In many churches, the focus has shifted to the pop/rock band at the center of the platform, yet the choir is frequently part of the mix — and in some cases, a choir provides 100 percent of the vocal contribution to the service. Particularly during annual special services (e.g., Christmas and Easter), the choir is known to move forward in terms of importance — especially if the church produces Handel’s “Messiah,” for example. A competent audio staff should have a good handle on how to properly mic a choir and integrate the signals into the FOH and streaming mixes, and deliver a solid signal for recording as well.
The Visual Factor
There are three reasons why we would point microphones at a choir: to record them, to reinforce them, and/or to stream or broadcast them. All are possibilities, and your choice of mics and placement is contingent on what combination you seek to accomplish. In the recording studio, we’re unconcerned about aesthetics or visual appearances. We just want mics in positions that optimally capture our choir, and we’re not upset if the mics are big and thick and pointing at our singers from a zillion angles. A church platform is a different story, where we don’t want a hundred big, ugly mics blocking the view of our lovely, robed vocalists, and even less so if we are streaming or broadcasting visuals.
The occasions where we are only recording and not reinforcing are few and far between, so let’s focus on scenarios — in which reinforcing the choir is our primary focus, and recording them is a somewhat lower priority. The good news? There are numerous high-quality mics available that are slender and don’t have to be plopped down directly in front of the choir. We can put them on stands on either side of the choir (or even behind the choir) and use long booms to extend the mics out into positions that make sense. If the construction of the room (and the church budget) allow for it, mics permanently suspended from the ceiling are also excellent.
What kind of mics will we use? Big, clunky large-diaphragm condensers are out. Luckily there are fantastic slim-line condenser models that suit our purpose. Aside from the visual form factor of the mics, the other key here is directionality. By using directional mics, we can take control of the image of the choir in our mix. A small choir — a half dozen to a dozen people — can be captured by a single mic, but a larger choir probably requires a couple of mics, which enables us to present a nice stereo image of the choir in the mix. A massive choir may take a few more mics, but remember, the more mics we use, the more phase incoherency we have to deal with. If possible, getting the job done with a single stereo pair, makes life easier in a number of ways: it’s less visually obtrusive, it creates less phase incoherencies, and it’s easier to mix two mics than ten. The other reason to avoid using a multitude of mics is spelled out in a phrase we all know and love: “gain before feedback.” The more mics, the more propensity for feedback, and this is particularly true for mics that are placed several feet (or even yards) away from the subject, requiring gain to be increased substantially.
Mic Placement
We will indeed want to get the mics up above the choir, although not too high. The singers are likely on risers, which ensure that each successive row is a bit higher than the one in front of it. Properly placed mics will ensure that all the singers are equidistant from the mics, front to rear. This presents the entire ensemble to the mic equally, as opposed to representing the front row more loudly than those behind if the mics are too low. This should present a proper blend of all the voices. It becomes even more important if the choir director has chosen to divide sections front-to-back (sopranos front, altos behind them, tenors behind altos, and basses in the rear). The other option is dividing the choir horizontally — with sections occupying spaces laterally next to each other. In terms of making recommendations to the director on the physical arrangement of the singers, my advice is … don’t. They usually have a very strong handle on what they’re doing — more than us audio types do. It’s the same advice I use when dealing with musicians and vocalists. I promise them I won’t tell them how to play and sing if they’ll refrain from telling me how to mix.
Getting the mics up high is an important goal, but getting them aimed in the right direction in the horizontal plane is every bit as important. The big question here is how the choir is arranged on the platform. Are they in a straight line or in an arc? Both are legitimate and commonly done. As was stated prior, we definitely want to use directional mics if the signal is going into the FOH mix, if for no other reason than to increase gain before feedback. If our choir is in a straight line, we should have our mics in a straight line as well (in the horizontal plane). If the choir is in an arc, we’ll want to put a little angle away from center on our mics. An example here: a smaller choir arranged in an arc is probably best miked with a stereo pair fanning out a bit from a center point — capturing two halves of the arc.
Minding the Mix
In the case of a choir arranged by horizontally grouped sections, a mic on each section can deliver some nice benefits vis-a-vis mixing. The most common choir is SATB (soprano/alto/tenor/bass), and having a mic focused on each section helps the FOH mixer get the parts blended appropriately. Smaller choirs and choirs formed of volunteer, non-professional vocalists typically require a little additional help with the blend, particularly because basses are few and far between. When soprano, alto, and tenor sections have a dozen each and there are only three basses, a bit of reinforcement assistance is required.
Bear in mind all the usual rules of thumb with mics — don’t use too many — leverage directionality to your benefit, and work with the choir director, not against them. You’ll have the voices of these angels soaring high and sweet in your mixes.
John McJunkin is the chief engineer and staff producer in the studio at Grand Canyon University.
