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Ok, so, I was checking out the mics before a show. The club manager, Mike, was standing at the end of my row of mics. I spoke into the mic at the end and said "mic three". I spoke into the next mic and said "mic two". Then "mic one". I stepped over and looked into the manager's face and said "Mike zero". He laughed. He's a good guy. I make dumb jokes.
Trying to sell you on buying a decent mic
The requirements for a karaoke microphone are fairly simple. It must be rugged and it must not make decent singers sound bad. Oh, and it's gotta be cheap. Not much to ask! Oh yeah, one more thing: it's gotta make people look cool.
Rugged is important. Karaoke singers routinely abuse the mics. They spill beer on them, blow cigarette smoke into them, spit on them, drop them, scream into them, swing them by their cords, and every once in a while, they throw them. So you either must buy really cheap mics and consider them disposable, or you must get mics that can stand the abuse.
Really cheap mics, of course, make people sound like they are singing into a really cheap mic. Sometimes maybe that's the effect you are going for, but I'm guessing not. (Then again, this is karaoke. I mean, get real.)
Cheap mics do two things that expensive mics won't do. Well, besides being inexpensive. Cheap mics will give you a really cool "singing into a can" sound. Chicks dig that. Cheap mics will also "bottom out" - that is, they will distort badly when you sing too loud. Again, chicks dig this. There was an evolutionary advantage to this. Guys that could sing loud were just plain better at scaring away saber-toothed tigers.
Seriously, I bought a cheap wireless lapel mic for my wife (the Gypsy Songstress) for her singing gigs. It was less than $20, which was great. It sounded lousy. Which was not great. Not much of an evolutionary advantage there. I invested in a more expensive wireless mic... still not excellent sound quality, but I was only willing to put $100 into it. I'm cheap. Which is another evolutionary disadvantage for me.
How do you know if a mic is a cheap mic? Well, the price is one give-away. And the case... is it plastic? If a mic has an attached cord, rather than a detachable cord, it is likely to be lower quality. How about the plug? If it comes with a quarter inch plug or 1/8" plug (as shown below), it is likely not high quality.
Professionals use mics with what is called an XLR connector, shown below. This sort of connector and cable will reduce the chances of an unwanted hum sneaking into the system. Why? Read the post on "Tying it all together".
Decent quality mic
There are two common types of mics: dynamic and condensor. A recording studio engineer or member of Aerosmith or the guy in the music department at WalMart might tell you that you need to buy a condensor mic. Arguably, some of the best mics are condensor mics.
But for karaoke, there are reasons to go with a dynamic mic. First, condensor mics tend to be a bit more fragile than dynamic mics. Second, condensor mics need what is called "phantom power". You need to run a high voltage (but very weak) signal to the microphone for power. A decent mixer will give you this signal, but if you have an indecent mixer, you may not even be able to use a condensor mic.
Dynamic mics may not be the highest quality, but, let's face it, this is not a recording studio. This isn't even Summerfest. (Interesting thing here... I sang at Summerfest once. They had a karaoke stage. Great fun. I thought I sounded pretty good. Too bad the audience couldn't hear how fabulous I sounded inside my head.) My own opinion is that a decent dynamic mic will give you a pretty good sound.
As I have said in this tutorial, I am not about to recommend equipment, like for example, the Shure SM58. I would not think of saying anything like the Shure SM58 is a mic that gives an excellent sound and really holds up to any sort of abuse. And I certainly won't mention that I own six of these puppies. I don't. I own seven.
The Shure SM58 sells for $99. Shure won't allow them to be sold cheaper. If you are buying a new mic for less, then it's probably a cheap knock off. And it's likely that it does not have the sound quality or durability. I found a very good description of how to tell a real SM 58.
You may ask if I paid $99 for my Shure mics? I bought several used mics on eBay for less. I think at least one of them was a knock-off. You pays your money, you takes your chances.
Omnidirectional versus cardioid
If you happen to use a mic other than the SM 58, you should know one very important distinction about mics. This is more important than all my useless drivel about cheap versus expensive and dynamic versus condensor.
Microphones are designed to either collect sound from all directions (omnidirectional) or to collect sound preferentially from one direction (unidirectional, cardioid, or hyper-cardioid). Omnidirectional mics are great for studios, but are a big problem if they are used with PA equipment. The problem is feedback.
