I recently did a small tour around a bunch of churches which included a choir that was mic'd via 14 large diaphragm condensers. It also included a very well-known artist leading the choir who wanted to hear the choir in her side-fill monitors.
Sounds like a nightmare, right? Once we got the system down, it worked out surprisingly well. One of our saving graces was the selectable pickup pattern on the choir mics, which is what gave me the idea for this article. While the idea for this article was sparked in a house-of-worship setting, the premise of it can also be used to help in other applications.
Microphones for live sound reinforcement purposes generally come with one or more of the following pickup patterns either fixed or selectable; omni, cardioid, super-cardioid, hyper-cardioid, or figure-8. Most of these come on dynamics and/or condensers. I don't think I have ever seen a figure-8 dynamic, but it may exist.
Choosing specific pickup patterns wisely can not only help address feedback issues, but can also affect the way the mic feels to an artist (and how they use mic technique). For example, think about a rock singer versus a jazz singer. Chances are that a rock singer will want the microphone very loud and at the same time not be as concerned about mic technique. This would be a great candidate for a microphone with a tight pattern. On the flip side would be a jazz singer. They tend to use mic technique to its full advantage. This means singing at distance from the mic directly on the performers' lips to the mic at 1-2 feet away from their face. For this type of a performer, a much wider pattern could be a better option. These types of live vocal microphones typically come with one fixed pickup pattern. There are exceptions, including a new offering from MXL that ships with three interchangeable capsules – cardioid, super cardioid and omni.
Meanwhile, Back At the Choir Loft
Miking a choir can be a very difficult task. There are usually many hurdles one must get over to achieve the most gain before feedback while preserving a good overall tone. There are many options to miking a choir and plenty of techniques as well. Having a selectable pickup pattern can immensely help in getting rid of feedback. This can be achieved by selecting a pickup pattern that has a null coincident with where a speaker reproducing the microphone output is located.
Fig. 1 shows a basic example of what the setup was when I was out on tour with the choir. On the downstage corners (bottom left and right) are two speakers, one for the mains and one for the monitors. The illustration also shows where each mic is placed. Note which pickup pattern is used in relation to where the speakers are located. Each microphone's pickup pattern was selected to have a null in the pattern facing towards the speaker.
Just as a disclaimer, always use your ears! You can't "see audio," so it is very important to verify that what you think is happening actually is. In other words, you can setup microphones and pickup patterns along these guidelines all day long. But if there is some sort of acoustical anomaly, like a reflection, for example, the plan might need to be adjusted. Every day out on this tour was a little different, but during line check we would go through and bring up each mic to see where it would start to take off. Then, by changing the pickup patterns around, the engineer had a little more headroom to bring up the choir without feeding back or having to rip the EQ apart, hence sacrificing the tone.
One Wedge or Two?
Another often-overlooked scenario is which vocal mic pickup patterns work best with different wedge configurations. This is a bit different from a choir scenario, but has a similar concept behind it. Most live vocal microphones have a fixed pickup pattern. Usually it is a cardioid, hyper-cardioid or super-cardioid. Assuming there are wedges involved for stage monitoring, a typical setup would include one or two wedges. As illustrated in Fig. 2, you can see that a cardioid mic's null in the pickup pattern would, in theory, work better in a single wedge configuration. A hyper-cardioid mic, on the other hand, would work better in a two wedge configuration due to its nulls in its pickup pattern.
The things to consider in this instance are almost infinite. Budget can always limit what you can and cannot do. Another thing to think about is, if a singer isn't stationary, then selecting a pickup pattern based upon wedge configuration can be a waste of time. However, all wedges aside, there are other instances in which the same concept can be used, like instrument miking. For example, if a little more isolation on an instrument is needed, like a snare drum, trying a super-cardioid microphone could work better. It will reject more from the sides, picking up less high-hat and rack tom.
The possibilities are almost endless when making microphone pickup pattern selections. The basic concept behind this applies in all markets including the house of worship, concert, club and corporate market. All have unique situations that call for unique solutions – and that's why we get paid the big bucks, right?
