Warren Fahey Posted January 1, 2011 Posted January 1, 2011 Happy 2011 to all you CN forum addicts. I have been wondering about the most effective way to mic my English for stage performance. I play both solo and with my band and, as a singer, I sometimes find that having two instrument boom stands so near my knees rather annoying as I lean in and out. It is a little easier if I stand but most of my concerts are two hours and you can understand the associated problem. When playing solo I tend not to mic the concertina and let the sound drift into my vocal mic. With the band, if I am not mic-ed, I can easily lose the music because of the other instrumental volume.I assume someone has designed a Direct Input system that doesn't necessitate buggering up my concertina woodwork.? I would appreciate any advice. Warren Fahey
Chris Timson Posted January 2, 2011 Posted January 2, 2011 From the Concertina FAQ: Miking Concertinas. Chris
Randy Stein Posted January 2, 2011 Posted January 2, 2011 Happy 2011 to all you CN forum addicts. I have been wondering about the most effective way to mic my English for stage performance. I play both solo and with my band and, as a singer, I sometimes find that having two instrument boom stands so near my knees rather annoying as I lean in and out. It is a little easier if I stand but most of my concerts are two hours and you can understand the associated problem. When playing solo I tend not to mic the concertina and let the sound drift into my vocal mic. With the band, if I am not mic-ed, I can easily lose the music because of the other instrumental volume.I assume someone has designed a Direct Input system that doesn't necessitate buggering up my concertina woodwork.? I would appreciate any advice. Warren Fahey I almost always stand during a performance and that helps. Also being out front. However in a 2 - 3 set gig standing for a few hours can get tiresome, a stool will help. I also usually am situated so my instrument, if not miked directly, will bleed into another mike. rss
AnnC Posted January 2, 2011 Posted January 2, 2011 (edited) I found that a twin pick up Microvox which had it's own tiny pre-amp worked very well. The pickups had a small square of hook sided velcro on them so it was just a case of putting a tiny self adhesive patch of fuzzy velcro onto each side of the concertina ( mine went near the bars holding the handstraps and were barely noticeable,you can just see the tiny black square of velcro in my profile picture ) so there was no permanent alteration/damage to the instrument. Edited January 2, 2011 by anlej
Michael Ducky Raley Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 A few notes I have observed with the microvox. I play in differnt non traditional open mic's which are generally amplified. Sometimes I find myself in jam sessions with full drum kit, electric & bass guitars. Can't compete there without electricity... To minimize stress on the cords and errant pops & other noise. 1. I use a padded guitar neck stap with my Morse. Partially for hands free use or to sling it across my back when going to get drinks, partially as a wiring platform. 2. I mount the power supply for the Microvox Mic's on the padded side of the strap on my left. As I move the concertina out or around it keeps the RCA jacks relatively steady. So If I decide to play some notes overhead & behind me it does not rip the mics out. 3. I switched to the smaller AAA power supply. I leave volume up to the pros running the board. I replaced the four Phillips screws on the plastic box with Velcro hinges. so I can check or replace the battery quickly. 4. To further elimiate stress & pops on the mic cords I use a Line6 Digital wireless transmitter & reciver. The transmitter goes in my pocket and plugs into the Microvox supply. This gives me about 100' line of sight to jump on the dance floor with the ladies or run to the bar for drinks while still playing. I think this also helps buffer the mic inputs. 5. The wireless receiver plugs into a BOSS OC-3 superoctave pedal. I'm starting to experiment with shifting my low end frequences on demand, creating some deep harmonies 6. Gain and sensitivy are the fundemental problems with these mics. You can very easily pick up the whole room with non clean amplifier modeling, or go bats with feedback. Lowering tone range helps as does just not trying to compete for loudest person.
Jim Besser Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 Happy 2011 to all you CN forum addicts. I have been wondering about the most effective way to mic my English for stage performance. I play both solo and with my band and, as a singer, I sometimes find that having two instrument boom stands so near my knees rather annoying as I lean in and out. It is a little easier if I stand but most of my concerts are two hours and you can understand the associated problem. When playing solo I tend not to mic the concertina and let the sound drift into my vocal mic. With the band, if I am not mic-ed, I can easily lose the music because of the other instrumental volume.I assume someone has designed a Direct Input system that doesn't necessitate buggering up my concertina woodwork.? I would appreciate any advice. Warren Fahey I use the Microvox pickups, with little velcro tabs on the sides of the concertina. It can be a little shrill, but a good sound person can EQ it to sound pretty good. I dislike getting tangled up in the wires, but the sound is much better and more consistent than with a regular mic
Steve Mansfield Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 Just wanted to add another +1 for Microvox. I resisted the idea of sticking the little Velcro pads on my EC for far too long, but (like their solution for flutes & whistles, which I've been using pretty much since they first came on the market) the Microvox concertina setup has been trouble-free, far more convenient than any rig involving microphones on boom stands etc., and ... well ... it just pretty much works! As others have said I wouldn't necessarily use it for recording, but the sound is plenty good quality enough for dances. As I shall be demonstrating in Marple in about 4 hours time
Geoff Wooff Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 I use the Microvox system too Warren. Oh! And Hi... long time no see.. must be more than 20 years... best regards, Geoff.
