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two-mic setup


pogo97

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Saw this guy, Pat Maloney, last night. He uses two microphones. One is set normal and the other is set reverb-drenched. He sings into the normal mic and whistles or scats into the reverberant one. Very effective.

 

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I have only seen people do the "two mic" thing when using a looper. It seems a lot of extra weight, setup time and effort for something that on the face of it could be achieved far easier. Having said that I do love anyone that's trying something a bit different.

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An ounce of image is sometimes worth a pound of performance. It is show business after all.

 

A pedal might work as well, but he might be more comfortable with that, and it might make the audience go oooo.

 

Notes

 

Zackly. It caught my eye. Much more elegant than stabbing away at little boxes with his feet.

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Okay, so I figured it would be worth a few minutes of my valuable morning to find a video of this guy with the 2 mics...

 

 

well okay he whistled into it...

 

 

didn't use it at all...

 

So, from what I found, the second mic is little more than a gimmick, which is fine, gimmicks in the age of video are pretty much de rigeur.

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I'm lazy. I use the same mic for my vocals and my sax. One less stand to set up, one less cable to run. I just don't play the sax as close to the mic as I sing. A Sennheiser MD421 on a boom does the trick. Point it down for sax, point it at my mouth for vocals. If I need to play a short sax fill between vocals, I rear up and put the horn in the air, and the audience likes the show biz effect.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

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As noted the two mic thing does have us talking about this fellow, much like the Arthur "two sheds" Jackson bit.... Honestly, I really don't think many people would even notice the sound difference, and would just wonder why he needs two mics. For myself, I would never set up two mics. Even in a nice lounge or whatever, I have had more than a few drunks want to come up and sing. Having a second mic up there is like having a sign that says "please invade my stage area". No thanks. Besides, I don't want to be known as Mr. Two Mics!

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I think the reaction here is a bit puzzling. It's no big deal, just a neat idea.

 

I dunno about you guys, and I'm not thinking about using two mic because I don't whistle, play the humazoo or anything except sing. And maybe I don't know my stomp boxes but…

 

Extra equipment?

 

I already own an extra mic and stand and cord (doesn't everybody?) and have an extra channel in my mixer that can be assigned whistle-specific effects onboard. So the two mic approach would cost me nothing. Adding a reverb pedal? If you use a guitar pedal, you'll need to convert xlr to 1/4" unbalanced and then back unless you don't mind a little unbalanced line noise. Or you can buy a vocal processor for $150++. Maybe you already have a power supply, otherwise, you'll likely want that, too.

 

Loading in?

 

-okay, an extra stand. Otherwise about the same amount of stuff.

 

Performing convenience?

 

-turn your head and whistle into the second mic vs poke around with your feet and hope you hit the right button

-head turning is explicit and interesting, pedal poking is what's-he-doing (if anyone cares) and everybody does it

 

On stage tidiness?

 

- a hunk of equipment at your feet plus the power supply versus an extra mic and stand -- about the same difference

 

Sonic integrity?

 

- click, the reverb is on and click it's off vs the whistle reverb is always on -- the performer turns his head to whistle and it's there, turns away and the reverb tapers off the whistle as the dry voice rides over it. The audience can clearly see what's going on, and to me that's better than mystery black boxes invisibly messing with your sound.

 

Drunks?

 

- as if a drunk cares about an extra mic -- at least with two mics you wouldn't be sharing their breath as they sidle up beside you to sing into your vocal mic

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It's all good, I'm just saying that for myself, the two mic thing wouldn't fly. Drunks sitting in, an extra target to knock over, management thinking they had booked a duo, extra minutes of set-up and tear down time (I play gigs where I might have ten to fifteen minutes up and ten to fifteen minutes down because there's a performer before or after me).

 

I do know harp players that have a mic extension that fits on their vocal stand, and that seems to work for them. I'd be tempted to go that route if I thought I really needed two mics. Considering though that many people can't tell the difference between a trombone and a sax, I'm just thinking the two stand thing is unnecessary. But I'll defend this fellow's right to bring two stands! Just wouldn't do it myself.

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We bring a spare mic, but only take it out if someone who throws a private party we are playing wants to speak (thank the staff, help, etc.).

 

For us, extra stand could mean an extra trip to the car. We carry two mic stands, two monitor stands, and two speaker stands already. I can't see how to bring another without another trip.

 

But that's us. There is more than one right way to do this.

 

I should talk, I'm thinking about getting a linnstrument. They look really cool, but they are expensive.

 

Notes

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.

 

I should talk, I'm thinking about getting a linnstrument. They look really cool, but they are expensive.

 

Notes

 

yep, looks pretty darn cool

and a complete bargain compared to a Selmer Mark VI

I'd buy two and save on shipping

 

 

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IMHO the Mark VI is a fine sax, but over-rated. I had one, and like most saxes of the day, the intonation is challenging. It takes a lot of ear and lip to play in tune. The Mark VII cured the intonation problem, but the tone was too harsh and not flexible enough. IMHO An H.Couf Superba is a much better horn than the VI (I had one of those too) with a more flexible tone, and very good intonation. The problem with that horn is there is a lot of copper in the brass, and since people don't relaquer horns anymore, mine turned green. I'm playing a sax from a small boutique company out of Texas (but manufactured in Taiwan) that made great saxes for about 10 years but like Parker Guitars, couldn't attract enough business. Mine is a custom job with two coats of natural color nickle plating on it. Intonation is much better than the VI, tone is different but excellent in a different way, and very free blowing.

 

I've had 3 Selmers a vintage Conn, a silver plated King, a gold plated Grassi, a Pan American, a Couf and the present MacSax. All were very good horns in their own right. I tend to wear them out though. I gig hard and do one-nighters - one nighters are tough on gear.

 

A VI is a little like an early Les Paul before the tune-o-matic bridge. IMHO a fine instrument, but overpriced because of it's collector's value.

 

All in all I think the H.Couf Superba was the all around best sax I've owned. But it is show biz (back on topic) and having a sax that has turned green and had the texture of a cantaloupe is not going to get me many gigs in places where they wear tuxedos and pay the band better than average money.

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