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How-to Guide to Choosing Vocal Microphones
Which vocal mics to choose, when to use them, and how to coax singers to use them properly.
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Mark Hall of Casting Crowns using a Shure wireless system equipped with a Beta 87c cardioid condenser capsule.
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Singing close-up on a dynamic cardioid or hypercardioid has a “proximity effect” that increases low-mid warmth, often helpful with female vocals. Mic here is an EV PL80A dynamic hypercardioid.
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Christian recording artist Tony Hooper singing through Audio-Technica AE6100 hypercardioid dynamic.
After nearly 35 years in the audio biz (yeah, the beard’s going grey), and after researching several articles on the topic, I can state with confidence that the best vocal microphone for church music applications is ... Whichever one makes the best match For a singer’s voice—at that distance From the microphone, at that angle to the microphone, for that style of music, with that type of stage monitoring, and with that level and density of ambient stage sound. Oh, and choosing one that fits your budget also helps.
Sorry, no, there is no one-size-fits-all “industry standard.” granted, there is one type that works for a broad spectrum of applications and with most voices. But no single microphone is always the best, no matter what. So you have to weigh all the variables before you determine what vocal mics you’ll want to have available, when to use them, and how to coax singers to use them properly. (The last part is often the hardest.) In this article we’ll be concerned only with hand-held (or stand-mounted) microphones: headworns and lavalieres can do the job as well, but that topic deserves its own “how to” article.
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Bruce Borgerson networks around the industry via Wavelength Communications while monitoring technologies at the First United Methodist Church of Ashland, Ore.
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