I’m writing this as a shout out to the great gal who helped me set up my on line hosting… Thanks for all your help… and when you see the show next time, go thru the line and say hi to all the dancers for me! …. And yes, I talk singing with everyone…
She had some great questions regarding microphone technique and the dreaded stage fright issues that many of us experience. I’ll cover mic technique now and next time have some tips for you about how to over come stage fright.
As a general rule get as close to the mic with your mouth as you can… you’ll hear the term “eat the mic” used a lot. This simply means getting the sound source (you) as close to the mic as possible. Also sing directly into the top of the microphone, don’t sing over it, off to the side or feet away from it. Put your lips right on it for lead singing or any time your singing soft.
As a side note:
If you are doing shows where lots of people you don’t know are singing on the mic before you… you may want to carry a disinfectant wipe with you and run it across the screen of the mic before you sing.
You should pull the mic away from your mouth when you sing louder and when you sing back up and are not the lead voice. Use the three-inch rule as a guide. Pull away just under three inches or just over three inches, as long as you can still hear your voice being amplified. As a general rule when I am singing background vocals, I am just over three inches away, unless the soundman directs me otherwise.
One “don’t” with a microphone is to cover the ball of the mic with your hand. Many rappers do this but it changes the sound of the mic and therefore the sound of your voice. If you must do this, let the soundman know up front. You’re very likely to get feedback from your monitors.
Never: put your hand right over the top of the mic, you will get feed back if you do this!
Never: point the microphone into the monitors, you will get feed back if you do this!
Also, when there are two people singing on one mic… you’ll both have to get as in front of the mic as you can, hopefully you like the other person. And a mint might be nice… ☺ if you sing off to one side, it won’t pick you up very well.
I hope this helps with how to hold the microphone. The best advise I can give you is if you are going to start performing a lot, spend the money and buy yourself a microphone. You will learn how close and how far you can get without losing sound quality. Then take it to all your gigs. Most of the time, if it is a professional mic, the soundman won’t mind using it.
I have predominately used Shure microphones live. They are workhorses and sound great. If you get a Shure beta 58, I think you’d be very happy.
Now, some will yell and scream that if you have the mic right up to your mouth, you can’t see your face from the audience. You can hold the mic so you are singing into the top of the ball and have the stem of the mic pointed somewhat down so you are not covering as much of your face….
However! WATCH YOUR POSTURE!!!! If you start holding the mic down and your head starts dropping forward… you will make it more difficult on yourself to sing….
The same goes if you have the mic in the stand… bring it up to your mouth, close, so your posture is straight. In my humble opinion, the most important thing is posture so you can sing correctly, and then that the mic picks up the most full-bodied tone your voice has to offer. This will make you feel better about your performance and will help the Appraisal: the period after a performance, when you come to some conclusions about how you did. This has a lot to do with how you feel about going back on stage the next time and is a part of what we have to learn to manage when we are trying to get over stage fright.
Okay, that leaves us off nicely where I can pick up the discussion about stage fright and how to manage it in the next blog…
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