Think of a movie scene where someone steps up to talk into a microphone. The guy who puts the sound togerther for the movie will cue up a stock sound clip of feedback. There will momentarily be a weee-ooow. This sound is the universally accepted indication that what you will hear next is coming from a PA system. I've started noticing this in movies. Totally ruins the movies for me.
We have all heard feedback. Feedback is that high pitched squeal that occurs when a sound is picked up by the mic, amplified and sent out to the speakers, and then picked up again by the microphone only to get amplified even further, and so on. Kinda like rumors of Sarah Palin running for president. Feedback, like Sarah Palin in the White House, is generally not considered a good thing.
One good way to assure that you will always get lots of feedback is to use an omnidirectional mic. If for some reason you or your patrons don't appreciate loud shrill noises that completely drown out the singer and the music, then I would recommend using a cardioid (or hyper-cardioid) mic.
The cardioid mic, when pointed directly at the singer's mouth, will not be particularly sensitive to the sound coming from the speakers, and feedback will be avoided. At least until the singer decides to stop pouring beer into the mic and point the mic directly at the main speakers. Wow. That's cool. A good reason for you to have one hand at all times on the volume control for the mics.
By the way singers, point the mic at your mouth, ok? Unless you wanna look cool. It looks cool to hold the mic above your mouth, pointed down at your toes. It just doesn't sound as good. Oh, and close your eyes, too.
Another way that a singer can absolutely guarantee that they generate lots of the sort of ear-splitting feedback that the audience will love is to cup the microphone. I don't quite know why, but some people mistake the ball at the end of the mic for a handle. They will wrap their hand completely around the ball of the mic so as to keep any of their lovely voice from being heard. The part of their voice that does make it into the mic will make them sound like they have their head deep in a toilet bowl. This also drives chicks wild.
On top of this, cupping the mic will disturb the very carefully engineered sound pattern of the mic. And because of this, I guarantee there will be feedback. But damn! People really look cool when they use the mic ball as a handle.
While I am on the subject of feedback, lemme put in a plug for my post "Speakers - getting those karaoke vibrations going". This post talks about how to position speakers to avoid feedback.
Keeping one hand on the volume control
Feedback is one reason to keep monitoring the volume on the mics. Another reason is that singers come in all shapes and sizes. And their voices do as well. Most audio engineers have the luxury to set mic volumes before the show. A karaoke host is paid the huge bucks because he/she must be constantly raising the volume for timid voices and dropping the volume for people with huge or excessively annoying voices.
As you get used to your equipment, you will learn how to adjust bass and treble for each singer. I have noticed that some people sound great when you boost the bass a little, and for some people you really need to cut out some of the highs. Some people need to cut out the highs. But that's a whole 'nother subject.
Keeping the mics straight
If you run your karaoke show with only one mic, then you don't need to read this section. Of course, in my opinion, every professional karaoke host will have three mics on stage available for the singers and at least one mic for the host. But, I don't want to criticize others. BTW, I have three mics on stage available for the singers and at least one mic for the host.
If you have decided that you want to be considered a great karaoke host, then you will have several mics so that the guy and the gal each have a mic when they sing "I Got You Babe" or the naughty version of "Summer Nights". And when you have that duet singing, you will invariably need to individually adjust the volume to balance the two singers.
When I first started this great job, I put colored electrical tape on each of the mics. After the first night, I realized that I needed to put different colors of tape on the mics if I was going to tell the difference. (It really doesn't take me long to figger this stuff out. Who says I'm not the sharpest crayon in the shed?) So, the second night I wrapped different colors of tape on each mic. And I put matching tape on the ends of the mic cables.
This was great, but I eventually came to a better solution. I now put the colored tape on each end of the mic cables, and nothing on the mics. This way, I don't have the problem of trying to match the color of the mic with the color of the cable when I set up. And another bonus... when people hold a mic with tape on it, the tape will eventually slide and people's hands will get sticky. Gross.
Wireless vs wired
Another popular option for karaoke mics is the wireless mic. This mic saves time setting up, since you don't need to run the cables. There is one less cable for singers to trip on, which is good. And the singer is free to wander around the room so that they can hit on various people in the audience.
