Mic placement

[Deliberate1]

Friends, I do not tend to make New Years resolutions. I think if it is good idea to do something, don't wait. But, the arrival of the new year has given me a bit of inspiration to get off the couch and into the local open-mic venue. I did two of them in the fall of '22, and described it here, in a fit of survival exuberance, as even more fun than shopping for a guitar. Well, the shine faded, and I did not do any last year. But, I did get better, both in my playing (4th year) and song-writing.

So, I returned to the "stage" (actually a corner) last month at our local venue which has open-mic night on the first Thursday of every month. It happens at the Stonington Opera Hose, a gem and hub of our rural music scene here on the near Downeast coast of Maine (https://operahousearts.org/).

It went pretty well. I learned that I should not start with a finger style song, because my fingers instantly turned to concrete. I stumbled my way through it in survival mode. The other two, both picked tunes, went better. I knew most of the 30-35 people there, and play music (sax/clarinet) with some of them. So they know me as a relative newbie, and were very supportive.

One thing they mentioned was that my voice got lost, especially as I looked down at the neck of my guitar, which I surely tend to do, out of insecurity. So my question is how I should place the mic to deal with that issue. I immediately felt that it was too high (I am seated), but was a bit too "on" to address it. Thank you for not suggesting the obvious - "just do not look down at your guitar"- as a remedy. Yes, I know that, but that is not my stage of playing trajectory at this point of the journey.

Thanks for the help.

David

[6L6]

I would suggest you practice at home with the mic in a normal position and get used to it. Shouldn't take long!

As you continue on with the Open Mic scene you'll find other places to play too. They'll have the mic in a "normal" position as well. SO... I suggest you get used to it at home and then take it to the stage.

Have fun!

[rllink]

Sing to the mic. That's what my voice coach told me. Evidently looking around is a common ailment. His words, sing to the mic like it is your lover.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by rllink

Sing to the mic. That's what my voice coach told me. Evidently looking around is a common ailment. His words, sing to the mic like it is your lover.

Singing to someone in that situation seems like it might be a bit awkward...

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by rllink

Sing to the mic. That's what my voice coach told me. Evidently looking around is a common ailment. His words, sing to the mic like it is your lover.

I get the point.
But I am prone to fits of irrational affection, and this is a family venue....
On a more serious note, I have also read that you should sing to the back of the room - meaning beyond the mic, I assume.

Thanks for the suggestion.

David.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by 6L6

I would suggest you practice at home with the mic in a normal position and get used to it. Shouldn't take long!

As you continue on with the Open Mic scene you'll find other places to play too. They'll have the mic in a "normal" position as well. SO... I suggest you get used to it at home and then take it to the stage.

Have fun!

I like that idea. Maybe I should get one of those portable amp/speaker units.

David

[rllink]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Singing to someone in that situation seems like it might be a bit awkward...

Yes, probably so. But I think metaphorically he meant to tune out everything else and always direct your voice into the mic with emotion. There's lots of things going on there at the mic that you can't just take for granted.

[JonPR]

Firstly, get the voice volume at the right level with your mouth around 6" away - not right against the mic. That gives you more freedom of head movement. (Professional singers move nearer and further from the mic according to how loud they are singing.)

Secondly, lower the mic, so you're singing slightly down into it - so if you need to look at the fretboard, your mouth doesn't move so far away.

Thirdly (or alternatively), practice keeping your mouth in the same position relative to the mic, while moving your head and/or guitar enough to see the fretboard - assuming you don't have to do this too often. This will probably mean raising the guitar neck, and moving your head a little to the right while rotating it left.
You often see pros performing this kind of manouvre, e.g when doing something like tuning or moving a capo while speaking into the mic.

[Deliberate1]

JonPR, all very helpful suggestions.
Along the same lines, it occurs to me that I should try to just glance down with my eyes, without moving my head, relative to the mic as well. That is a maneuver I can surely practice whenever I play.

David

[rllink]

Playing standing can help break the habit of looking down at the guitar. I practice standing often just for that reason. When I play an open mic I try to stand.

[Robin, Wales]

Hi David,

Vocal balance can be a difficult one for open mic's. If you are right up close to the mic' then turning your head to look at your guitar will make a big difference to the volume of your voice out front. However, if you are a little further away from the mic' then it is not quite such an issue - but you should still aim to "sing to the back of the room".

If you start close to the mic' then whoever is running the desk will balance you and your guitar to that "close proximity" voice volume - and you'll have little margin for movement. But if you sound check a little further back from the mic' you will have some leeway. Overall, the volume of your performance may be lower than the volume of whoever is before or after you. But your balance will be better - and that's what matters.

Another advantage of being a little back from the vocal mic' is that you can then mic' an acoustic guitar, rather than needing to plug-in, and still get the balance right.

My ideal would be to go for a single stage mic'. But, from looking at the pictures, the glass behind you at the opera house venue would make that difficult.

To be honest, looking at the pictures of the venue, and there being an audience of only 30-35, I'd probably forego any p.a. at all and just stand and sing! Or use a mic' for voice and a mic' for guitar but be 6 to 9" back from both. This clip from our local open mic' shows me using this slightly back from the mic's position:

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

One thing they mentioned was that my voice got lost, especially as I looked down at the neck of my guitar, which I surely tend to do, out of insecurity. So my question is how I should place the mic to deal with that issue. I immediately felt that it was too high (I am seated), but was a bit too "on" to address it.

David

Originally Posted by rllink

Playing standing can help break the habit of looking down at the guitar. I practice standing often just for that reason. When I play an open mic I try to stand.

I never perform sitting down. One reason is everyone sings better standing. You can breathe deeper and project better. You have more energy and you'll sound better. Have you ever seen a choir perform sitting down?

[jseth]

Good counsel in a lot of these replies... one more thing I would add is to elevate the neck of the guitar a bit more; makes it easier to glance with your eyes, as opposed to moving your head.

Getting accustomed to singing directly into the mic and "using the mic" for volume changes or tone variation are all things that come with practise... albeit with a concerted effort to have your vocal be more evenly amplified...

The concept of "singing to the back of the room" applies more to stage singing without a direct microphone to use...

[KevWind]

Oh boy--lots of good advice but unfortunately this issue has so many possible variables that there likely no universal single answers that are spot on by themselves

So to back up a bit ---there are some considerations when playing guitar and singing

#1 balancing the vocal and the guitar when your mouth is facing the mic , only in general, the mic height position should between 2/3 to 3/4 the way up from the guitar towards the mouth ( depending on the type of mic and it's sensitivity and polar pattern )

#2 trying to practice the piece well enough to limit the amount of time and how many times you look at the neck will help immensly .

(note) in my experience I tend to look at neck about the same amount of times sitting or standing. So I don't see that alone making as big of a difference as more practice will, IMO .

So the suggestion of raising the neck angle is fairly good and also if you really cannot help looking at the neck with more than just an occasional quick glance, you can also (especially seated ) bring the mic stand more around to say a 45 degree angle As opposed to a 90 to the direction you are seated ,,so when looking at the neck your mouth is more in line with mic ..which will also allow you to move less to see the neck in other words , you can mostly just glance down and still have your mouth pointed more towards the mic than turning 90 degrees away from the mic to see the neck __Make sense ?

[KevWind]

opps double post