Mic Up the Band

Mar 14, 2008 1:32 PM, By Karen Stackpole

           

HOW THE PROS CHOOSE AND PLACE STAGE MICS

Perhaps you're wondering how to go about selecting the right microphones for your particular ensemble. Or maybe you already have your mics, but you'd like to improve the live sound of your instrument by learning more about mic placement.

The following is a rudimentary primer for miking instruments onstage. It covers the instruments in the rhythm section, which are the ones most commonly encountered in club situations: guitars, bass, piano, and drums. Although by no means comprehensive, this overview should help minimize the deer-in-the-headlights feeling you may experience when faced with a daunting live-sound situation - like when you put up an open mic on a stage peppered with monitors, only to elicit the screeching howl of the dreaded feedback monster.

To offer a broader perspective, I queried three other Bay Area engineers (who also happen to be musicians) for input on their favorite live-sound mics and placement techniques. I spoke to Robert Berenson, the sound engineer for Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland; Myles Boisen of Guerrilla Recording in Oakland, who has done his fair share of live-sound reinforcement; and Lee Brenkman, a self-proclaimed audio dinosaur who was the sound guy at the Avalon Ballroom from 1968 until it closed, and who has done the sound at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco for the past 28 years. Drawing on this combined experience, this article will give you some practical advice on what mics best complement particular instruments and what placement yields the most desirable sound.

Ground Zero

The best way to figure out where to place a mic is to listen to the source - in this case, the instrument or amplifier. Try using only one ear to simulate the mono pickup of a mic, and listen up close and also from a few feet away. How does the instrument radiate sound? Put the mic where the instrument sounds best to your ear. Sometimes two mics are necessary to capture the full range of a particular instrument.

Mics have different frequency response characteristics that make them more or less appropriate for specific applications. Analyze the quality of an instrument's sound to decide which mic best suits the job. If the instrument is soft, a tight-pattern condenser might be just the thing for getting a hotter output. If the instrument is loud, choose a mic that can handle high SPLs. Is it bright? Try a mic that will impart a little warmth. Does it have lots of midrange? Perhaps a Shure SM57 would be a good match. Does it sound bassy? Try a large-diaphragm dynamic to capture the lows fully.

You'll always need to use unidirectional microphones in live situations, for isolation of sound sources and to avoid feedback problems with the monitors. If you have problems with the monitors, mics with a tighter pickup pattern (hypercardioid or supercardioid) are best. For area miking (that is, drum overheads), you can use a transducer with a wider pickup pattern. In most circumstances, you will want to put the mic as close to the instrument as possible without interfering with the player's range of motion. This will ensure a more focused sound with less ambient reverberation and bleed from the other instruments onstage.

Just keep in mind that the more open microphones you have onstage, the livelier the stage sound will be, the more spillover you'll get from the P.A., and the more problems you're likely to have with feedback. So try to keep your setup simple and use pickups and directs whenever possible.

On Guitars

Electric guitars. The electric guitar is perhaps the simplest instrument to mic, given that a Shure SM57 aimed at the amp's speaker always does the job well. As an alternative, Lee Brenkman suggests a beyerdynamic 201 for its smooth sound and because it also has prominent upper mids like the SM57 (making it appropriate for guitar amps). Sennheiser's MD 421, MD 409, and E 609 are also good choices.

There are two primary schools of thought for miking a guitar cabinet. Either point the microphone straight into the cabinet and directly at the speaker's voice coil (the advantage being consistency of sound), or put the mic on the edge of the speaker and angle it into the voice coil (for less spiky mids). In both cases, you should place the mic right up against the grille.

Acoustic guitars. Any condenser microphone (such as a Neumann KM 184, a Shure SM81, an Oktava MK012, or an Audio-Technica Pro37) works well for miking an acoustic guitar, as long as the stage sound isn't too cluttered or loud. If the volume is cranked up and the guitar needs to go through the monitors, you may prefer a dynamic mic with good high-end response (two examples would be a Shure Beta 58 and a Sennheiser MD 441) to get sufficient gain before feedback. In a pinch, you could rely on a Shure SM57 or a Beta 57.

If the guitarist has a pickup, try taking it direct. If the sound is too dry and the guitarist is using a lot of effects or EQ at the amp, you may need to mic the amp, using the same approach as for miking an electric guitar amp, and combine that sound with the direct signal. You could also mic the guitar itself and blend that with the direct signal for a fuller sound.

Thoughts on microphone placement for acoustic guitar are varied. Some folks want to stick a mic right in front of the sound hole, but this approach is not recommended. Low end builds up at the sound hole, and with the mic at this position, you'll get a lot of boom and not enough sparkle. Instead, you should put the mic up close and in front of the spot where the neck joins the body (around the 14th fret), and angle it toward, but off-axis from, the sound hole (see Fig. 1). This placement should give you a nice blend of string harmonics, resonance, and pick sound.