The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: Microphone Follow-up

Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-03-14 23:17

This little bit of complication is one reason why I don't allow "outside" microphones to be used with my group. Some vocalists are really wedded to condenser microphones (although for live use the difference is hardly noticeable out in the house), but if you don't know what mike is being used where, the phantom power switch might not be set the right way at the right time.

I had one vocalist who, on her first job, brought her condenser mike on the stand as we were setting up and swapped it out with one of my Shure dynamics without telling me. She comes up for her first number in the second set, starts in singing in her usual overly dramatic manner, and nothing comes out. She was able to swap over to another mike (a dynamic) and continue, but it took a while to figure out what she had done.

Once it was discerned that she had switched microphones, it was simple to toggle the phantom power on. By that time, she was so "unnerved" that her favorite microphone (a crutch, just like her custom-rearrangments of the vocal charts (she never did transfer the rehearsal numbers and letters, by the way - many minutes wasted during rehearsals with that problem) that she was half drunk - another hazard of live music.

Getting that issue resolved was the easy part. The hard part, which pissed me off to no end, was finding the microphone that she had removed. It took an extra half hour at tear-down time to find it, as she had not bothered to return it to the microphone case after she had removed it. I sat on her pay until it turned up, and was prepared to dock her for the total had it not surfaced.

Since that time, only company equipment. If they don't like that, they can sing somewhere else...

leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics