Best Live vocal mic for NOT picking up the backline

[stevebasshead]

Hi, our singer uses in-ear monitors because he says he needs to hear as much of his own voice as possible in order to pitch and sing well. However, our backline bleeds into his vocal mic (the PA guy's SM58) and I'm wondering if there's a better mic to use. We're not the loudest band on-stage by any means, and I know where he's coming from - I likewise need to hear lots of my bass to make sure I'm playing the right notes too.

I'm thinking that an ideal mic would need to have a very, very close pickup pattern in order to pick up as little backline as possibe. But it would also need to be able to cope with his voice and screams, both of which are pretty powerful.

Does anyone have any suggestions please?

Thanks,
Steve.

[jwbassman]

Hi Steve

As well as playing bass I also do the sound for my bigband - we had a similar problem in as much as the female vocalist is quite quiet in comparision to the large horn section behind her, so I was looking for a mic I could push to get enough of her vocal whilst at the same time not picking up too much of the brass and saxes, the search led me to following... the [url="http://www.westernliveaudio.co.uk/sales/browse_manufacturers.php?mid=1&manufacturer=Audix&s=24&np=3"]Audix OM5[/url]

I got one of these and it is superb, might solve your problem too... this guys are the cheapest I could find in the UK, the website isn't great but the email communication was good and when I called they were really helpful, would reccommend ringing them...

Hope this helps

John

[stingrayfan]

[quote name='stevebasshead' post='80975' date='Oct 29 2007, 07:58 PM']Hi, our singer uses in-ear monitors because he says he needs to hear as much of his own voice as possible in order to pitch and sing well. However, our backline bleeds into his vocal mic[/quote]
Sounds like he needs to go solo if those other pesky instruments are making too much noise.

[stevebasshead]

Thanks for the link, John, it looks very promising.

Anyone got any more I should put on the shopping list?

Steve.

[SMART]

I'm thinking that an ideal mic would need to have a very, very close pickup pattern in order to pick up as little backline as possibe. But it would also need to be able to cope with his voice and screams, both of which are pretty powerful.

Does anyone have any suggestions please?

Thanks,
Steve.
[/quote]

Steve, the comments on Audix mics is spot on, I've used the OM-4 in the past but the OM-5 is even better and they are buit like tanks! The only other brand I would trust and recommend you look at seriously is Sennheiser, again borne from experience in using their mics for percussion and vocals they are superb. Look at the Evolution 800 and 900 series of vocal mics.

Sennheiser was also the mic system of choice for the vast majority of acts at the recent 'Live Earth' concerts in particularly the Foo Fighters with Dave Grohl using the Sennheiser MD 431-II, surely a good recommendation for the problems you are looking to solve.

Just some ideas!

Hope that helps!

Ciao

Ian

Edited October 30, 2007 by SMART

[joegarcia]

Well, sounds like you want something with a hyper-cardiod pickup pattern as opposed to the standard cardiod of the SM58. From personal experience (as well as common sense) I'd suggest the Sure Beta 58. Logical upgrade from the SM58 if you were otherwise happy with it. It sounds smoother and cleaner to my earsthan the SM58 with a more refined top end as well as having the tighter pickup pattern. Lovely mics.

[crez5150]

[quote name='stevebasshead' post='81271' date='Oct 30 2007, 02:43 PM']Thanks for the link, John, it looks very promising.

Anyone got any more I should put on the shopping list?

Steve.[/quote]


Definitely look at the Beyedynamic TGX60...... superb mic!!!

[stevebasshead]

Cheers guys, keep 'em coming. I'll be looking into all of them

[john_the_bass]

Did you ever settle on one Steve? What was the outcome?

[deksawyer]

Electro Voice ND 767A - best mic in its class by a mile!!

D.

[stevebasshead]

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='263024' date='Aug 15 2008, 12:47 PM']Did you ever settle on one Steve? What was the outcome?[/quote]

Aye well, there I was gathering info from all you good people so I could give him some options and in the meantime he went and bought an SM58 beta wireless. It's a good mic and supercardioid (I think) and he seems happy with it.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Steve.

[Sean]

We recently A/B an SM58 with a the Behringer "clone" XM8500 and with eyes closed we all preferred the sound of the XM8500 and in the same blind test I even picked it over my Beta 58A. It performed superbly in front of a a huge loud guitar rig and doesn't look like a cheap mic.

Price? About £18.