Stage Microphones

A Crash Course in Stage Mic Techniques for the Live Band

Now that we understand the basics of a mixing board, we need a way to get signals into it… enter the wonderful world of wired and wireless stage microphones. Think of a microphone as an ear. If you are standing right in front of a guitar player on a small stage, the guitar is going to be louder than the other instruments. That's why all the sounds are directed into a mixer… to blend them together. You can't just put a mic anywhere on stage because it will pick up all of the sounds around it equally. If you mic a kick drum a foot in front of the drum, the mic will probably pick up the guitar also. When you try to put more low frequencies in the kick, you will also be adding them to the guitar.

This may seem obvious, but it shows us that microphone placement is VERY important when trying to get the right sort of sound. When a mic on one instrument picks up the sounds of other instruments, we call it bleeding. There are two basic ways that we keep sounds from bleeding on stage.

The first way is to use directional microphones. Directional microphones pick up sound in only one direction (imagine that). Other types of microphones are called omnidirectional (pick up sound equally from all sides) and figure 8 (don't worry about it). There are three types of directional microphones. They are 1) cardioid, 2) hypercardioid, and 3) supercardioid. These are referred to as polar patterns. They determine where the mic picks up most of the sound. For example, a cardioid mic picks up most of its sound from the front of the mic, a little from the sides, and hardly anything from the back. A supercardioid picks up mostly from the front also, but it picks up less from the sides and a more from a narrow area in the back. This will be important when we get to the subject of monitors and feedback.

Besides the polar pattern, there are two basic types of microphones--- Dynamic and condenser. Because of the way they pick up sound, condensers tend to sound a little better, especially in the higher frequencies, however on stage, you will want to use almost all dynamic mics, because:

1) They can handle more abuse

2) They can handle higher sound pressure levels (volumes) such as drums and loud instrument amplifiers

3) They are generally a lot cheaper

I have listed microphones right after mixers, because these are the two important parts of a sound system. If you get good mics and a good mixer, you will be much better off than if you have junky microphones and expensive speakers or amplifiers. This works off one of the most basic rules of sound: Garbage in… garbage out. In other works, if you get a bad sound in the beginning of your sound chain because you have cheap mics, or you put them in a bad location, the best speakers in the world can't do much to make them sound better.

When buying mics, we need to pay special attention to two things: the vocals (especially the lead vocal) and the kick drum. I swear to you that if a sound engineer can get a good solid kick drum sound that hits the audience in the chest, and a vocal that is clear and easy to make out, without being piercing… he can get away with murder after that! I'm not saying that you should just mic the kick and the vocals… but it makes sense to spend more money and pay special attention to the sounds that the crowd is going to immediately lock in to.

As far as kick drum, advances in microphone construction have produced some incredible mics recently. I will make this part very easy on you. Buy either a Shure Beta 52, or a Sennheiser E-602. Either of these mics will make your kick drum sound great (assuming that you use the micing techniques I cover in the other sections). You can expect to pay around two hundred dollars for either one.

For a long time, the AKG D112 was a mainstay of live sound reinforcement. They were great mics, but they just can't stand up against newer technology. There are a number of other microphones you may hear about for kick drum. Many of them are very good, but they all have their faults. For instance, the Audio Technica ATM25 is a great mic, but it distorts at higher SPL's. Stick with the 53 or the E-602.

For lead vocal, you will need a mic that not only sounds good by also rejects other sounds around it, so you don't have guitar and cymbals bleeding into it. You will also need a microphone with good feedback rejection to get the high monitor levels most lead singers like (they just can't get enough of themselves). I recommend the Audix OM-5. Not only does this mic sound good, they pick up very little stage noise, and can be turned way up in the monitors without feedback problems. They're also pretty close to indestructible. They run a little under two hundred dollars. I recommend you look for one used online. (Actually, this is the way I recommend looking for most of the gear you buy.) A friend of my just told me at a show last night that he bought his OM-5 on e-Bay for $80. It's in perfect condition… and that's half what most stores will charge you!

If you can afford to spend a little more, the Shure Beta 87 is a professional stage standard. However, this mic is a little more prone to feedback and tends to pick up a lot of extra stage noise… especially cymbals!

For cheaper backup vocal microphones, there are a number of options. The Shure SM58 is a long time standard, known for its durability. The Audix OM-2 is also a good mic. Both run about a hundred dollars. The most important advice I can give on choosing backup vocal mics is to be realistic about how often they will be used. If the guitar player only sings a few notes during the choruses, don't spend a lot of money that could be put to better use elsewhere. At the same time, don't go and buy a ten dollar mic from Radio Shack, because it will pick up the rest of the instruments on stage and sound like crap, not to mention cause a lot of feedback problems.

For guitar, the Shure SM57 is a tried and true standard. If you can afford to spend a little more money, you can get a Beta57 or an Audix D3, but the SM57 will do the job just fine in most cases. Bass guitar, on the other hand should be run direct. Most bass amps have a direct output built in. If you run into one that doesn't, you can plug the bass into a direct box. There will be an output to run from the box to the bass cab on stage, and a mic output to run into the mixer. Whirlwind makes good direct boxes, or you could just go with a cheaper Rapco or similar box (although I don't recommend it). If you play bass and you're looking for a really good direct box, try a SansAmp Bass Driver. It has a great preamp and EQ circuit, but it's kind of expensive (as far as direct boxes go) for about two hundred dollars.

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