Need help recording and setting up a PA for outdoor choir

[octoruss]

Hola amigos,
Yer friendly octoruss here....

I've got something of a tricky situation coming up next month. I've been asked to rent and setup a PA for a 30-member choir that will be performing with an accompanist OUTDOORS. This will be a 4th of July event with about 200 people, and frankly I'm a bit nervous.

I plan to rent the following gear from Mars :
Yamaha 660EX powered mixer with 6 inputs
2 main speakers
4 monitors
2 AKG C1000s condensor mics (these are the only condensors they have for rent!) and I'll use my own 2 Elation KM201 small diaphragm mics.

It will be set up as outlined in the diagram attached.

Now I've got two potential problems that are causing me to lose sleep at
night--

1) DYNAMICS: The pieces they are singing are very dynamic--lots of soft vox and some very loud parts. There will be nobody available to mix as we go along (since I'm singing in the choir) so I'll have to set levels during rehersal and leave it. Given this fact, would you suggest I leave the mics somewhat hot so it will capture the gentle parts, but insert a
limiter/compressor to keep the very loud parts in check? If so, how do I set the limiter? (I know, dumb quesiton but I've never really fugured these things out.)

2) WIND: If it's windy outside, I'm sure I'll have a big problem with wind. I plan on wrapping the mics with 2 pop filters and a sweat sock or two (since I can't afford to buy 4 zeppelins). But does anyone have any other creative solutions for this problem?

 

[TexRoadkill]

Your biggest hazzard is not having somebody run the board. Set and forget is great until the feedback starts. Especially with a lot of dynamics. All it takes is a little ringing to ruin a performance.

Really about all you can do with that setup is put the mics up on stands as close to the center of a group as possible so they all are almost the same distance to the mic. Then cross your fingers and hope for the best.

 

[octoruss]

Ick...really? I wonder if I should give my wife a crash course in mixing and troubleshooting.

 

[Seanmorse79]

That's probably not a bad idea. Just show her the basics (I did the same thing with my fiance' - she likes doing it now and she even takes a bit of pride in it She does fine as long as we keep her away from the reverb

If you've got a 30 member choir, you may have to be a bit creative (depending on how they line up) to make sure everybody's the same distance from the mic, but like Tex said, that's what you're shooting for. Make sure you've got booms handy.

And I would worry too much about compression or limiting because you're recording a group that's not very close to the mics.

 

[littledog]

"State of Mind" is clever, and all, but doesn't give much of a hint as to your real location.

Condenser mics don't like humidity, although the C1000's may be more rugged than most (I'm not familiar with the Elations). To be safe, I would make sure you have some dynamics on some of the other channels as back-ups. Try placing the dynamics in a little closer - maybe four of them (each aimed at the best singer in each of the sections).