This last thing can be good or bad. Some people in the audience, believe it or not, don't appreciate some random singer hitting on them when they are trying to concentrate on drinking their beer. Go figger. People who like getting drunk shouldn't hang out at karaoke bars. Ummm.. wait. I take that back. I keep forgetting what the whole point of karaoke is.
Another bad thing about a singer wandering around through the bar with a mic is that they will be out there where the main speakers are loud. Just in case you kinda missed the whole section on feedback, this can be a problem.
Another downside to wireless mics is that, for the same quality of mic, wireless mics will be more expensive. The wireless version of my favorite Shure SM58 runs about $600. I don't have one, by the way. If I did, I would not use it for karaoke. (Note, you can find the "handheld transmitter" for a bunch less, but you still need to buy the little box that receives the signal from the mic.)
Ok, so, I was checking out the mics before a show. The club manager, Mike, was standing at the end of my row of mics. I spoke into the mic at the end and said "mic three". I spoke into the next mic and said "mic two". Then "mic one". I stepped over and looked into the manager's face and said "Mike zero". He laughed. He's a good guy. I make dumb jokes.
Trying to sell you on buying a decent mic
The requirements for a karaoke microphone are fairly simple. It must be rugged and it must not make decent singers sound bad. Oh, and it's gotta be cheap. Not much to ask! Oh yeah, one more thing: it's gotta make people look cool.
Rugged is important. Karaoke singers routinely abuse the mics. They spill beer on them, blow cigarette smoke into them, spit on them, drop them, scream into them, swing them by their cords, and every once in a while, they throw them. So you either must buy really cheap mics and consider them disposable, or you must get mics that can stand the abuse.
Really cheap mics, of course, make people sound like they are singing into a really cheap mic. Sometimes maybe that's the effect you are going for, but I'm guessing not. (Then again, this is karaoke. I mean, get real.)
Cheap mics do two things that expensive mics won't do. Well, besides being inexpensive. Cheap mics will give you a really cool "singing into a can" sound. Chicks dig that. Cheap mics will also "bottom out" - that is, they will distort badly when you sing too loud. Again, chicks dig this. There was an evolutionary advantage to this. Guys that could sing loud were just plain better at scaring away saber-toothed tigers.
Seriously, I bought a cheap wireless lapel mic for my wife (the Gypsy Songstress) for her singing gigs. It was less than $20, which was great. It sounded lousy. Which was not great. Not much of an evolutionary advantage there. I invested in a more expensive wireless mic... still not excellent sound quality, but I was only willing to put $100 into it. I'm cheap. Which is another evolutionary disadvantage for me.
How do you know if a mic is a cheap mic? Well, the price is one give-away. And the case... is it plastic? If a mic has an attached cord, rather than a detachable cord, it is likely to be lower quality. How about the plug? If it comes with a quarter inch plug or 1/8" plug (as shown below), it is likely not high quality.
Professionals use mics with what is called an XLR connector, shown below. This sort of connector and cable will reduce the chances of an unwanted hum sneaking into the system. Why? Read the post on "Tying it all together".
Decent quality mic
There are two common types of mics: dynamic and condensor. A recording studio engineer or member of Aerosmith or the guy in the music department at WalMart might tell you that you need to buy a condensor mic. Arguably, some of the best mics are condensor mics.
But for karaoke, there are reasons to go with a dynamic mic. First, condensor mics tend to be a bit more fragile than dynamic mics. Second, condensor mics need what is called "phantom power". You need to run a high voltage (but very weak) signal to the microphone for power. A decent mixer will give you this signal, but if you have an indecent mixer, you may not even be able to use a condensor mic.
Dynamic mics may not be the highest quality, but, let's face it, this is not a recording studio. This isn't even Summerfest. (Interesting thing here... I sang at Summerfest once. They had a karaoke stage. Great fun. I thought I sounded pretty good. Too bad the audience couldn't hear how fabulous I sounded inside my head.) My own opinion is that a decent dynamic mic will give you a pretty good sound.
As I have said in this tutorial, I am not about to recommend equipment, like for example, the Shure SM58. I would not think of saying anything like the Shure SM58 is a mic that gives an excellent sound and really holds up to any sort of abuse. And I certainly won't mention that I own six of these puppies. I don't. I own seven.
