And with that "Three Stooges" reference (preceded by "Hey, look! A microphoney!!) I ask the age-old question, "Why, O why can choirs not mike themselves properly?" Guitars are either over-amped or under-amped, lead singers are miked but the choirs are not, levels are all over the place, etc.
Actually, I have a bit of compassion on this score. I used to run a small choir and had an awful time with sound. We used a very elaborate board (too elaborate actually) that could do just about anything...in the right hands. Unfortunately, we never had these hands. Try as we might, we tested and changed levels and wrote down settings and fretted and worried. But week after week, the levels were never right.
We were missing two key ingredients: 1) someone who knew about sound and 2) someone who would adjust levels from the vantage point of the listener. Unfortunately, the first was expensive and the second one was obtrusive. Who wants to sit through Mass next to a guy with headphones fiddling with a soundboard?
So we set the sounds as best we could and struggled along, knowing that every Sunday, our output was a roll of the dice. But at least we tried.
Fie on the groups that don't bother trying to get the sound right! Where the guitar is miked perfectly one week and is inaudible the next. Where a ten-person choir goes unheard.
Solutions?
1) Use a professional setup and a mixer in the middle of Church, as above.
2)Do #1 once and figure out how to replicate the settings with a computer mixer, a cardboard template or by writing down the settings with pencil and paper.
3) Eschew electronics and worship in a space that will project sound naturally.
Or (what's easier) keep driving me crazy!
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