How to mic up the 8am church choir

How to mic up the 8am choir, or any choir in the right front corner of the church. Part of the St George's Church PA training series of videos.
Some additional points to note:
- Remember not to send this microphone to any of the monitors, it is unnecessary as those at the front can hear the choir acoustically, and will feed back very badly if you are not careful.
- There is no need for the choir to be thunderously loud - the idea is to balance them with the organ, not blow the roof off the building.
- One microphone will cover up to 20 singers easily, so one mic is all that is needed in normal circumstances.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

[@GLBProductions]

@nisuda Thanks for your question. If you want to mic the choir as a whole just one mic will be enough. The choir should stand in four rows of six for best coverage. If on the other hand you want to mic each section individually you'll need one mic per section - this gives you more control over the tonal balance but is more complex and the interaction between the mics can have undesirable effects.

[@chrisc958]

Bruno, I was out on You Tube and saw this video. I had to chuckle to myself. I have been using a two RODE M5 Mics with the RODE SB20 Stereo Bar. I am using it as XY for mono recording. I had been using it on a standard microphone stand when recording our Winter Church Choir (Smaller Group) for CD to our Shut Ins. It was picking up too much of the Altos and not enough of the Men (unbalanced). So I put the bar on a boom stand as you showed in this video so I could get more height, hoping to pick up more of the men since they are standing higher up on a step behind the women. We will see how the recording sounds after Worship Service Sunday.

[@GLBProductions]

+Chris C. Experimentation is definitely the name of the game with this sort of recording! Even better is to set things up during the rehearsal and try several different positions and then try the one that gives you the best balance for the actual service.

[@chrisc958]

+GLB Productions I agree.

[@hidden1049]

Hi Bruno, thank for the video. Pls what type of mic is that. Is it an Omni directional mic or directional mic? Thanks

[@GLBProductions]

Cardioid :)

[@hidden1049]

@@GLBProductions Thanks

[@ErrolFernandes365]

a question: I've noticed that in our choir setup we aren't really able to bring out the 'choir' sound as much as individual voices. We are a small group of 8-10 members in total (sopranos, altos and maybe tenors, if they show up) and we share 3-4 SM58s between ourselves. Would you recommend we use the setup you've shown, i.e. a single condenser mic and a choir 'boom' mic stand micing two rows of singers?

[@GLBProductions]

In a word, yes - a single microphone can be used to mic up to 25 singers. However remember that although the blend will improve, the possible level of amplification will decrease.

[@chrisc958]

Bruno,On a different topic. Using the Sound Board AUX SEND into a CD-R recorder.I am trying to be able to balance the volume of the different Channels being used on a particular Sunday to a CD Recorder via a AUX SEND. Is trying to use an AUX Send to the CD Recorder a viable way of recording vocals, instruments and/or pre-recorded music?

[@GLBProductions]

+Chris C. Yes, it's a very good method actually, because it allows you to create a separate mix for the recorder. The best way to do it is to have a second person wearing headphones looking after the recorder mix, making small changes to the balance as needed during the service. The only issue with this method is that the recording will be mono, unless you have a mixer with stereo aux sends - this feature is usually only available on larger consoles.

[@chrisc958]

+GLB Productions Bruno, I was successful at hooking up the AUX Send to the CD-RW (operator error! :-) ). I had the 2 Track send going into the CD-RW. Saw where the AUX Send designated to go to the CD-RW was not connected. So I switched them tested it with this Sunday's recording and a wireless mick to verify being able to adjust and balance the music and vocal going into the CD-RW.Thank you for confirming I was on the right track.Chris

[@GLBProductions]

+Chris C. You're welcome, let me know how the recording sounds.

[@nisuda]

question: How many of these mics would I need for a 24 choir members?

[@pranoypires8715]

I stay in India, Goa. we put sound for Easter and here atleast a group of three in the choir need one mic, total of almost 10 condenser mics are put that to the mics are very close to each other.Also the mic stand is not 10 feet in height ,it's just near the singers mouth. but we are not getting the quality we want. so what should we do in this case. we use mipro MM-707 condenser mic.can u suggest me ways to improve on this

[@GLBProductions]

If you need a high volume you need to give each singer one mic. If this is not necessary use fewer mics - one per section is normally plenty.

[@pranoypires8715]

But which mic would be more effective the one u suggest in the video or the one we use mipro MM707

[@pranoypires8715]

is this applicable for outdoor choir

[@GLBProductions]

Yes it is.

[@LittleScrub]

GLB Productions can I have your email please I need help.

[@GLBProductions]

- Please send me a private message on KZbin, thank you.