Live choir amplification (not looking for suggestions, just thoughts!)

H

hoursonend

Member
Hi There,

Won't bother you asking for mic suggestions, just for some thoughts on the subject (although suggestions along the way are welcome!). :)

I'm in the market for a set of overhead microphones for a 20-30 person choir. We mostly sing in church, but also in open-air or other venues.

I'm thinking two to four small diaphragm condensers.

We have used my own MXL 990/991 combo in the past with reasonable results. We also used the choir director's AKG C1000.
What I noticed was that the sound was very detailed, though it seemed to lack bottom end. Is this common with every choir amplification method? And does the mic really matter? Or will just about any SDC be fine?

The two major problems we have experienced are feedback and wind noise. I guess trying to amplificate a choir in open air is always going to be tricky, any suggestions?

Does anybody have experience with this?

Thanks a lot!
Stan.
 
I have about 15-20 peeps in a choir with a full band and we use SM58's for a couple reasons. First, there isn't much need for amplification except for solos. Second, when doing solos you can practically eat a 58 without too many problems with plosives.

I use one mic for 3-4 peeps and floor monitors for them to 'hear' themselves.(your biggest complaint and how loud you make them won't matter).
The feedback you're having is from your gain staging and/or mic placement being wrong. Try the floor monitors and then you can turn your whole system down to a level that won't feed back. Use your condensors for tracking.
 
I tend to get the mics up and point them down to get good coverage. Most of the choirs I work with are on stepped risers, so each row is higher than the one in front of it. I shoot to have the mics a little above head level with the middle row. 20-30 peeps means 3-4 mics to me. I use condensers, and a dynamic or two for solos if need be. No monitors except for soloists if I can help it.

The lack of low end is common, humans just can't project bass very far.
 
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