Singer had this forward thinking idea

[rimbaud234]

My strongest electrocution was at the Roxy in LA. I brushed my cheek up against the mic and the current went through the skin, into my teeth and who knows where else. It's really hard to give a good performance when you're singing into an electric cattle-prod. AND it was my own mic.
ugh.

[RuudUnit]

You all who were electrocuted on stage....

you were playing an instrument as well, right?

Was that properly grounded? If so, were they running your instrument signal through a DI box, and was THaT grounded?

From what I understand, that whole mic shocking thing occurs when there's some kind of loop without a ground, and YOu become the ground. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

-Eric

[SecondSon]

When I was electrocuted on stage it was because my guitar player tazed me. I then stabbed him with a microphone, which electrocuted him back, which caused severe bleeding. Man...That was one hell of a show.

[bobbydj]

This makes all kinds of sense. She must be stopped.

[monkeyboy]

After catching, sinus infections and other horrible ailments while playing
out and using "communal" microphones. I bought a plain old vanilla
58. I now use it religiously live. Before that I carried a tooth brush and some rubbing alcohol in all the band crap. Sure the microphone smelled like a hospital, but atleast I wasn't worried.

I cannot...believe I ever used house mics at some of the places I played.
It makes me shudder.

[dgochenour]

I totally agree with a vocalist travelling with a good mic. I worked FOH for years, and generally speaking, the soundperson is not bothered by this... UNLESS the mic is worse than the stock 58's and is not intended as an effect. I totally understand the hygene part though.

As for preamps, I think it's a total waste of time and money travelling with your own unless your playing through a pretty kick-ass system. Think about it--

On the low end, what are you going to do, run an Avalon or API or something through a pair of powered Mackies? It's not going to be worth it. And as the systems graduate to real gear, you'll have to spend more to get something that is really better than the house board. If you're playing to a large audience in a loud room, are the mic pres in that PM3000 or Midas *really* holding you back?

[Cellotron]

Okay. These are mics (dynamic hand-held) I have and would use before my Beta 58 and picked up for $150 or less:

Audix OM5
Audix OM6
.

I second the Audix OM series - definitely these work great on a ton of voices - I heartily recommend them also.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[ape32]

Back to the pres question - where I work FOH we use a crappo Mackie 32*4 board. I'd go as far as to say that the pres aren't even the worst part of it - it's the damn mix bus. If you push it AT ALL it is raspy as hell. By the time the nice pre gets into the mix bus...

arggghhh!

[Dave Nutz]

i think the major reason alot of singers dont have their own live pre's is because the knowledge of how to operate them is not there(sometimes), and neither is the knowledge of how to pick one based on needs and feature set.

Most singers would probably prefer to use something closer to a guitar floorboard effects unit. Perhaps there will be a new trend of singers using items like that, as TC Helicon just released Voicelive. And digitech has a few newer products which are similar.

[Scodiddly]

A mic is pretty safe... bring your own preamp, fuck up and forget to turn it on or something, and immediately you and the FOH are enemies. Not worth the trouble at all.

But personal mics (good quality) are a good idea. Especially if you're one of those people who don't sound good through a 58.

[djslayerissick]

::GASP!!!:::

i was just checking out the specs on that voicelive thing - that mutha looks good. or should i say - totally awesome!

vocal effects and multiple mics have become a HUGE part of my singing style and i've got pretty much the cheapest floor pedal vox effects you can get - VoTech.

and now my guitarist is getting into doing backing vox. i've been wanting to get a new, awesome pedal board effects and then let my guitarist use the VoTech.

the thing i really dislike about the VoTech is this lo-fi sheen it puts on the sound. its as if some presence and air just dissappears. thats why i have to use a maximizer to get some of that back and get rid of some of the mud. but with something like that - there would be no mud to worry about.

[kdarr]

Okay. These are mics (dynamic hand-held) I have and would use before my Beta 58 and picked up for $150 or less:

Audix OM5
Audix OM6
.

I second the Audix OM series - definitely these work great on a ton of voices - I heartily recommend them also.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I'll third the Audix mics. I use an OM2 when I play out... they're $99.00, same price as a 58, and the pickup pattern is just a little tighter and the high-mids are just a little peakier... cuts through pretty nicely.

I can only imagine that the OM5 and 6 are similiar, only higher quality.

|<|>|

[vvv]

First, I'd like to say that I always found the smell of the coffee, whiskey and onion hamburger left on the club '58 by the opening act a real inspiration; so rock and roll (OK, OK, my band was usually the opening act.)

Having babbled the above, I recall seeing Jane's Addiction back in the mid '90's, and Farrell had all kinds of guitar-pedal effects on stage for his vocals.