Behind The Mixer

Learn Church Audio Artistry | Church Sound

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vocal microphones

Ye old broadcasting microphones.
Photo by roadsideguitars

In the middle of a severe episode of writer’s block, a tech on Facebook suggested I write on pastor microphone problems.  The block was destroyed and the ideas started following.  Microphone problems?  Oh, I’ve a list of those.

The problems aren’t just with pastor microphones, they can happen when anyone with a speaking role takes the stage.  There are seven key areas where you can pro-actively prevent microphone problems.

1. Lock wireless microphones.

Wireless microphones, handheld and lapel packs, can have an option for locking the On/Off switch.  For example, in our Shure handhelds, if I hold down the SET and MODE buttons at the same time, for a few seconds, it locks the switch.  This means that if the switch is moved to the Off position, it stays on.  This is great for preventing people from accidentally turning off a microphone.


2. Tape the switch.

In the case of wireless microphones without the locking option, consider a small piece of black electrical tape to secure the switch.  You don’t want a person to get flustered because the microphone won’t come on and they don’t realize the problem is on their end.

3. Keep the channel on with the fader down when not in use.

Mixing consoles can be different in that some have a button that lights up if the channel is muted while others have a lit On button.  My point here is that it’s easy to assume when the fader is up that the channel is on.  I like to see my pastor’s microphone channel lit with the fader down when it’s not needed.  This way, when he walks on the stage, I see that I need to bring up the fader. Just make sure you have their channel set to post-fader so when they aren’t “on” that their voice isn’t heard in secondary rooms or recordings or wherever else you might send their signal.  Hey, you got your tricks and I’ve got mine.

Oh, a big tip here, never mute the pastor’s microphone until that have left the stage.  In some cases, you might even wait until they sit down.  I’ve seen pastors stay something at the last minute, after I had muted their microphone but before they sat down.

4. Turn them on.

Hand all wireless microphones to people with the power on…and locked or taped.  They need to know that you have them muted and that you will take care of everything on your end.  This prevents the person from forgetting to turn on the microphone on stage.

5. Tell them where to put it – wireless

In the case of people speaking on the stage for the first time, I see a lot of hesitation after they speak.  They don’t know if the wireless handheld should stay on the stage or if they take it with them.  Before taking the stage, inform them where to put the microphone when they are done.

6. Tell them where to put it – wired

The tough part with people using wired microphones is they don’t know what to do with them when they are done.  Do they place it on the podium? Do they place it on the ground?  If they think to put it in the mic stand, how does it go into the microphone clip?  To you and me, this seems a no-brainer.  But for the person who is new or nervous or just unsure, give them a few words of instruction before they take the stage.

7. Check the batteries.

And whatever you do, always make sure the batteries are charged enough in the wireless microphones to get you through the service.

In Summary

You can prevent a lot of embarrassing microphone problems by following these 7 points.  You’ll be benefiting the congregation by preventing distractions and you’ll be helping the pastor and first-time speakers by taking care of their concerns…at least concerning their microphone.  You can’t do anything about their lame jokes.

P.S.  For all that is good and pure and holy, please take off the foam windscreen on your handheld microphones.  As long as you are indoors, where there is NO WIND, then you don’t need them.

 

 

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Comments

  1. We keep the windshields of our handheld mikes on permanently as our pastor breath pops into them every week. I dread to think what it would be like if we took the shields off.

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  3. I’ve used this instruction verbatim many times and it seems to work well.

    “Think of the mic like a flashlight. Shine it on the ceiling, it picks up the ceiling. Shine it on your tonsils, it picks up your voice.”

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  4. First of all great tips! All good things.

    As an aside our pastor likes to control his mic. I’m the first paid sound guy and this was instituted long before I was there, but I just leave the channel up and on and he knows to turn his mic on and off. Only had one time where he joined the worship team on the end of worship. :)

    Second, many headset mics have small connections that connect small wires (eg. micro dot connectors). These and the plug into the body pack have a tendency to come loose. I have seen problems were one of these is just a tad loose and you get pops. It’s an easy fix though. First make sure all connectors are secure and tight before you hand off the mic/body pack. Then educate the user on those connections, then when they hear that popping sound they can tighten up connections for you without anyone noticing.

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  5. I Liked the bit about:

    “I’ve seen pastors stay something at the last minute, after I had muted their microphone”

    Using “seen” rather than “heard”.

    :)

    Chris

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  6. There’s another reason for windscreens besides pops and wind (and we do actually have people that can “breath pop” even our handhelds)…germs! It’s much easier to wash an external pop filter than it is to take off the mic grill to get to the internal pop filter for washing. And don’t get me started on Sunday morning lipstick in the mic grills….ew.

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    • We had one worship leader for our college ministry that used the same mic almost every Sunday for several years. He would shower the mic so much with saliva that the wire grill eventually started to rust! It would have been better to keep a windscreen on it but he would typically take it off during rehearsal.

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  7. All good points, but I thought I’d toss in another one…

    Train on the microphone usage. I can’t tell you how many people think that a microphone is going to have enough sensitivity to pick up their voice while holding the mic at the hip, leaning out away from them. They should hold it in front of their mouth, and talk loud enough so the person in the front row can hear them. Too loud, I can fix… too soft, and it all goes bad from there…

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  8. Great tips, as usual. I had to share an exception to the “no windscreens indoors” rule, though.

    One of our pastors puts a lot of air behind his P’s and B’s. When he looks down at his notes or to read, that air flows directly into his lapel mic. I thought we must have had the mic adjusted improperly since our other pastor uses an identical mic without any issues. We changed the positioning and switched mics and had the same problem. The only solution I found to eliminate the pops was to put the windscreen on!

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  9. Those are great microphone tips! I like the idea of keeping the pastor’s mic channel open with the fader down.

    Just this past Sunday morning we were wrapping up the last service of the morning and our general announcement wireless handheld mic didn’t work when I un-muted the channel. I had replaced all wireless batteries first thing that morning, and our Sennheiser handhelds always last the entire morning without any issues. It seems that I had used either a faulty battery or some slightly used AAs has been put back into the fresh battery bin. Sometimes you can’t avoid a mistake, but be sure that you know your batteries are factory fresh.

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