Brian, I can't recommend a specific model, but aside from a single quality rating, microphones differ in their pattern, sensitivity, and noise cancelling characteristics. Those differences change the best position of the mic in relation to the caller's mouth. A mic the caller isn't used to may not help. As a general suggestion, a somewhat directional pattern like cardioid and noise cancelling will cut instruments and speaker feedback.
Common problems with intelligibility are level relative to the music, and room resonances. I've heard some pretty high pitched women's voices come across as boomy (and thus hard to understand) because of room response. The place to fix that is with equalization at the mixer board. There are microphones with narrow frequency response specifically for speech communication (as opposed to singing). I don't think I've seen one at a dance, and I think they use different connectors (adaptable though) than the usual XLR you see in stage equipment, and again, the same effect could be made at the mixing board. -Don On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 12:30 PM, Brian Appleberry <[email protected]> wrote: > Regarding microphones for use by the Caller (not by the band), do you have a > particular brand and model that you think is superior for use by a caller? > Our group (Queen City Contras, Burlington, Vermont) does not own sound > equipment, so we are at the mercy of the the equipment provided by the band > (or sometimes a small-time, local provider). Often it is quite difficult to > hear the caller during a dance, and I have experienced the same problem in > many other halls, with many other sound systems (even some very expensive > systems). The calling needs to be intelligible, not acoustically accurate. > I know that there are many contributing factors, but I suspect that often the > microphone is a big part of the problem. > Do you supply a microphone for the caller? Do you have a particular brand > and model that you think is superior for use by a dance caller? > Thanks, > -Brian Appleberry > Queen City Contras > Frozen in Vermont > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers
