I see no problem with setting the bone mic a few feet from the vocal mic.  He can't play and sing at the same time so the time it takes him to travel from the bone mic to the vocal mic should be enough for you to mute one and unmute the other.  You shouldn't be nervous about missing a pickup with him on this kind of setup.  I think that after the first few times doing this new stage setup he will fall into a pattern of mic use that you will notice so you will be able to hit your mic pickups almost automatically.  

Have you considered purchasing one of the many clipon mics for his bone?  Just clip it onto his bell.