Vocal mics

[Terry Griffith]

Hi,
I'm having a bit of a debate, mostly with myself, about vocal mics.  Last year our good friend and marvelous musician, "Cast in Bronze" was about 50 feet from my stage where I sing and play Irish music, some acapella.  As much as I love his music, if we didn't have amplification, we would have been useless on the Pirate Pub Stage at Morelandshire.  You just can't compete with 9 tons of bells without mundane equipment. 

The wireless lovelier mics we were given presented several problems ranging from feedback to bleeding into another stage's system.  I think I have solved both problems with a face mike that plugs in to the pa.  The appearance of the thing is what has me perplexed and maybe someone else's opinion will help me decide. 

It's a black small mic only about an inch square and a black wire to hold it close to me face.  I have a dark beard so it's not that obvious from strait on but if you catch me from the side it looks like Garth Brooks on acid or Britney Spears sober.  I'm afraid the image will be lost because of it's obviousness.  On the other hand, she wore a glove...sorry... on the other hand, the lovelier was hidden but so far below my mouth that it had to be turned way up and that caused feedback at certain angles.  It was a constant problem.  Not to mention that just as I was doing a take off of "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life"  (the line "life's a piece of sh*t if you look at it") the children's stage over the hill picked up my signal and a few toddlers went home with a new word.  The wire coming down my back and plugged into another wire on the floor breaks the picture but I won't get arrested for contributing.

What say you?  If you have to have amplification, what do you prefer besides the dreaded vine covered boom mic.

[troubadude]

I've seen and used a lot of various mic's at festivals (in garb and in "street clothing").  My preference is a wireless Lavalier placed as close to the mouth as possible.  When I was with TomLori, we doubled them (used one on each side).  We would hide the mic's in our garb as close to the mouth as possible, one on each side, and run the cable under our garments to the "sending unit" which we hid in a bag on our belts.  We set the gain just high enough to pick-up the signal, then up a notch, and have had little to no problems with feedback.  I've seen many others at faires use this set-up, it may take a little time to make all the adjustments, but it's worth it. . .

If others are using wireless mic's, you will just need to make sure you coordinate frequencies with other wireless users. 

Good luck, and I hope this helps, 

Tom
Troubadude

[bunnie]

Hey Terry;

There's a style of headset mic that is tiny & flesh coloured; and sounds great. I've used the Sennheiser one; it's brilliant.
It's tiny; about 1/4 inch at the base and barely noticeable. Unless however you have a big bushy beard. That's why God Invented Sharpie Markers. Lol. Just kdding. They come in all sizes & colours.

[Terry Griffith]

T'anks, Bunnie.  Google found them for me.  Now I know why I can't find them in my local pick and string store.  Man, are they pricey.  Guess I'll save my farthings until I can afford one.  Those are small enough that I could just about hide one IN my beard.  At that price, there shouldn't be any feedback or bleed problems.  They must be what I'm seeing people on TV using for big productions like the new Stage show, "Celtic Thunder", which is marvelous btw.  If you Google Celtic Thunder, you will find videos on YouTube and that's what they are using.  There is a chorus of like 20 people and they all have those mics.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

A proper Irish troubadour would have his mic hidden in the neck of a nancy flask. Jus sayin'

[Terry Griffith]

I tried that but the rum kept shorting out the wireing.

[aerial angels]

I really like the Countryman E6 Isomax that you are talking about - we switched to them a couple years ago and they've been a boon - very little feedback unless we're facing into a speaker, and pretty much invisible from past the front row. We use the earset version and a piece of clear medical tape to anchor them to our faces because we hang upside down and move around a lot.

The best prices I've found are buying them second hand from churches or on ebay. I pay about $200-250 each, which is 1/2 to 2/3 retail, and you can pick up the packs and receivers on ebay, too, for under $200 each.  I really like Shure.

The best part about the Countryman mics is that the cords are replaceable - you don't have to switch mics to switch packs/receivers, and if your cord goes bad, it's a 50-dollar cord instead of a $500 mic you have to replace.

Yes, they are darn expensive up front. But soooo easy, classy, quality and worth it.

[Terry Griffith]

Sweet. 

I'll keep an eye on Ebay.  There is only one up for bid now and the bid is $147 but I'm sure that will change soon.  Do you know if it has to be used wireless or can it be connected to an XLR cable some how.  If it could, I could put the body pack and receiver off until after the season when I could afford it.

Thanks for the tip.

[aerial angels]

www.countryman.com, and you can call them and ask - as far as I know, they are wireless and need a pack.

[aerial angels]

There is also a much cheaper mic called an OSP HS-09 (I think - ebay search countryman and there's one lower down) - that gives you similar performance and look for quite a bit less - you can get them new online for around $169-229.

[BrotherDonald]

April 9, 2009--I just came back from doing the three day weekend at the Norman Medieval Faire.  For the first time in many years, I went back over to the dark side and used a microphone and amplifier.  The Norman show sometimes sees more than 50,000 people in a day and it is very noisy and very dusty.  I bought a battery powered amplifier and a wireless microphone specifically for use at this show. 

I found the amplifier/microphone on Ebay and was wary about buying it.  Its so cheap.  The amplifier has a   battery that holds a charge for ten hours.  The microphone sending unit works on a 9 volt battery that is supposed to last for 10 hours.  I know that it lasts for at least 7.   The amplifier plugs into a wall socket to recharge its battery and it will also recharge rechargeable 9 volt batteries.  I like this unit a lot.  In some ways, the mike is better than a Sennheiser mike that I paid over $500 for.  The amp comes with a nylon carrying bag with a shoulder strap.  You can leave the amp in the bag while you're using it.

Its listed on Ebay as, "110 Watt Portable Wireless PA Speaker Microphone System."  You can find it in an Ebay store:  microphone-usa.  This URL works today but maybe not by the time you read this post:
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/microphone-usa#item370155446982  I got the 110 watt unit, there are smaller and larger units available.

The amplifier comes with three wireless microphones:  a hand held, a lavaliere and a headset.  The amp also has other inputs with separate volume controls.  The amp also includes a cassette deck so you can record your performance or you can play background music.  The total price for everything is Buy it Now for $149.  Free shipping.  If you buy one, don't use it near me.  I don't think the radio frequency is adjustable but I'm not entirely sure about that.

[isaacfawlkes]

Terry

I have used both a headset and a regular lav mic at fair. The headset is better in dealing with feedback, the lav is less visable and easy to hide in you garb. For many years i hid my headset mic under the brim of my hat. Many other perfromers were not even aware that is was there.

To solve the bleedin of signals you must coordinate with other people using a wireless receiver. I have tried to solve the problem by using a receiver that has 10 different channels. I use an Audio Technica. I has worked very well and is easy to change the channel. I highly recommend it.

The feedback problem can be helped by adjusting you speaker placement (if your lucky enough to have some control over that)

Good luck I have worked with Frank too. He is great but loud.

Isaac