Man in a swamp

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Surf's Up

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Hi there

A friend of mine performs as a one man band.

He performs in a style which I would describe as Swamp/Blues.

He performs sat down playing hi hat and bass drum with his feet and and a lap steel with his hands, wears a Harmonica brace, and sings.

The vocals are usually run through a dynamic such as a 58, or whatever the venue has lying around he usually runs the mic through a holy grail reverb and then out through a pignose to get a heavily overdriven and reverb drenched sound.

His performances are beginning to attract attention in London but the problem lie's in his inability to sing directly into the Mic as his performances involve a lot of moving around.

He doesn't want to go the route of mounting a mic on his Harmonica rack or connected to his ear, like I've seen people do.

He's asked me for advice, but I've just drawn a blank as I always insist that the vocalist sings into the Mic.

Any suggestions ? I guess I'm looking for something with an extremely wide pattern,

I saw someone record a choir once with these mics that where attached to a floor plate, one each side of the stage, recordings sounded great, but I can't remember whether the signals picked up from these Mics where amplified through a P.A. so I don't know if they'd be appropriate.

Any advice, much appreciated.

Surf's Up
 
Any suggestions ? I guess I'm looking for something with an extremely wide pattern,
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If he doesn't have to worry too much about monitors, I would hang a decent LDC a couple of feet in front of him. Maybe get an in-ear monitor.

I saw someone record a choir once with these mics that where attached to a floor plate, one each side of the stage, recordings sounded great, but I can't remember whether the signals picked up from these Mics where amplified through a P.A. so I don't know if they'd be appropriate.
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Those would have been boundary mics. I don't think they will work for your friend, because they will pick up mechanical noise from his feet on the drum pedals if you set them on the stage. You could affix them to suspended panels, but I suspect the single mic will work better.
 
Yea, I would get an Electrovoice 635A and not even think about it. It's got an omni-directional pattern and very smooth off-axis response. It's historically been used a lot by news reporters, and as you can guess, reporters and people being interviewed don't generally get right up on the mic.

If you need a tighter pattern to help with feedback problems, etc. then you should also look at an Electrovoice RE-20. Those were basically made for people who's heads wander around a lot when they sing. They were used heavily on Stevie Wonder's vocals on his classic albums if that's any indication.
 
Good thinking. But headset mics can be way too plosive.

How about a lavalier?
 
Best mic for that application is a bidirectional ribbon mic.

Since fidelity is not an issue, look for a used one which was not the top of the line when it was new - RCA 74, Tannoy, Electrovoice, etc.. I see quite a few used ribbons in Britain on eBay.

Reason I recommend these is that a) they have quite a "reach" - they pick up from a distance quite well, b) they have big proximity effect, and c) they look cool.
 
Yeah

The ribbon's do look great and would match the whole image of the performer, but I've started reading a few articles on the two Electrovoice's, and have to say they sound great on paper. My first thought was LDC, gonna do a test at home tommorrow with a dynamic/LDC/SDC as these are the only types of Mic's I have.

I think he's ruled out a Headset Mics,

Is the range on old ribbon Mic's comparable to the Electrovoice's? To be honest the 'quality' of the Mic is not so important, its just got to catch it so it can be processed and amplified.

Thanks for you posts

Appreciated

Surf's Up
 
Surf's Up said:
Yeah

The ribbon's do look great and would match the whole image of the performer, but I've started reading a few articles on the two Electrovoice's, and have to say they sound great on paper. My first thought was LDC, gonna do a test at home tommorrow with a dynamic/LDC/SDC as these are the only types of Mic's I have.

Is the range on old ribbon Mic's comparable to the Electrovoice's? To be honest the 'quality' of the Mic is not so important, its just got to catch it so it can be processed and amplified.

Surf's Up
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The great thing about a bidirectional-pattern ribbon mic (aka "velocity") as opposed to a condenser is its resistance to feedback due to the null areas to the sides. Put the speakers off to the sides and you can turn it up pretty high before feedback occurs.

When you refer to the Electrovoice mics, are you meaning the V-1 and V-2?
I am not aware of any contemporary Electrovoice ribbon mics.

My absolute best mic for an application such as yours is my AEA R44CNE. It picks up well and sounds great from 2 meters away. You could get by nicely with a cheaper velocity mic having a narrower frequency response.
 
Yeah the AEA R44CNE is really way too expensive, the electrovoice's I was refering too were not ribbon mics but the 635A's posted by Chessrock earlier.

With the budget my friend has I think we're looking at either 635A, or possibly if the stats are similiar earlier versions of it,

With Ribbon Mics we'd probably be looking at one of the cheaper chinese built ones, you know the generic ones you see around, the Nady's and here in europe the TBone RB500, I think they're made in the same factory

I think the EV Sound spot Mic might be to dangerous for a wild live situation, it just has health and safety written all over it,

I think we're down to either the 635 or one of the cheaper ribbons.

thoughts appreciated

Surf's Up
 
Be prepared for disappointment with the 635A. It's a great mic for some applications, but not for live sound...
 
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