Today, Michael Lewis stopped by the shop to do a “Mic Shootout” where he demoed various microphones. Watch what he had to say about various capsules and their sounds with his feature on Worship Sound Guy’s YouTube channel!
Here’s what Micheal says about his experience in the industry and how Emerald City Productions can help you reach your live event goals.
My name is Michael Lewis, and I am a Studio/Live Audio Engineer. I have close to 10 years of professional experience in the industry and have been a hobbyist for even longer. Although my background began in church, I’ve done everything from Tour Management to pushing cases.
In addition to the CV listed above, I’ve used many of the demoed microphones in a wide variety of applications.
In 2015 I spent some time freelancing for a company called Sound Mind Events. Ryan was cross renting PA to a few of the shows I was working on, leading to a long-standing friendship. We’ve worked together at 100s of shows, and regularly spend time complaining about local production drama in his warehouse.
To my surprise, most of the microphones sounded similar- nothing was drastically different, going from one to the next. The DPA did an excellent job of keeping the source above the “background noise”, the KSM8 handled poor technique well. Everything else were just different “flavors”.
In my opinion, vocals are the most important thing of a great mix. No concertgoer has ever complained to the FOH engineer that the snare doesn’t have enough sizzle, or the guitars are too bity- it’s always something about the vocals being too soft, too loud, muddy, etc. For this reason it is important to spend time pairing the appropriate microphone capsule for the vocalist it’s amplying.
ECP has access to all of the mics demoed in this shootout. If you think that there’s a certain sound you are looking for, this is a quick and dirty video you can use for reference. Any of these can be rented to your event, recording, etc.