Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

We used a Behringer PA until we out grew it.
Ray still uses it when he's doing his "own thing".
Eric has been investigating a Behringer multi track recorder.
Perhaps it's better quality than I'd been led to believe.
Sometimes someone who wants to sell x brand will diss the hell out of y brand with no real reason.

With Shure your Sure. I use a Shure Beta 87 and its the best mike I have ever used, of coarse a Neuman is better a friend has one that cost $3500.00 but you should hear this mike, and he does a one man show, its sick I tell ya.

Oh yes. Neuman is the best, but they're way overpriced and somewhat harder to find.

I have been useing Shure Mics since the 60's. For many years I used a Shure CT (close talking) mic. ( Great for loud singin' and harmonica) I presently have a couple of beat shure PE 61s. I'm in the market for a new Shure 57 as soon as I get my ass back out playin' and can justify the 100 bucks.

back on topic,
Headset mics may have their place in the entertainment world, but the ones that I have had experience with seemed to be deficient in low end.
Also, a lead singer should stay away from them for the simple reason that you can't adjust distance to achieve dynamics and to utilize that sensuous Barry White style bass boost that you get from "proximity effect".

Howlin'

Shure 58 is 'geared' for vocals.
Shure 57 is for vocals and instruments - different roll-off.
If you want it just for vocals, go for the 58. Same price.
You can get them for about $70 or so . . .

Shure 58 is 'geared' for vocals.
Shure 57 is for vocals and instruments - different roll-off.
If you want it just for vocals, go for the 58. Same price.
You can get them for about $70 or so . . .

Alan,
I've considered a 58, but I like the tenacity of a 57, since I use my mics for different high sound pressure applications from time to time and they are about the toughest mics on the market.
I still have my wife's old Peavey PVM38 which is similar to the Shure 58 ball mic, but time and the elements raise hell on them so it just don't sound like it did when Cin was screemin' and slobbering in it back in the 80's. I've had pretty good luck with AKGs but they disappeared somewhere along the line. There seems to be a lot of good mics to chose from these days at reasonable cost.
John

When choosing a headset mic, be sure and look at the frequency response. Keep in mind that a Shure SM58 goes down to 50 hz. For example, the Audio Technica ATW-701 UHF Headworn Wireless System is priced reasonably but look at the specs. It only goes down to 500 hz. That is going to sound thin and tinny. The Crown headset mic is made for Shure wireless systems and it goes down to 40 hz. It runs about $270 and that is just the mic. You also have to get the wireless system to go with it. It will get you as full a sound as any handheld wired mics out there. I have an Electar headset mic system that I bought years ago for $150 brand new. It goes down to 80 hz and sounds great. Electar is an obscure company that is owned by Gibson. If you can find one of these out there, get it.

I posted on this already in another thread but I'll say it again. I used a Crown CM311E for many years. It is a very good sounding mic and not at all thin. You can achieve great dynamics but it takes some getting use to. Since the head sets are custom formed to fit your head, you need to pay particular attention when setting it up. When singing lead vocals I sang directly into the mic and used my voice to control dynamics. When singing backup & harmony I simply sang over the top of the mic and it worked perfectly. btw, I was the guitar player/singer/soundman for many years.
The CM311E does require phantom power but it comes with instructions in the box how to connect the wiring to your wireless to get power. I did eventualy retire the headset mic when I went to in-ear-monitors due to the baggage haning on & in my ears, it was a little too much for my comfort zone.

Our bassist was using one but he went back to regular mic. He said it was annoying and we get pretty physical on stage.

A few years ago I ran sound around town and they always sounded kind of thin to me. Really had to boost them a lot.

They require batteries so its just one more thing to deal with. In your case doing acoustics I would think you would just want a decent stationary mic. The reason I say this is because you can do more dynamically with a stationary mic than you can with a headset. Say you have a song where you really push hard vocally, you will learn to back off the mic some, if you are singing real lightly you can get right on the mic, as you get closer to the mic the proximity effect comes into play boosting the bass, move away and its more trebly. With a headset you cant move in out or around the mic.

You are stuck with one basic mic sound. I have done a few acoustic shows at one time or another and you have to learn to use the mic to your advantage.

Good Luck and like always this is just my 2 cents which aint worth much these days.

Man, I really wanted to use one of those... I move a lot and feel constricted by a microphone. Pity it doesn't work well...

Since I'm sitting back there behind the drum kit, I tried a wireless headset for obvious reasons.

Some of my gripes have already been aired out. If you have to cough, sneeze, burp, clear your throat or whatever...you're screwed! Unless you don't mind me missing a few cracks on the snare to get my hand up there to cover the mic!

If you move around a lot on stage, or behind a drum kit, they will bounce around and have to be adjusted back in place.

With mine, we named it the "Alien From Hell". If I reached back to switch it to standby and God forbid, slid the switch to off, we'd get the weirdest humming sound, followed by a big electronic crecendo that was not part of the song!

The hell with all that!!! I use a Shure Beta 58 or an SM58 on a boom stand. I've got this thing rigged so that I can pivot the boom when not in use, and the adjustment won't come loose and fall down. So far, I've only yanked the mic by the cord, with a stick just once!

If you are using a headset mic as a drummer and you need to turn it off they make a floor switch that you set on the floor somewhere where you won't accidently switch it on or off but accessable. When you have to cough or clear your throat you just hit the switch with a spare foot if you have one LOL turn off your mic take care of buisness and turn it back on. These work by pluging it into the snake and then plug your mic into the switch oddly enough I believe they are called a cough drop switch. We wound up using one because the drummer sang on a few songs and he didn't like the way his vocal mike made his drums sound thru his in ear monitors being that all his drums were already miked.

Hey J...good info, I never heard of that floor switch gizmo. It probably wouldn't be that practical for me tho. I've toned down the kit to single bass, but still use a double pedal, so there's still 3 of them down there.

The other thing I did was to buy a Gibraltar rack, which obviously eliminated all the floor stands. Now since I used the tops of the booms for the cymbals on the rack, I had all the base units left over. So I found the one that had the right diameter shaft, unscrewed the base on the mic stand, then slid the pole inside the cymbal stand base.

This gave me a double-braced floor stand to support the boom mic. I also used one of the small clamps on the stand to let me pivot the boom out of my way when not in use.

You can see the end result of all this on the profile page. It came out looking pretty cool.

Wow thats pretty cool Azsticks. Nice kit man.

I use a Shure PG 30 wireless condenser headset.......The nice thing is that Shure packaged it's best headset mic with all the kits, and, as you upgrade, you get better xmitters/receivers. This mic sounds every bit as good as an SM 57/58, has a wide freq. response, and is a lot more convenient. Though I agree that when I don't need a wireless, I prefer my Sennheiser dynamic.

Myke C.

I COULDN'T HELP BUT LAUGH AT THE REMARK OF THE MENTION OF SHURE & BEHRINGER ON THE SAME PAGE...iI USE BEHRINGERS ALL THE TIME,BUT MAYBE HOW I'M USING THEM MAKES A DIFFERENCE-I'M USING THE VMX 1000 & A EURORACK TOO, THE 1000 GIVE ME NO PROBLEMS AT ALL AND IT'S A GREAT BPM COUNTER- THE EURORACK DOES HAVE A "PERSONALITY" AND I WOULDN'T TELL MY FRIENDS TO BUY THE EURORACKS. OF COURSE, SHURE HAS BEEN THE STANDARD FOR LONGER THAN I'VE DONE SOUND!!!...SO THERE YOU GO! IT'S ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU PREFER!! OR CAN AFFORD!