Regional Provider Microphone Selection

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Pascal.Pincosy

Freshman
Jan 11, 2011
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6
Oakland, CA
www.knowaudio.com
I'm looking to hear from both the local and the touring guys on this one:

Were you to spec the microphone selection from scratch for a small but growing regional provider, what microphones would you choose? Note that I'm looking at this from a purely rider-friendly standpoint. I'm not interested in hearing about personal preferences (in this thread). It would be awesome if people would prioritize their selections ie Must have 45 SM58's immediately. The 6 U47's could be added over time etc.

Thanks in advance for all replies!!!
 
Re: Regional Provider Microphone Selection

To me it depends largely on the budget, and music type.

If I was to come up with a mic selection for a single workbox it would probably include:
6-10@SM58
6-10@ß58
10@SM-57
3-6@ SM81
2@ ß52
1@ ß91a
4@ß98
3-5@D2
2-4@D4
2-4@421
2-4@e609
2@RE-20
4@ AKG 451 (or other pencil cond)
and maybe:
2@414
2@KM184
4@KMS105
2@ Shure LDC (KSM32...)

Plus DIs of course:
4-6@Countryman Type 85
4-6@Radial proDI
2-4@Radial proD2 stereo DI for those pesky keyboard rigs.
2@ Whirlwind pcDI for those pesky DJs

And 4-6 wireless mics.

YMMV
 
Re: Regional Provider Microphone Selection

Hi Pascal-

You can either go nuts trying to fill some esoteric rider items or buy to fill the majority of your gigs. What genres are you providing for these days?

I think our base mic kits work well as generic starting points, and probably could use some expansion... but each kit has 9x SM-58, 9x SM-57, 2x SM-81, 2x Beta 52, 1 x Beta 91, 1x Beta 56, 6x AT35, 2x MD-421, 1x RE-20, 1x D-112, 1x C-391, 4x cheap SDC. We can supplement additional quantities of common mics from shop stock, and additionally have Sennheiser e604 for drums and a few N/DYM 308s. I have a fairly extensive selection of mics in my personal locker, too.

If I got to throw some more cash at microphones today, I'd add some SM-87c, Senny e906, and possibly some KSM37. Oh, and some more SM57 and SM58.

As for priority, the mics that always get used are the SM58s, the SM57s, Beta 52, SM81, AKG C-391, and AT35 for toms. Acts that are really picky or endorsing will be carrying their own mics.
 
Re: Regional Provider Microphone Selection

To get you started to fill 90% of things:

6-10 Beta 58
6-10 SM 58
6-10 Beta 87
6-10 SM 57
2 Beta 52
2 Beta 91
4 Beta 98
4 e604
4 small diaphram condensers (ie, SM81, c451, nt4, etc)
4 large diaphram condensers (ie, atx0x0, c414, etc)
6-10 Active DI (Type85, J48, etc)
6-10 Passive DI (rapco/whirlwind/JDI, etc)

This will cover most peoples requirements for what they like (small diaphram vs large for overheads, condenser vs dynamic on drums, SM vs Beta 58 vs Beta 87 vox, etc), and cover a straight up rock/blues/etc headliner and opener at once.

You can add 421's, D6, D112, RE20, heil, higher end vocal mics (KSM9, 105) if/as required after this.
 
Re: Regional Provider Microphone Selection

brad, that is a pretty good list. i like the way the e900 sennheisers sound better than the e600 series...
on thing that can be hard is having enough mics to give support a matching set too, one pet peeve i have when i am not carrying my own mics is having to use mix matched mics. a lot of bands i mix have up to 8 toms and 2 kicks etc so having enough matching mics makes me happy.

any of the major mic brands will give you a good sound but in my opinion there are 4 brands that always rock: shure, sennheiser, electro voice and audio technica. if you fill your inventory with their "high end" mics you will satisfy anyone, and if they are not satisfied they likely should be carrying their own mic package.

for reference below is the mic/di list for house of blues in chicago. they last show i did they wa a fly in show so i used their house mics. i had plenty left over for the other bands ...
>>

Mics and digital inputs information for House of Blues Chicago
Shure: (2) Beta 52
(4) Beta 56
(4) Beta 57a
(8) Beta 58
(5) Beta 87
(2) Beta 91
(5) Beta 98
(2) KSM 27
(4) KSM32
(2) KSM44
(3) KSM 137
(4) SM 81
(8) SM57
(6) SM58
(1)SM7A
(1) SM 7B
(2) SM 86
(2) SM 98
(3) lavaliers
(2) vp88
Neumann: (1) KMS 104
(1) KMS 105
Sennheiser: (8) 421
(4) 614
(4) 865
(2) 901
(2) 902
(8) 904
(1) 905
(4) 906
(4) 908
(4) 914
(8) 935
(4) 945
(8) EW 500 G2 Wireless Handheld Transmitters
DI's: (3) Behringer Ultra-DI
(2) Whirlwind Director DI-Box
(4) PRO-CO DB-1
(1) Radial JDI
(4) Radial J48 Active DI-Box
(2) Radial PRO-D2 Stereo
(1) Radial PRO-AV2 Stereo
Mic Lines: (3) 12 Ch. subsnake
(1) 16 Ch. subsnake w/ 4 returns
(1) 8 Ch. subsnake w/ 4 returns
Mic Stands: Full compliment<<
 
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