The Shure SM58 sells for $99. Shure won't allow them to be sold cheaper. If you are buying a new mic for less, then it's probably a cheap knock off. And it's likely that it does not have the sound quality or durability. I found a very good description of how to tell a real SM 58.
You may ask if I paid $99 for my Shure mics? I bought several used mics on eBay for less. I think at least one of them was a knock-off. You pays your money, you takes your chances.
Omnidirectional versus cardioid
If you happen to use a mic other than the SM 58, you should know one very important distinction about mics. This is more important than all my useless drivel about cheap versus expensive and dynamic versus condensor.
Microphones are designed to either collect sound from all directions (omnidirectional) or to collect sound preferentially from one direction (unidirectional, cardioid, or hyper-cardioid). Omnidirectional mics are great for studios, but are a big problem if they are used with PA equipment. The problem is feedback.
Think of a movie scene where someone steps up to talk into a microphone. The guy who puts the sound togerther for the movie will cue up a stock sound clip of feedback. There will momentarily be a weee-ooow. This sound is the universally accepted indication that what you will hear next is coming from a PA system. I've started noticing this in movies. Totally ruins the movies for me.
We have all heard feedback. Feedback is that high pitched squeal that occurs when a sound is picked up by the mic, amplified and sent out to the speakers, and then picked up again by the microphone only to get amplified even further, and so on. Kinda like rumors of Sarah Palin running for president. Feedback, like Sarah Palin in the White House, is generally not considered a good thing.
One good way to assure that you will always get lots of feedback is to use an omnidirectional mic. If for some reason you or your patrons don't appreciate loud shrill noises that completely drown out the singer and the music, then I would recommend using a cardioid (or hyper-cardioid) mic.
The cardioid mic, when pointed directly at the singer's mouth, will not be particularly sensitive to the sound coming from the speakers, and feedback will be avoided. At least until the singer decides to stop pouring beer into the mic and point the mic directly at the main speakers. Wow. That's cool. A good reason for you to have one hand at all times on the volume control for the mics.
By the way singers, point the mic at your mouth, ok? Unless you wanna look cool. It looks cool to hold the mic above your mouth, pointed down at your toes. It just doesn't sound as good. Oh, and close your eyes, too.
Another way that a singer can absolutely guarantee that they generate lots of the sort of ear-splitting feedback that the audience will love is to cup the microphone. I don't quite know why, but some people mistake the ball at the end of the mic for a handle. They will wrap their hand completely around the ball of the mic so as to keep any of their lovely voice from being heard. The part of their voice that does make it into the mic will make them sound like they have their head deep in a toilet bowl. This also drives chicks wild.
On top of this, cupping the mic will disturb the very carefully engineered sound pattern of the mic. And because of this, I guarantee there will be feedback. But damn! People really look cool when they use the mic ball as a handle.
While I am on the subject of feedback, lemme put in a plug for my post "Speakers - getting those karaoke vibrations going". This post talks about how to position speakers to avoid feedback.
Keeping one hand on the volume control
Feedback is one reason to keep monitoring the volume on the mics. Another reason is that singers come in all shapes and sizes. And their voices do as well. Most audio engineers have the luxury to set mic volumes before the show. A karaoke host is paid the huge bucks because he/she must be constantly raising the volume for timid voices and dropping the volume for people with huge or excessively annoying voices.
As you get used to your equipment, you will learn how to adjust bass and treble for each singer. I have noticed that some people sound great when you boost the bass a little, and for some people you really need to cut out some of the highs. Some people need to cut out the highs. But that's a whole 'nother subject.
Keeping the mics straight
If you run your karaoke show with only one mic, then you don't need to read this section. Of course, in my opinion, every professional karaoke host will have three mics on stage available for the singers and at least one mic for the host. But, I don't want to criticize others. BTW, I have three mics on stage available for the singers and at least one mic for the host.
If you have decided that you want to be considered a great karaoke host, then you will have several mics so that the guy and the gal each have a mic when they sing "I Got You Babe" or the naughty version of "Summer Nights". And when you have that duet singing, you will invariably need to individually adjust the volume to balance the two singers.
When I first started this great job, I put colored electrical tape on each of the mics. After the first night, I realized that I needed to put different colors of tape on the mics if I was going to tell the difference. (It really doesn't take me long to figger this stuff out. Who says I'm not the sharpest crayon in the shed?) So, the second night I wrapped different colors of tape on each mic. And I put matching tape on the ends of the mic cables.