Theo Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 I must put another experience of Microvox. I did sound for several years with a concertina player who used microvox pickups and we found them to be the least reliable bit of kit on the stage. Signal would drop out without warning, crackles etc. Pretty much all due to the poor quality connectors that were fitted to the pickups and its battery box. And on those particular pickups the mics were omnidirectional, so I had to be very careful to avoid feedback. You will also find that any mic placed that close to the concertina will make a great job of picking up any rattles and clicks from the concertina action.
hjcjones Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 I have a Microvox concertina system (a pair of M400 mics and Mini PSU) which is surplus to requirements - if anyone's interested then PM me. I was reluctant to stick velcro onto the instrument itself so I put it on the side of the wooden hand rests instead - as these are black the black velcro was all but invisible, and it positioned the mic in the centre of the instrument. I didn't notice any odd effects from having the palms of my hands above them.
Ralph Jordan Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 I use AKG Swan neck mics myself...(can't recall the serial number at the moment...irrelevant anyway, as they have been superceded now!) Each mic slots into a belt pack pre-amp, where you can mix the two signals for onward feed to PA, wherever. Really good quality, and doesn't eat too many batteries!
Steve Mansfield Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 I must put another experience of Microvox. I did sound for several years with a concertina player who used microvox pickups and we found them to be the least reliable bit of kit on the stage. Signal would drop out without warning, crackles etc. Pretty much all due to the poor quality connectors that were fitted to the pickups and its battery box. And on those particular pickups the mics were omnidirectional, so I had to be very careful to avoid feedback. You will also find that any mic placed that close to the concertina will make a great job of picking up any rattles and clicks from the concertina action. Interesting - must have been a dodgy power supply / pre-amp unit, as on the contrary I find the Microvox one of the most reliable units around and have not had any of the connectivity or signal drops you describe. They changed the connectors a few years ago (the newer ones are pewter-coloured and feel like they 'click' into place on the PSU a little more than the older gold-coloured connectors did), so maybe that's the difference.
Theo Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 The ones I worked with would have been bought at least 15 years ago. Fiddle player in the same band also used microvox which was better than the one on the concertina, but still not 100% reliable.
Jim Besser Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 I must put another experience of Microvox. I did sound for several years with a concertina player who used microvox pickups and we found them to be the least reliable bit of kit on the stage. Signal would drop out without warning, crackles etc. Pretty much all due to the poor quality connectors that were fitted to the pickups and its battery box. And on those particular pickups the mics were omnidirectional, so I had to be very careful to avoid feedback. You will also find that any mic placed that close to the concertina will make a great job of picking up any rattles and clicks from the concertina action. I bought my Microvox used, and had a similar experience. But I re soldered a few connections and tightened up the jacks, and it's been working great for at least 5 years. But I should stress; it takes a good sound person to filter out the shrillness.
Chris Timson Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 You will also find that any mic placed that close to the concertina will make a great job of picking up any rattles and clicks from the concertina action. This is one reason why I've always thought that just one mic (preferably a small diaphragm condenser) pointing roughly at the middle of the bellows work as well as anything, though as yet another former Microvox user I did appreciate the freedom they gave you not to worry at all about mic placement. Chris
Ralph Jordan Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 You will also find that any mic placed that close to the concertina will make a great job of picking up any rattles and clicks from the concertina action. This is one reason why I've always thought that just one mic (preferably a small diaphragm condenser) pointing roughly at the middle of the bellows work as well as anything, though as yet another former Microvox user I did appreciate the freedom they gave you not to worry at all about mic placement. Chris A year ago, I experimented with a PZM (Pressure Zone Mic) mounted on a 10cm perspex plate placed directly in front of the bellows. Sounded great in a small band situation, but wasn't very good at rejection in louder settings....Always got a laugh though...particularly as I had a selection of art work on the "audience" side of the plate....Munch's The "Scream" always went down well!
Warren Fahey Posted January 6, 2011 Author Posted January 6, 2011 Many thanks for all the info feedback.
Michael Ducky Raley Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Many thanks for all the info feedback. Just one more suggestion, which I didn't think to try. Since the EC doesn't have the handbar to hide the velcro on, possibly to just secure the mics around one's wrists?
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