In this piece, I want to take some time and talk about microphones, specifically wired mics.
The great thing about a wired mic for vocals is you can choose whatever sounds best for a vocalist.
Now I realize that a lot of you are using wireless microphones for your vocals, and there are some great things about doing that, if you have five or six vocals onstage that are only singing. Among other things, it can really keep the stage clean and help avoid a trip hazard for your pastor. But there are some real advantages to using wired microphones for vocals that I want to cover, along with microphone choices for the rest of the band.
When I think about microphone selection, there are a few things that help determine what mic to choose for a particular source.
Polar patterns would be one that I would think about, depending on the input source. For instance, I might prefer to use a hypercardioid microphone on toms or snare drums, to help keep cymbal and hi-hat bleed to a minimum. Dynamic or condenser mics are another option to consider, depending on the source. It would probably work better to mic a violin or cello with a condenser, than using a dynamic mic, like a Shure SM57.
Size would be another thing I would look at, such as if the drum set is huge, with a lot of cymbals. Larger mics like a Sennheiser 421, would not work as well in such a setup, compared to a Shure Beta 98. In addition, if I'm in a loud volume situation, a microphone's gain before feedback is something that becomes important.
The thing that I think about the most, though, when choosing a microphone, is its frequency response. Not just how high or low of a frequency response something has, but its sonic signature or character that is inherent to a particular microphone. It is the first EQ choice that you are making in your signal path, well before you touch your audio console.
With that in mind, I'd like to jump back into some advantages that wired vocal microphones offer over wireless mics. Normally, when you are selecting wireless microphones, you are looking at a system that has only a few mic head or element options for it, usually amounting to only one or two choices. Then you are also selecting a system, thinking about how many wireless frequencies you are going to be using, which also then limits your options when choosing a microphone or microphones.
The great thing about a wired mic for vocals is you can choose whatever sounds best for a vocalist. So, you might have a Beta 87 for one vocalist, a Heil PR 22 for another and a Neumann KMS 105 for another.
For instance, if you have a vocalist that doesn't have a lot of high frequency content to their voice, something like a Shure SM58 probably is not going to be a good choice, but something like a Beta 87 would be a better option. Likewise, if you have a vocalist who has a thin sounding voice, choosing a microphone that did not have a lot of hyped higher frequencies, but had more low mids to it, would work better.
The same thought process applies to choosing microphones for electric guitar amps. Let's take three microphones that are popular for such setups, the Shure SM57, the Sennheiser 421 and the Sennheiser e609. While these are all good mics, they sound completely different, because of their frequency response. But once you have become familiar with how each microphone sounds, and the sonic signature that each has, you can better choose when and where to use it. Take the 421, for example, as it has less midrange and does a better job with low-end than either the SM57 for the e609.
If you are trying to get more from the bottom end out of an amp, or if an amp just has way too much midrange, the 421 could be a perfect choice. Likewise, if you have a guitarist who has scooped his mids, or backed off of them, and it's just not sitting well in the mix because of the lack of midrange, the SM57, with its focused midrange, could fix that for you. Sometimes, a guitarist has a tone that is well-balanced on the lows and the lower midrange, but the upper midrange is very dark, taking away any kind of clarity or sparkle from the sound. In those times, the e609 can really shine and be a wonderful tool, before you ever grabbed an EQ slider on your console.
For drums, the same thing applies with regard to mic selection. What sound is the drum making and what sound are you trying to reproduce in the mix? There are a bunch of wonderful microphones that are made for kick drums, too many to list here. So, let's just look at a few, the differences between them, and how those differences can help your mix.
For many years, the standard was the AKG D112 and it is still very popular. It does have what is considered a scooped mid or "smiley face" EQ curve to it, but it does not have as much low-end or is as extreme as some of the newer kick drum specific mics. This can be great, though, if you have a kick drum that has too much low end, causing feedback issues for you, or it's all over the bass guitar in your mix. The D112 could be the perfect choice to help clean that up.
The Shure Beta 52 is also an extremely popular kick drum mic. When compared to the D112, it has more midrange taken out of it, but also has a lot more low-end boost to it. Part of its signature is that it produces more 80-125Hz range than some of the other kick drum microphones, which gives it a warmer or fuller sound. For instance, the Audix D6 (which is also great on floor toms) has a scooped mid sound to it, and a lot of bottom, but is not nearly as warm in that 80-125Hz region. Depending on the drum, the subs in your system and the room, the mix and what is needed, this is either a good thing or a bad thing.
The Sennheiser e602 is also a popular microphone, and it is also the most extreme sounding of the bunch. It has a very exaggerated scooped midrange, with a top end boost, and a ton of low end. When I first started using this mic, I described it as the Metallica kick drum sound. Previously, I had been using the Audix D6, which in comparison sounded very tame and subdued. I decided to try it for a rehearsal, and found that even though it was a drastic change, it worked better for the particular group I was mixing, given the instrumentation of the rest of the group. The drastic reduction of midrange content kept things clear for a group that consisted of a ton of vocals and instruments. It also sat below the bass guitar in the mix, and offered a completely different sound on a kick drum, that on its own lacked a lot of low end, especially in the 40-50Hz area.
We could go on and on about the different characteristics of popular microphones, and how they might apply to different situations.
I hope you can see the freedom of choice, though, that using wired microphones does give you, allowing you to pick what will sound best on each source.
Maybe while working on your budgets for next year, you will put some money aside to purchase a few more vocal or instrument microphones for use in your worship space that are different than what you are currently using, to give you more sonic options to help you mix.