This was great, but I eventually came to a better solution. I now put the colored tape on each end of the mic cables, and nothing on the mics. This way, I don't have the problem of trying to match the color of the mic with the color of the cable when I set up. And another bonus... when people hold a mic with tape on it, the tape will eventually slide and people's hands will get sticky. Gross.
Wireless vs wired
Another popular option for karaoke mics is the wireless mic. This mic saves time setting up, since you don't need to run the cables. There is one less cable for singers to trip on, which is good. And the singer is free to wander around the room so that they can hit on various people in the audience.
This last thing can be good or bad. Some people in the audience, believe it or not, don't appreciate some random singer hitting on them when they are trying to concentrate on drinking their beer. Go figger. People who like getting drunk shouldn't hang out at karaoke bars. Ummm.. wait. I take that back. I keep forgetting what the whole point of karaoke is.
Another bad thing about a singer wandering around through the bar with a mic is that they will be out there where the main speakers are loud. Just in case you kinda missed the whole section on feedback, this can be a problem.
Another downside to wireless mics is that, for the same quality of mic, wireless mics will be more expensive. The wireless version of my favorite Shure SM58 runs about $600. I don't have one, by the way. If I did, I would not use it for karaoke. (Note, you can find the "handheld transmitter" for a bunch less, but you still need to buy the little box that receives the signal from the mic.)
Batteries for your wireless mic
Here's a little tip about batteries. The handheld part of the wireless mic needs a 9V battery. The battery generally runs out after one night of karaoke... you need a fresh battery for every gig.
This is expensive and also a bit disturbing if you happen to have any "green" thoughts about the proper disposal of batteries. You might immediately think ":rechargeable batteries", but I have a caution. Don't use NiCad rechargeables. You just won't get any kind of battery life out of them. They won't make it through a show. I recently discovered a new type of rechargeable battery, the Ni-MH battery. To my delight, these batteries are relatively cost-effective, and they do hold a charge long enough to make it through a show.
Here's a little tip about batteries. The handheld part of the wireless mic needs a 9V battery. The battery generally runs out after one night of karaoke... you need a fresh battery for every gig.
This is expensive and also a bit disturbing if you happen to have any "green" thoughts about the proper disposal of batteries. You might immediately think ":rechargeable batteries", but I have a caution. Don't use NiCad rechargeables. You just won't get any kind of battery life out of them. They won't make it through a show. I recently discovered a new type of rechargeable battery, the Ni-MH battery. To my delight, these batteries are relatively cost-effective, and they do hold a charge long enough to make it through a show.
Copyright (c) 2010, John Seymour
4 comments:
Though I agree with almost everything you've stated (vive le wireless!), there's one thing I'd add, and it's a rule I vehemently police at each and every show: do NOT tap, pound, hit, strike, hammer, bang on or beat the microphone to check if it's on. Amazing how such a simple act can produce so much damage to one's system.
I'm having an insanely enjoyable time reading through your posts. I originally stumbled across your post when looking for some background on speakers. One additional thing you may wish to discuss (if you know anything about it of course, if not just make it up, I'm sure it will be hilarious), is the differences between UHF and VHF wireless standards and the benefits and pitfalls of each.
hello, m looking forward to purchase this mics for my home karaoke setup ... I just like to hear from you if it is good enough for the purpose....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pyle-Pro-PDWM2600-Dual-UHF-Wireless-Mic-Microphone-System-Mikes-/400267898363?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d31d36dfb#shId
Phantom,
I not so sure this would be a good choice.
Do you need wireless? Yeah, it's nice to not have a mic cord to trip on as you do the James Brown thing in your living room, but it adds cost. If you have $80 to spend on the mic system, clearly the mic part of it has to get cheaper if you add in the electronics for the wireless part.
My own experience has not been great with wireless mics. The best I have seen (for the price) are from Audio Technica. I bought two on eBay for around $100 each. They work ok for my voice, but they are completely unacceptable for my wife's voice.
My wife has tried a few other cheaper wireless mics, with the same conclusion. Way to much distortion to be even enjoyable.
If you feel you gotta have wireless, I would try the Audio Technica. If it were my money on a home system, I would buy a Shure SM58 or two.
Just my own opinions here!
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