Microphone Technique

Lesson 9/71 | Study Time: 5 Min

Course: Beginner Singing

Microphone Technique

When using a uni-directional microphone, there are some important fundamentals to learn, as described here.

Hold the microphone in the palm of your hand with your fingers curled loosely around it, just tightly enough to avoid dropping the microphone but not tightly enough to cause tension.
Sing directly into the microphone. Many beginning performers unintentionally move sideways away from the mic as they are singing. This means that the sound is lost to the audience and they can’t understand what is being sung. Practice moving around and singing into the microphone. Make sure that when you move sideways your hand keeps the mic in relatively the same position so that your voice goes directly into it at all times. The best position for the mic is just below your mouth at about a 45 degree angle so that the center of the head of the mic is aimed directly at your mouth.
Depending on the natural volume of your voice along with the sensitivity of the equipment being used, the distance between your mouth and the microphone should vary between one and ten centimeters. During loud passages the microphone should be pulled back slightly in order to balance the overall volume. This will also reduce the chances of "PEE POP", which is the term used to describe the effect created by "hard" consonants such as b, d, g and particularly p exploding out of the singer’s mouth and onto the microphone (this can be overcome by articulating consonants lightly, along with moving the microphone slightly away from the mouth when accenting words or sounds).
Avoid touching the microphone with your mouth, as the sound will distort and unwanted sounds produced by the contact will be amplified along with your singing.
If you are moving around while you are singing, stay away from the "front of house" speakers or you may experience feedback problems. As long as you are somewhere behind or at the most, level with the front of house speakers, but a reasonable distance from them, you shouldn’t have any feedback problems.

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Class Sessions

1- Everyone Can Sing 2- GLOSSARY OF MUSICAL TERMS 3- Performing in Public 4- Transposing 5- The Triplet 6- The Tie 7- Sharps (<span class="symbolA">#</span>) and Flats (<span class="symbolA">b</span>) 8- Sounds Used in Singing 9- The Major Scale 10- Voice Types and Ranges 11- Understanding Music 12- INTRODUCTION 13- Vowels 14- Octave Displacement 15- The Chromatic Scale 16- Syncopation 17- How to Find Your Voice Range 18- Swing Rhythms 19- Harmony and Chords 20- How to Read Music 21- Matching Pitches and Rhythms 22- Overcoming Nerves 23- Vocal Range 24- Interpretation and Improvisation 25- How Chords Relate to Scales 26- The Lead-in 27- Diphthongs 28- Eye Contact 29- Intervals 30- Sol-fa Syllables 31- The Keyboard 32- When to Breathe 33- Timbre 34- First and Second Endings 35- Matching Pitches 36- Keys 37- A Word About Pitch 38- Arpeggios 39- Stage Presence and Stage Craft 40- The Shaping of Vowels 41- Chord Progressions 42- The Octave 43- Rests 44- Developing Your Own Style 45- Relative Minor Keys 46- The Ultimate Melodic Instrument 47- Consonants 48- Microphones 49- The Importance of Timing 50- Dynamics 51- How We Sing 52- Breathing 53- Microphones for Performing Live 54- Slurs 55- Phrasing and Expression 56- Microphone Technique 57- Posture 58- Learning to Sing 59- Studio Microphones 60- Moving Between Registers 61- Vibrato 62- Pre-Hearing Notes 63- Warming Up 64- Common Problems 65- Looking After Your Voice 66- Approach to Practice 67- Registers 68- Working With a Teacher 69- Listening 70- Breath Control 71- Recording Yourself

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Microphone Technique