Miking Your Choir

7/29/2019 Miking Your Choir

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When you hear a beautiful recording of a

choir, you thrill to the sound and the

singing. And when your choir is clearly

eard in your house of worship, the

congregation fills with spirit. You can

capture that sweet choral sound. To do so,

ou need to know a little about

icrophones and where to place them. In

he suggestions that follow, well describe

ow to get the best sound when mikingour choir. Well provide tips both for

ecording and sound reinforcement.

MICROPHONE TYPES FOR

RECORDING

Three types of mics that work well

for recording a choir are the cardioid

condenser, omni condenser, and

stereo condenser mics. "Cardioid"

means that the mic rejects sound

from the rear. This reduces pickup

of audience noise and room

acoustics. An omni condenser mic

picks up sound from all around. Its

a good choice if you can record

ithout an audience, and if you want

the stereo effect to be blended rather

than pinpointed. A stereo condenser

mic combines two mic capsules in asingle housing for convenience.

Note that a condenser mic requires a power supply to operate its internal electronics. Some mics use a battery, while others rely on a phantom power supply. Most

large mixers have phantom power built in; all you need to do is switch it on. The mic sends audio to the mixer, and receives power from the mixer along the same

ic cable.

MICROPHONE TYPES FOR PA

The most popular type of choir mic for sound reinforcement is a small hanging type. It is a condenser mic with a cardioid or

supercardioid polar pattern. This tiny microphone hangs from the ceiling over the choir. It is almost invisible when viewed

from the congregation. Many houses of worship use mini mics both for sound reinforcement and recording.PLACEMENT FOR RECORDING/BROADCAST

Once youve chosen some suitable mics, you need to know where to place them for the best results. Lets start with a recording

application. In general, recording calls for distant miking; PA requires close miking. When you

record a choir, two mics are sufficient for stereo pickup. They should be the same model

number.If you have two cardioid condenser mics, place the mics about 12 feet from the choir. Raise the

mics a few feet above the heads of the back-row singers, and aim them down at the choir. The

set up shown in Figure 1 (page 31) provides excellent stereo. For convenience, you might want

to mount both mics on a stereo bar or stereo mic adapter. This device mounts two microphones

on a single stand.A convenient alternative to a pair of mics is a single stereo microphone. It contains two mic


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capsules in a single housing. One stereo mic generally costs more than two mics of comparable quality. A special type of

stereo mic is called "mid-side." It has one mic capsule aiming straight ahead toward the middle of the choir, and another

capsule aiming to the sides. In a mid-side stereo mic, you can adjust the stereo spread by remote control.If you have two hanging mics, try to place them about three to six feet apart and 12 feet back. Now its time to fine-tune the

miking distance. The farther the mics are from the choir, the more room acoustics youll hear in the recording.Listen to the microphones signals. You can either use headphones or loudspeakers in a separate room. If the choir sounds too

distant and muddy, move the mics about a foot closer and listen again. If the choir sounds too close, without much room sound,

move the mics farther away.Note: if your sanctuary is acoustically "dead" (lacking reverberation), you might prefer to add artificial reverb. Use a digital

reverb unit patched into the effects loop of your mixer. If the organ overpowers the choir, youll have to mike the choir closer,

adding digital reverb if necessary.Its easier to move the mics if you put them on stands rather than hanging them. Once youve found a good spot, you might

ant to hang the mics there. This improves the view during the concert or worship service. After you hang the mics, attach a

nylon fishing-line between the left and right side walls. The fishing-line should intersect the mics. Attach the fishing-line to the

mics to keep them from rotating.MIC PLACEMENT FOR SOUND REINFORCEMENT

In recording, you want to pick up the room acoustics, so you mike several feet away. But in

sound reinforcement, you want to reject the sound of the PA speakers, so you must mike in

close.Use one microphone in the center of every 20-30 foot span of singers. A choir of 30 to 45

voices should need only two or three mics. Place them about 1 1/2 feet in front of the first row

of singers, and about 1 1/2 feet above the head height of the back row (Figure 2). The mics are

raised so that the first row is not too loud relative to the back row.Suppose you are using several choir mics to cover a large choir. You might want to assign all

the choir mics to a single group or buss in your mixer. Then its easy to adjust the overall choir volume with that group fader.Monitor loudspeakers can easily feed back into the choir mics. To keep feedback under control, try not to use monitors near the

choir. Turn up the house loudspeakers instead. If the choir insists on monitor speakers, dont feed a monitor signal of the choir

back tothemit will cause feedback with the choir mics. Instead, just feed them some music for accompaniment.If the choir members complain they cant hear themselves, maybe the piano, organ, or tape tracks are too loud in the choir

monitor speakers. Have the choir sing a capella, with the air conditioning turned off. Can they hear themselves? Now turn on

the air conditioning. Can they still hear? Turn up the piano or organ in the choir monitors. Then turn up the tape tracks. At

hat point can the choir no longer hear their voices? Turn down the offending sound source.

Sometimes the choir mics pick up too much of the organ. In this case, use supercardioid mics and aim them toward the middle

row of the choir. Since the mics partly reject sound from the side, they will pick up less of the organ in this configuration.Some church services feature a small group of singers instead of a choir.

Give each person a mic with a foam pop filter. These mics can be handheld or stand mounted. Set up floor monitors for the

singers.SIMULTANEOUS PA AND RECORDING

Ideally, you use distant mics for recording and close mics for PA. But suppose youre limited to just the PA mics. If you use

the PA mics for recording, the sound may lack ambience, so it helps to add some reverb. You want to put the reverb in the

recording, but not in the PA. Heres how:


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1. Connect busses 1 & 2 to the PA power-amp inputs (or to the graphic EQ inputs). Connect busses 3 & 4 to the recorder line

inputs.2. Assign mics to busses 1, 2, 3 and 4.3. Connect the reverb returns to busses 3 & 4 in.4. Turn up the choirmics effects send (to the reverb unit). With this arrangement, the choirs reverb will go only to tape, not

to the PA system.There you have a few tips on miking your choir. Try them out and feel free to experiment with your own techniques too. In

time, youll reproduce a beautiful choir sound, on tape and on your sound system.

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Miking Your Choir