Mic Archive

A cappella group

Sources
98 independent: not from a mic maker

What it is

A group singing without instruments. Contemporary groups (Pentatonix, Straight No Chaser, The House Jacks and others) add vocal percussion or beatboxing to sound like a band. Beatboxing started in hip-hop; vocal percussion is the wider art of imitating percussion with the mouth. Sizes run from a quartet to a college group of a dozen or more.12,13

Where the sound comes from

  • voices: Many incoherent voices whose intensities add; a few loud voices dominate fortissimo.10
  • Each voice is close to omnidirectional below about 1 kHz.11
  • Above about 1 kHz each voice is more directional, towards the front.11

Layout

Live, singers in an arc or rows. A student group (Tufts) went from four to six mics and placed two between the rows after finding that mics on the edge picked up mostly the women; bass, tenor and vocal percussion each got a mic; bass level is "a huge deal".4

Vocal percussion

The beatboxer cups a close handheld dynamic, so a durable, handling-quiet dynamic is the pick: Shure SM58 is "the industry-standard stage microphone for beatboxing" and the SM7B is the studio favourite (School of Beatbox); an AKG D5 is the cheap option; a 2007 forum thread calls the Shure Beta 58 "pretty popular", handling moisture and handling noise well, and says a pop filter does not suit the technique. Search summaries also name the Beta 87A for groups; I did not open a source.2,1

How loud

Sound pressure level measurements as published. Different kinds of figure (a playing level, a peak, a dose at the player's ear) can't be compared with each other, and neither can figures at different distances.

Playing level
50–90 dBat 20 m; 64-voice ensemble, model: about 90 dB at high frequencies at maximum, about 50 dB at low frequencies at minimum10
Dynamic range

Nothing.

Recording it

Recording Magazine: a five-voice a cappella choir (bass, tenor, two altos, soprano) in a tight semicircle around two Neumann U 87s in X-Y (one upside down, nearly touching, cardioid). The lead stood about 2 ft ahead and 1 ft off the mics to stay level with the group. Trouble: headphone bleed and mics clanking.7

Mics

  1. Shure SM58 4 sourcesDistant, handheld, close
  2. Shure SM7B 2 sourcesClose
All the mics sources name, by setting and role (16)

On stage

Handheld

Close

The 5 setups behind this: placement and quotes
  • Handheld Shure Beta 58A
    beatboxer, handheld, live
    "The Shure Beta58 is pretty popular ... takes the excessive moisture pretty well and doesn't have a ton of handling noise" (forum, 2007).1
  • Handheld Shure SM58
    beatboxer or lead, handheld, live
    "The industry-standard stage microphone for beatboxing"; rugged, used very close to the mouth.2
  • Handheld AKG D5
    beatboxer, handheld, budget
    Cheaper option "still a good option for beatboxing", though possibly less durable than the SM58.2
  • Close Shure SM58
    lead or each singer, live
    Some singers prefer SM58 dynamics because the tonality suits their voice (general vocal advice).3
  • Close six mics (type not stated): peripheral plus two between the rows; bass, tenor and vocal percussion each got a mic
    student group on stage, live
    A student group went from four to six mics, adding two between the rows because peripheral mics "only pick up the female voices" (paraphrase).4

