How does the noise level of a microphone affect a live recording?

[giopad65]

Hi all,
I sing in a small vocal group (some 15 people), we do mostly ancient music and play some acoustic instruments along.
We happen to perform in small concert rooms.
I am wondering how much a (relatively) high microphone noise level (say, 17-20 dB) can affect a live recording of our concert with respect to lower noise mikes (5-7 dB).
Thank you very much.
Gio

 

[mshilarious]

It depends on the ambient noise level in the room. Often the crowd makes more noise than the mics.

About 20dBA self-noise the mics are more likely to be the dominant noise source, at least in a relatively quiet room.

 

[Tomm Williams]

It depends on the ambient noise level in the room. Often the crowd makes more noise than the mics.

About 20dBA self-noise the mics are more likely to be the dominant noise source, at least in a relatively quiet room.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^ and other factors like stage rumble (if any) lot's of noises in a live setting that are out of your control. Don't know your situation but I've never had the pleasure of doing live sound where the mic, instead of the crowd, was a factor.

 

[gecko zzed]

I've been doing live sound for many years now, and I've yet to come across a situation where the self-noise of microphones has been a concern. In fact, I don't think I've ever thought about it until this post.

This is most likely for two reasons:

1 As the others have noted, in a live concert, there are significant other sources of noise that are far more intrusive (air conditioning, traffic, babies, fluorescent lights etc);

2 Nearly all reasonable mikes are pretty damn quiet anyway.