[Harp-L] Wrist mounted mic - slight return



I wrote:

The first night went without incident, though when I later asked the
sound man what he thought of the sound of the mic he said it sounded
thin -this compared to his familiarity with Charlie Mussewhite's cupped
setup and the acoustic mic on a stand Charlie uses.

==============update:

This made me fear that not using the recommended Audix preamp was
making the mic sound bad - I'd been plugging the mic directly into the
AKG belt pack transmitter, which is made to supply phantom power to
condensor mics (why wear TWO belt packs - one is bad enough while
you're sitting down). Last night I tried plugging the the mic directly
into the transmitter, through the wireless receiver, and into the
balanced mic input of the E-MU 1820 digital audio interface connected
to my computer so I could record it - sounded fine.

I wrote:


The second day, they had a problem during sound check with wind noise
every time I breathed not through the harp. They tried deflecting the
aim of the mic (it's cardioid, not omnidirectional) so it didn't point
directly at the back of my hands. Later I re-aimed it directly at my
hand opening but from farther away, which turned out to work better.
The sound man later told me that he had also used a high-pass filter to
cut off anything under 250 Hz but that he could still detect the breath
noise. He seemed to think the breath noise was occurring when I exhaled
over the top of the harp. If that's correct, then aiming from below
might help.

=============update:

I tried mounting the mic so that it points up from below the heels of
my hands, between my wrists. Then I recorded myself playing along with
the demo accompaniment track, standing up, at full tempo, to simulate
performing conditions as closely as possible. No breath noise. I can
mount it so that it is quite close and still doesn't brush against my
hands or wrists. I just have to make sure it doesn't brush against my
shirt.

In addition to putting the mic out of the path of breath noise,
mounting from below yields a couple of other benefits:

- - It's easier to use my left hand casually without hitting the mic on
things, as it's tucked on the inside of my wrist instead of sticking
out on the outside. As my feature spot is in the middle of the first
set I tend to end up wearing the contraption from soundcheck through
intermission, making many normal actions awkward. I still can't reach
into my left pants pocket, though, so switching harps now has to be
done only with the right hand feeding the left, and only from a pocket
I can reach with the right hand - no more left-handed, left-pocket
stuff. My feature segment on this tour requires two quick harp changes,
so this is smoething I've had to work out carefully.

- - The mic is less visible to the audience - no black line and
hovering blob in front of my hands. Now if I can just disguise that big
black clip sticking out of my sleeve. Perhaps with from-below mounting
I'll need less length and can remove the clip; just velcro the
gooseneck to the inside of the wrist band sprouting from the inner flat
of my wrist. . . .

The road awaits, and further shakeout.

Winslow

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