Studio Mics Live?

[Winslow Leech]

I'm playing a solo set this month. I was thinking about the bringing along a mic of my own for the set. I like singing off mic. I'll be playing some electric some acoustic some rhodes. I'm hoping to use no monitor, and pick up the amp behind me and my voice. I'm going to record it, but I'm more concerned with the room. It's a small club. Here is a list of my mics.

Does anyone see any of these working in this setting?
AKG Solid Tube.
Blue Baby Bottle
AT 4050
Rode NT4
plus the usual utility dudes 57s D112 58s 609

or should I just bite the silver bullet(58).

Thanks
JP

[phill2796]

Big condenser mikes sound great on vox but you can have feedback probs using them live with a pa.

[standup]

Club sound is very different from studio sound. I heard a Chuck Prophet show tonight, and he sounded great on an SM58.

That said, if you like your voice on the Baby Bottle, I might be tempted to try that. It's hypercardiod, so the pattern is tight--as long as you keep the rear lobe away from the monitors.

And it'd look kewl.

[Winslow Leech]

What is it I always see those bluegrass f**kers singing around?
I thought it was a 4050...

[rdc]

Perhaps, but they probobly don't have a stack of amps behind them, and a bunch of big ass wedges in front of them. With traditional bluegrass its basicially just the players and a mic.

[Winslow Leech]

That's what i'll be doing... So, what should I use.

[kayagum]

That's what i'll be doing... So, what should I use.

Umm.... bluegrass bands don't have electric guitar amps and Rhodes pianos.

The "step up to the mic" bluegrass approach is only for acoustic (unplugged) instruments. Bluegrass musicians shift around during the performance to achieve the right volume balance. If you solo, you go closer to the mic. Can't do that with amps...

Also, your amps behind you will play into your mic, which is an instant feedback creator if you're going omni. You have to put them in the null spot(s) of the mic. That is why, for example, you see stage monitors flanking singers (at 120 degrees) if they're using hypercardioids.

If you're really that anal and need a condensor for your stage voice, Neumann and Rode makes handheld condensors.

Save yourself the trouble and use a 57 (which I like better than 58s for small coffeehouse and theater gigs).

[Scodiddly]

Well, generally I like it as normal as possible, ie a stage vocal mic and mics on the amps as needed. But in the spirit of the question...

What I'd do is compromise. Use whichever of your mics that works best on your voice, and set it up so that you only need to be maybe 6 inches away. Keep your instrument volumes low, and mic them as needed. For acoustic guitar and vocals you could have a mic at "bluegrass level", about chest height, and switch over to that mic (always muting the mics you're not using at the moment) for the guitar parts.

You'll almost certainly need somebody at the controls, just to match the levels and avoid feedback.

[Winslow Leech]

I'm alone on stage, so it would be only one amp at acoustic levels, no stage monitors either... and I was just entertaining the idea to see if anyone had acheaved anything worth while before.

[Family Hoof]

If you're really that anal and need a condensor for your stage voice, Neumann and Rode makes handheld condensors.

Save yourself the trouble and use a 57 (which I like better than 58s for small coffeehouse and theater gigs).

I worked at a well kown club in NYC where we used SM58s/57s/Beta 57s on practically everything with a lot of EQ and compression and it sounded great. Whenever some wannabe (usually a soft spoken female) would come in with a $500 Neumann handheld it was crap in comparison. Not enough signal or presence to cut through without feedback. The opposite of what you'd expect I know, but that's what we heard.

[tonewoods]

If you wanna hear a real clusterfuck of a live recording, take a listen to the "Down From the Mountain" DVD or CD...

5-6 U47s onstage, and the phasing problems are just unbelievable...
But they sure look good!

"What is it I always see those bluegrass f**kers singing around?
"

There are a lot of bands doing the single mic (sometimes 2) thing these days, most notably Del McCoury and Doyle Lawson.

You'll see AT4033s, 414s, KSM44s or 32s, or just about any LDC being used...

It can sound/record really good, and the visual impact of working the mic is really a nice change from the usual loitering on the mic...

No monitors, though, but working that close together makes it really easy to hear what's going on...

Check out Del and the Boys sometime if you want to see some exciting mic-work The choreography needed to make it work with one mic is a great part of the show...

[neve1073]

Is there a reason you don't want to use a 58?

[rdc]

I very much second Del and Co. for some amazing self mixing....saw them at the theatre/music venue that I did lighting for over this past summer. (Giant canvas tent, amazing acoustics).

[bigtoe]

A mic is a mic whever it is. Sounds like you have no monitor issues so try whatever at sound check. I know i have seen Steve Earle and Del around CAD's in pix.

"I heard a Chuck Prophet show tonight, and he sounded great on an SM58."

He rules. I love that guy's records.

"Check out Del and the Boys sometime if you want to see some exciting mic-work."

my brother got me a kick ass del record for x mas. that mandolin player SMOKES. who would have thought an older guy could smoke teengenerate?

"saw them at the theatre/music venue that I did lighting for over this past summer. (Giant canvas tent, amazing acoustics)"

was this in Alaska? My pals were on tour and caught that if it was. Said is was disgusting.

"Umm.... bluegrass bands don't have electric guitar amps and Rhodes pianos. "

Mine will. Shit, someone needs to stop treating music like it's in a museum. It's alive. I'd like to hear a bluegrass band with a horn section.

Mike

[Stephen B.]

I've seen Radiohead shows in which Thom Yorke was singing into some LDC when he was at the piano. I don't know how it works because their stage volumes have to be pretty outrageous. They do use in-ear monitors though, I'm pretty sure (at least some of them).