Studio

Main pair or array

X-YBlumlein

Distant

Close

Handheld

The 12 setups behind this: placement and quotes
  • Main pair or array Neumann U 47 or Telefunken ELA M 251 or AKG C12
    main, single mic with five or fewer singers in a tight semicircle; larger groups on risers with mics 6-10 ft back
    "The mic models mentioned above also work well for recording vocal groups"; "one mic for five or fewer singers"5
  • Distant Shure SM58
    close, six mics in a ring pointing outward, adjacent mics 3 ft apart, angled up about 45 degrees, lips touching the foam pop filter, all singers in one room
    "Adjacent mics were three feet apart, and each singer sang with lips touching their pop filter"; "Each mic was angled up about 45 degrees to pick up nose sounds"6
  • Main pair or array 2 × Neumann U 87
    main pair, singers in tight semicircle around the mics
    Two U87s as X-Y for a five-voice a cappella group: "highly accurate with excellent imaging, a well-focused center."7
  • Close Shure SM7B
    beatboxer, studio, on a boom arm
    "Probably the most popular amongst professional beatboxers today"; not suitable for live use.2
  • Close Brauner VM1
    close, main vocal mic for overdubbed parts
    "The Brauner is really beautiful for the right voice and has a lot of detail" - but can be too revealing for some voices (paraphrase)8
  • Close Flea 47 or Advanced Audio CM12
    close, one of Boyer's main vocal mics
    "My main mics are the Flea 47, an Advanced Audio CM12, and a Brauner VM1"8
  • Close Neumann U 47 fet
    close, bass vocal up close for proximity effect, with screens against wind
    Bass vocals "ideally using a hefty, large-diaphragm condenser mic, up close, like the [Neumann] FET 47"8
  • Close Shure SM7B
    close, beatbox (and bass-vocal alternative)
    SM7B gives "a particularly good thump on vocal kick sounds when recorded closely"8
  • Close Electro-Voice RE20
    close, beatbox
    RE20 mentioned as a good beatbox mic (paraphrase)8
  • Handheld Shure SM58
    handheld, beatboxer cups the mic to shape sounds (80 Fitz, Pitch Perfect 2)
    Beatboxer used an SM58 cupped in the hand, plus a condenser a few inches away (paraphrase)8
  • Handheld Advanced Audio CM47
    close, a few inches away alongside the handheld SM58 on beatbox
    "set up an Advanced Audio CM47 a few inches away to get a more natural and detailed sound"; watch phase as the performer moves (paraphrase)8
  • Main pair or array Choir advice Royer SF-24 or Royer SF-12
    stereo pair for vocal groups
    "The SF12 and SF-24 are especially useful for recording vocal groups in stereo."9

Advised against

  • Close isolation booths
    close, each singer isolated in a booth on headphones
    "Isolation booths: Not the best solution" - singers fixed cue mixes and could not see each other (paraphrase)6
  • Close dynamic mics for detailed beatbox
    close, dynamic mic on detailed hi-hat beatbox work
    With dynamics "you don't get the same detail as you get with a large-diaphragm condenser"8

On stage

  • Small-diaphragm cardioid or supercardioid condensers on stands or hanging, about 45 cm in front of the first row and 45 cm above the back row's heads; or '2x2': 2 ft in front, 2 ft above the tallest singer, for up to 20 singers.
  • About one mic per 6 m of singers; 30-45 voices need two or three.
  • Keep neighbouring mics at least three times as far apart as each is from its singers (3:1); with few mics it can't always be met.
  • Aim a supercardioid at the back row: the front row is then about 60 degrees off axis and the back row 1.4 times further away.
  • Gain before feedback drops fast as mics cover more singers: in DPA's example for 12 singers, six mics lose 17 dB and three mics 25.5 dB against one mic per singer.14,15,16,17

Problems to watch

  • Feedback with monitors behind the choir.
  • Hearing loops pick up dynamic mics and cables: use condensers and route cables away.
  • Comb filtering from too many open mics.16,18

Sources

  1. HomeRecording.com forum: Beatboxing micforum · homerecording.com
  2. School of Beatbox: The Essential Equipment for Beatboxing at Homemagazine · schoolofbeatbox.com
  3. Sound On Sound: Vocal Recording & Production Masterclassmagazine · soundonsound.com
  4. Tufts Daily: A sound strategy (student a cappella group sound setup)engineer · tuftsdaily.com
  5. Mix: Speech and Song (Kevin Becka, Nov 2005)magazine · mixonline.com
  6. ProSoundWeb: Church Sound: Recording An A Cappella Choir (Bruce Bartlett, Sep 2013, six-voice group Joyful Noise)magazine · prosoundweb.com
  7. Recording Magazine: A Cappella in the Home Studiomagazine · recordingmag.com
  8. Sound On Sound: Inside Track - Pentatonix (Paul Tingen, Jan 2016, Ed Boyer)magazine · soundonsound.com
  9. Royer Labs FAQ: Which Royer mic would you recommend for recording vocals?manufacturer · royerlabs.com
  10. Titze and Maxfield: choir dynamic range model (JASA 142(4), 2464-2468)academic · 2017 · pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  11. Katz and d'Alessandro: voice directivity measurements (ICA 2007)academic · 2007 · groupeaa.lisn.upsaclay.fr
  12. Wikipedia, A cappellareference · en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, Vocal percussionreference · en.wikipedia.org
  14. ProSoundWeb: Church Sound, Effective Microphone Strategies For ChoirsBruce Bartlett · educational · prosoundweb.com
  15. SoundPro: How To Mic a Choir, Best Mics & Placement Tipsretailer · soundpro.com
  16. DPA Mic University: How to mic a choirmanufacturer · dpamicrophones.com
  17. Audio-Technica: ES933 datasheet (hanging choir mic)manufacturer · fullcompass.com
  18. ProSoundWeb: Choir Mic Techniques, Rising To The Challengemagazine · prosoundweb.com