Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

The Bluegrass Album Band's Interesting Mic Strategy

#1

Watching this video, I noticed that when the group sings harmony, J.D. moves to the center and sings/plays fills into Tony’s microphone; Tony moves and sings/plays into two otherwise unused microphones; and Doyle moves to sing into a microphone closer to the center, losing the microphone for the mandolin chop:


My question is: Why didn’t they just put a vocal mic in front of J.D. and move Doyle’s vocal mic in front of Doyle, thereby eliminating the need for movement (and allowing for the amplification of the mandolin chop during the chorus)? Can they really monitor their harmonies that much better by being a little closer together, or is it for some other reason?
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#2
  1. The baritone is much easier if you can hear the other 2 voices well.
  2. the movement is good showmanship and keeps the attention on the vocals.
  3. yes, closer is better
  4. the mando chop will still come through, but only as background.

When you sing in your quartet do you spread yourselves out equally across the stage, or hang close and blend into a single mic or two?:slightly_smiling_face:

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#3

They probably just liked the look of the choreography. Maybe it looks good to have the singers lean in together as well. It could get boring just standing in front of single mics all the time without much movement.

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#4

Harks back to the old single mic days. I’ve seen JD do it in The New South as well as with Jimmy Martin at times.
though with smaller number of mics usually.
I’ve been in units that used it when the monitors were really bad before.

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#5

Maybe, just maybe, the band doesn’t really like the mandolin player.
You know how it is when you gotta work with people you don’t want to visit on the weekend.:grimacing:

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