Partner Article

Making the most of mikes

With Simon Raybould of Curved Vision

Last time I briefly mentioned a couple of problems people had when using microphone and speaker systems to do their presentations, so I thought it might be useful to add to that a few positive pointers. There’s no denying that microphones are very handy in large spaces (or even in smaller spaces if there’s background noise) so it makes sense to use them properly.

• If you can, use a lapel microphone - this means that you’ll be able to both move away from the podium/lectern/stand and have both hands free to gesticulate. It also means the microphone will stay more-or-less the same distance away from your mouth, avoiding the horrible effect of getting louder and quieter over a single sentence as you move your head or hand back and forwards.
• Whenever you can, turn from the hips, not the neck. This means that you’ve got a better chance of keeping the microphone in front of your mouth, rather than you facing away from it at 90 degrees. You’ll be amazed at how this can affect your presentation!
• Check your batteries. Radio mics absolutely chew through batteries. Seriously. Really, really, really chew through them! Professional theatres put new batteries in at the start of every show and check them at the interval.
• Stay a respectable distance from your speakers when you’re using a microphone. If you stray too close, the microphone will pick up the sound of your voice coming out of the speakers and feed it back into the system… and so on… giving a horrible feedback effect. It’s very effective if you’re a 1970s guitarist proving your Prog Rock credentials but not any use for the rest of us.
• Don’t wear artificial fibers. They interfere with the way radio mics work - and while you’re at it, make sure you’re using at least duo-band microphones. Mono-band microphones are all too prone to losing signal between the microphone and its receiver: I’m sure you’ve all heard a speaker “dropping out” randomly in the middle of a speech: this is probably why. A quick and crude check is to see how many aerials there are on the receiver - the more the merrier.

Microphone techniques are complicated and not as easily included in the “turn it on and forget about it” category of equipment as people often think - so if you’ve got a specific microphone question I’m happy to help. Drop me a line at sme@curved-vision.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .