As Easter approaches, church tech teams are oftentimes asked to tackle more elaborate audio requirements than usual.
If you've been asked to mic up a 50-person tambourine choir or a baritone kazoo ensemble, this article is not for you. But maybe you're going to be mic'ing an orchestra or a choir, for the first time ever or in a larger configuration, and you'd like some advice. Or perhaps you're going to be holding services outside or even at another venue, and you'd like to be prepared. Those are exactly the kinds of scenarios this article covers.
Mic'ing up an orchestra and subsequently getting a natural-sounding orchestra mix through the PA can be a real challenge. Orchestras, of course, were never intended to be mic'ed in the first place. In a proper orchestra hall, a well-sized orchestra usually needs no amplification to sound beautiful. The problem comes when we are in venues that are not acoustically designed for orchestra reproduction, or when we have the orchestra competing with band instruments—or worse, both. It is almost inevitable then that we will have to mic and amplify some or all of the orchestra in these situations.
A Little Band or a lot?
In the event that the band doesn't provide much acoustic competition, we can often get away with microphones that are a few feet away from various groups of orchestra musicians. These “section” or “area” mics usually aren't too much of a nuisance to the orchestra members, and still sound somewhat natural since they allow a certain degree of acoustical blending of a few players per microphone. In this case, you might try having small-diaphragm condensers on boom stands in front of and above every few instruments, by section, and you might not even need any mics for brass or percussion.
Once we are dealing with a lot of band competition, or the expectation of high SPL reproduction, we must resort to “tight” mic'ing the orchestra. This typically means that pairs of brass and wind instruments will share a mic, and that strings will be mic'ed individually. In the more extreme cases, you might need to use clip-on mics for the strings (several options exist that are safe to attach directly to the instruments), and you might also have a dedicated mic per wind instrument. It is still fine, though, to allow brass instruments to share a mic for every two players.
Safety Factors
I find that the trickiest aspects of pulling this off are in planning the space for all of the mic stands (particularly so that the stands and mics don't get in the way of the string players' hand movements), and in making the political effort upfront to explain to the orchestra what you will be doing—and why. Things will go much more smoothly, and the orchestra will tend to be more forgiving of having so much equipment around them. Don't forget to think ahead about running all the cabling, including the mic stand lights, in a safe pathway to avoid trip hazards.
If you're doing all of this inside, it's fairly easy, but many of you will be having outside services. The trickiest part of this is wind and the safety issues it can cause. Be sure to use weighted mic stands, and you may even need to use sandbags to weigh them down further to prevent them from falling over. You'll also need large foam windscreens on all condenser mics. If those don't work well enough, you may need to switch to dynamic microphones, since they handle wind noise much better than condensers. Other considerations can include having shade over your mixing console, so you can see the lights on the surface and the content of the screens, or else you may be basically mixing blind.
When it comes to choirs, there are a lot of factors that impact the sound you get in the mics and how happy you can make the choir members. Here are several key points to keep in mind:
1.
The closer the choir members stand to each other the better everything will be. First, there will be more acoustic SPL at each microphone because there will be a higher density of sound. Second, they will hear each other better. That creates more self-confidence in the choir and, therefore, they will tend to sing out more. That, of course, yields an additional benefit to the microphone. So, start with the choir arrangement first before anything else.
2.
You typically need one microphone per roughly 15-20 people, depending on how they're arranged. Too many mics will actually make things worse, since more than one mic will pick up the same singers. When this happens, the mix becomes less clear due to “comb filtering,” which is beyond the scope of this article. However, I strongly encourage you to look that up, as well as the 3:1 rule of microphone placement, to gain further understanding.
3.
As a starting point for experimentation, place each microphone only a matter of inches in front of the first row, and perhaps a foot above choir members' heads, aimed at the second or third row. The reason this works is that the first row, while closer to the microphone, will also be somewhat off-axis (meaning the microphone is less sensitive at that angle). So the closer proximity to singers is offset by the fact that the microphone won't “hear” them as well as the other rows. Feel free to move the mic farther from the first row, or higher—or both—as an experiment until you're getting what you want. Just remember that the farther back the mic is, the more you'll have to turn it up, and therefore the more you'll have to tackle feedback and “wash” from other stage instruments.
4.
The choir will probably need monitors to hear some reference content. The only thing a choir typically needs is a solid pitch reference (often piano) and a lead vocal. Do not try to give the choir a mix of everything because you will never make everyone happy and the important elements will get lost. It's also often unwise to give choir members a rhythm reference, such as drums, unless their monitors are very close to them. At a more typical monitoring distances, the drums will arrive late to them acoustically, causing the choir to be consistently behind the beat. Instead, the choir should follow the conductor or choir leader. And finally, absolutely do not put the choir mics into the choir monitor mix. That will not help them hear themselves better, and it will at least make them sound worse through the PA (and will likely cause feedback problems).
5.
Spend some time “ringing out” the choir mics to get the most gain-before-feedback. Then adjust your channel strips (or master VCA or DCA control, if you have that feature on your mixer) so that 0 is your maximum safe level without ringing. While you're mixing, you can always temporarily push above 0 for a dynamic moment, and then return to that level or lower, and you'll know you're safe from feedback.
Off-location Performances
If you're going to be tackling the challenges noted above in your venue, you'll probably have time to prepare, experiment and feel reasonably confident with the results. However, if you're holding your Easter services somewhere else (perhaps to accommodate more people), a little planning is in order.
The first thing you'll need to do is talk to the other venue about what they already have that you can use, and what you'll be allowed to do in their room to accommodate your needs. Arrange to visit the venue in advance so you can think through where you'll put your mixer; whether the venue has enough power for you; how you'll handle the PA (are you using theirs or bringing your own), etc. Once you know all of that, you can plan the additional items you'll need to take with you, and what you'll need to rent. Don't forget spare items like additional mic stands and cables, adapters, audio isolation transformers (in case you have a hum or buzz that won't go away), power strips and extension cords, gaff tape, and labeling supplies. You'll also want to make sure you'll be able to get into the venue early enough (or maybe even the day before) to have plenty of time to set up and test everything thoroughly.
Easter services can be wonderful opportunities to stretch technically and artistically—and can provide a truly moving experience for the congregation. Unfortunately, they can also cause a lot of stress and anxiety for the tech team. I hope and pray your Easter services go smoothly, touch people meaningfully, and provide you with a learning experience … all at the same time.
