Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums > LAB Lounge FUD Forum Archive

Best way for me to handle choirs

(1/3) > >>

Mike Jenkins:
Hi all,

I am going to be doing an event soon which will have a couple of choirs either singing along to music on an ipod or to a band.

The last time I tried to mic these choirs I had huge problems with vocal levels and feedback.

Non of the choirs are professional and some members do not project very well. The kit I have at my disposal for this is 3 tyoes of Shure mic, I am not sure what the best choice is going to be so some advice is sought.

I have 3 SM57s, 3 SM58s and 3 PG81s, these will be going into a Roland V-mixer M400 so I do have some EQ control and can add compression if needed.

My preference would be to use the SM58s but I am not sure if these would work best or if a mix of the mics would be better.

Jordan Wolf:
Mike Jenkins wrote on Tue, 22 February 2011 08:18

The last time I tried to mic these choirs I had huge problems with vocal levels and feedback.

Non[e] of the choirs are professional and some members do not project very well.

A common statement here is "fix the problem at the source".  If they're not willing to do that, you're going to have a hard time improving on whatever quality (or lack thereof) you got last time.
Quote:
The kit I have at my disposal for this is... 3 SM57s, 3 SM58s and 3 PG81s...

I say stick with the PG81s and use the SM58s for solos.

Quote:
[T]hese will be going into a Roland V-mixer M400 so I do have some EQ control and can add compression if needed.

Precise use of EQ can definitely help with GBF...I don't think compression will be your friend in this instance, however.  Better to leave it out of the equation.

My take on miking choirs: no mics until I can hear them from some reasonable distance without reinforcement. I'd be inclined to tell the choir director(s) that they're not getting mics if the vocalists aren't willing to sing loud enough for them to be useful.  That, or they pay for more mics and every third person gets one...or something like that.

Good luck, be patient, and use them thar people skills!  

David A. Parker:
I've had some experience with these type situations. I too would go for the PG81's, although I've used '58's before on choirs if that was all I had, and it works ok. One thing about bands and choirs, the band will always be louder than the choir, so if the band is behind the choir, you'll pick up more band with your choir mics than choir. The loudest source always wins. The band needs to be in front of the choir, and the choir mics behind the band.

Silas Pradetto:
This should be helpful:

 http://www.prosoundweb.com/site/choir_microphone_techniques_ optimizing_in_challenging_situations/

I own a couple of the variable pattern mics mentioned in the article, and I can put my fanboy hat on and say, without a doubt, "holy crap, these are the best mics I've ever used".

I've had so many examples of how those variable-pattern mics worked wonders that I can't even list them all.

One situation is where I used one of them, behind the mains about 10 feet, to mic an entire drum kit, and was able to get "rock toms" in the mains with no issue.

Jordan Wolf:
Silas Pradetto wrote on Tue, 22 February 2011 13:38
One situation is where I used one of them, behind the mains about 10 feet, to mic an entire drum kit, and was able to get "rock toms" in the mains with no issue.

Like the ones Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom"?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page