Easter is right around the corner. The music director and band members are certainly spending extra time on new pieces of music. No doubt the pastor has been working on his sermon for a while. So how do we as audio engineers bring something new to the table for this special Sunday?
One of the best ways to offer a new audio experience on Sunday is to reinvent your mic selection on Sunday morning. It's easy to get complacent with mic selection because we get used to using a particular microphone for a particular application. While there is nothing wrong with the “if it's not broke, don't fix it” rule, it can also hold us back. Some of you may feel held back because you don't have a large mic locker and your choices are limited. However, even with a small mic selection you should not allow yourself to get locked down to the same routine.
The fact is, music and audio styles are always changing and in flux. Experimentation is important to continue in knowledge and experience as a sound engineer. Trial and error is how we all learned when we first started in this position, so why should we stop just because we've found a few things that have worked for us in the past?
Learning in the Moment
It’s easy to get complacent with mic selection because we get used to using a particular microphone for a particular application.
I've been fortunate enough to have many experiences that have pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I've learned that this is, by far, the best way to hone our craft. When I'm traveling with worship bands and Christian artists, many of our tour stops are in churches. As a result, oftentimes we are using the church's mic selection. I usually have no idea about the mic selection I'll have to work with, and even those times that I do get advance notice of the details, oftentimes I'll show up and find out that certain mics are broken, or no longer available.
I've learned that you have to be ready to adjust and make the best out of what you have—every time. Period. As difficult as these situations can be, they have taught me how to adapt in new ways. Through these situations, I have learned how to use an SM58 on a snare drum and on guitar cabinets (which, by the way, is often what you'll see on The Edge's AC30s). I learned how good an SM57 can sound on a male voice, and how to make it work on a kick drum, too. It's interesting to me that even when I was able to have great results with these non-traditional mic choices, as soon as I had my comfort zone mics back, I ran back to them with arms wide open. This is further evidence that I need to remember this advice as much as everyone else: I need to keep experimenting and find new ways to make things sound amazing.If the trial-by-fire method is not your cup of tea, then the most comfortable way to approach this is to add extra mics into the equation during rehearsals. If you typically like a Sennheiser e609 on guitar cabinets but you've been curious about trying that Cascade Fat Head, then just add it as an additional channel in rehearsals. That way, you have your old friend on standby while being able to A/B the sound with the new mic.
So you can compare the different characteristics of each mic and learn how to approach the new option. Let me encourage you to use this method even if your other mic options are not impressive. I once worked at an older Presbyterian church in college, and during setup for youth group one night I found a few old Shure Unidyne microphones in a back closet collecting dust. The microphones were in rough shape. I wasn't sure if they would even work. But I put them up anyway and they ended up working amazing on the drum kit.
Overcoming Limitations
Maybe most of what you've read so far is a mute point because you don't have extra mics. Maybe every microphone you have is used every Sunday, maybe you only have two types of microphones. I've been there. It is challenging and sometimes frustrating because you feel like you have very little control of how things sound. Still, there is one factor that even I get lazy on from time to time—mic positioning.
I was at the Desperation Conference a few years back with John Mark McMillan. We were using the conference's provided back line, microphones and system. We were in the middle of the tour where we had been using our own back line and mics. Drop me into this situation where everything I knew for the past few weeks had suddenly changed and I was struggling big time. Nothing sounded right and I really had to tweak things to make them work.
This change to our routine affected the band, as well. In particular, we were really struggling with getting James Duke's guitar amp to sound right in the ears and in the house. He was happy with how it sounded in the room standing in front of the amp, but it was not translating in the microphones. So despite a very high end boutique amp mic'd by a great dynamic as well as an expensive condenser microphone, no one was happy. Especially me. It was the bass player who humbled me and brought me back to microphone technique 101 by saying, “Hey should we just sweep the mic?” “Duh” is what I said to myself in my head.
To those that don't know, sweeping the mic is a simple procedure that typically requires two people (you can do it yourself with a set of headphones, but it takes much longer). The engineer sits at mix position and communicates to another person that is at the source of the input—in this case, the guitar amp—and simply moves the mic positions as dictated by the engineer. For a guitar amp, I typically have someone start at the outside edge and slowly bring the mic closer to the center of the speaker cone. This procedure can be done with any source that you are mic'ing. Sweeping can involve moving the mic to the left or right of the source, moving the mic closer and farther from the source, and also the angle of the microphone in relationship to the source (“on” or “off” axis).
All of these maneuvers have dramatic effects on the sound of the source. Which reminds me of something my first boss and mentor, Jay Khuen, told me: Before you reach for an EQ, adjust the mic position. This Easter, try to bring something fresh to the service. Experiment. Try some new microphones and positions. Bring your best, and don't ever stop becoming the best you can be.
