Choir
A cappella group
A group singing without instruments. Contemporary groups (Pentatonix, Straight No Chaser, The House Jacks and others) add vocal percussion or beatboxing to sound like a band. Beatboxing started in hip-hop; vocal percussion is the wider art of imitating percussion with the mouth. Sizes run from a quartet to a college group of a dozen or more.1,2
Part of the Choir family; that family's advice shows here too.
- Sources
- 9 (8 independent)
Mics sources recommend
17 setups from 9 sources, 8 of them independent of any mic maker. Each mic shows how many sources name it for that role, and how many of those are independent. Listed alphabetically: there is no ranking.
On stage
Handheld
- AKG D51 independent source
- Shure Beta 58A1 independent source
- Shure SM581 independent source
Close
- Shure SM581 independent source
- six mics (type not stated): peripheral plus two between the rows; bass, tenor and vocal percussion each got a mic1 independent source
The 5 setups behind this: placement and quotes
- Handheld Shure Beta 58Abeatboxer, handheld, live
"The Shure Beta58 is pretty popular ... takes the excessive moisture pretty well and doesn't have a ton of handling noise" (forum, 2007).
3 - Handheld Shure SM58beatboxer or lead, handheld, live
"The industry-standard stage microphone for beatboxing"; rugged, used very close to the mouth.
4 - Handheld AKG D5beatboxer, handheld, budget
Cheaper option "still a good option for beatboxing", though possibly less durable than the SM58.
4 - Close Shure SM58lead or each singer, live
Some singers prefer SM58 dynamics because the tonality suits their voice (general vocal advice).
5 - Close six mics (type not stated): peripheral plus two between the rows; bass, tenor and vocal percussion each got a micstudent group on stage, live
A student group went from four to six mics, adding two between the rows because peripheral mics "only pick up the female voices" (paraphrase).
6
Studio
Main pair or array
- AKG C121 independent source
- Neumann U 471 independent source
- Neumann U 871 independent source
- Royer SF-12 maker's advice1 source, 0 independent
- Royer SF-24 maker's advice1 source, 0 independent
- Telefunken ELA M 2511 independent source
Distant
- Shure SM581 independent source
Close
- Advanced Audio CM121 independent source
- Brauner VM11 independent source
- Electro-Voice RE201 independent source
- Flea 471 independent source
- Neumann U 47 fet1 independent source
- Shure SM7B2 independent sources
Handheld
- Advanced Audio CM471 independent source
- Shure SM581 independent source
The 12 setups behind this: placement and quotes
- Main pair or array Neumann U 47 or Telefunken ELA M 251 or AKG C12main, single mic with five or fewer singers in a tight semicircle; larger groups on risers with mics 6-10 ft back
"The mic models mentioned above also work well for recording vocal groups"; "one mic for five or fewer singers"
7 - Distant Shure SM58close, six mics in a ring pointing outward, adjacent mics 3 ft apart, angled up about 45 degrees, lips touching the foam pop filter, all singers in one room
"Adjacent mics were three feet apart, and each singer sang with lips touching their pop filter"; "Each mic was angled up about 45 degrees to pick up nose sounds"
8 - Main pair or array 2 × Neumann U 87main pair, singers in tight semicircle around the mics
Two U87s as X-Y for a five-voice a cappella group: "highly accurate with excellent imaging, a well-focused center."
9 - Close Shure SM7Bbeatboxer, studio, on a boom arm
"Probably the most popular amongst professional beatboxers today"; not suitable for live use.
4 - Close Brauner VM1close, main vocal mic for overdubbed parts
"The Brauner is really beautiful for the right voice and has a lot of detail" - but can be too revealing for some voices (paraphrase)
10 - Close Flea 47 or Advanced Audio CM12close, one of Boyer's main vocal mics
"My main mics are the Flea 47, an Advanced Audio CM12, and a Brauner VM1"
10 - Close Neumann U 47 fetclose, bass vocal up close for proximity effect, with screens against wind
Bass vocals "ideally using a hefty, large-diaphragm condenser mic, up close, like the [Neumann] FET 47"
10 - Close Shure SM7Bclose, beatbox (and bass-vocal alternative)
SM7B gives "a particularly good thump on vocal kick sounds when recorded closely"
10 - Close Electro-Voice RE20close, beatbox
RE20 mentioned as a good beatbox mic (paraphrase)
10 - Handheld Shure SM58handheld, beatboxer cups the mic to shape sounds (80 Fitz, Pitch Perfect 2)
Beatboxer used an SM58 cupped in the hand, plus a condenser a few inches away (paraphrase)
10 - Handheld Advanced Audio CM47close, a few inches away alongside the handheld SM58 on beatbox
"set up an Advanced Audio CM47 a few inches away to get a more natural and detailed sound"; watch phase as the performer moves (paraphrase)
10 - Main pair or array Choir advice Royer SF-24 or Royer SF-12stereo pair for vocal groups
"The SF12 and SF-24 are especially useful for recording vocal groups in stereo."
11
Advised against
- Close isolation boothsclose, each singer isolated in a booth on headphones
"Isolation booths: Not the best solution" - singers fixed cue mixes and could not see each other (paraphrase)
8 - Close dynamic mics for detailed beatboxclose, dynamic mic on detailed hi-hat beatbox work
With dynamics "you don't get the same detail as you get with a large-diaphragm condenser"
10
Where the sound comes from
- voices: Many incoherent voices whose intensities add; a few loud voices dominate fortissimo.12
Layout
Live, singers in an arc or rows. A student group (Tufts) went from four to six mics and placed two between the rows after finding that mics on the edge picked up mostly the women; bass, tenor and vocal percussion each got a mic; bass level is "a huge deal".6
Recording it
Recording Magazine: a five-voice a cappella choir (bass, tenor, two altos, soprano) in a tight semicircle around two Neumann U 87s in X-Y (one upside down, nearly touching, cardioid). The lead stood about 2 ft ahead and 1 ft off the mics to stay level with the group. Trouble: headphone bleed and mics clanking.9
On stage
- Small-diaphragm cardioid or supercardioid condensers on stands or hanging, about 45 cm in front of the first row and 45 cm above the back row's heads; or '2x2': 2 ft in front, 2 ft above the tallest singer, for up to 20 singers.
- About one mic per 6 m of singers; 30-45 voices need two or three.
- Keep neighbouring mics at least three times as far apart as each is from its singers (3:1); with few mics it can't always be met.
- Aim a supercardioid at the back row: the front row is then about 60 degrees off axis and the back row 1.4 times further away.
- Gain before feedback drops fast as mics cover more singers: in DPA's example for 12 singers, six mics lose 17 dB and three mics 25.5 dB against one mic per singer.14,15,16,17
Problems to watch
Vocal percussion
The beatboxer cups a close handheld dynamic, so a durable, handling-quiet dynamic is the pick: Shure SM58 is "the industry-standard stage microphone for beatboxing" and the SM7B is the studio favourite (School of Beatbox); an AKG D5 is the cheap option; a 2007 forum thread calls the Shure Beta 58 "pretty popular", handling moisture and handling noise well, and says a pop filter does not suit the technique. Search summaries also name the Beta 87A for groups; I did not open a source.4,3
How loud
Sound pressure level measurements as published. Different kinds of figure (a playing level, a peak, a dose at the player's ear) can't be compared with each other, and neither can figures at different distances.
| Playing level | |
|---|---|
| 50–90 dB | at 20 m; 64-voice ensemble, model: about 90 dB at high frequencies at maximum, about 50 dB at low frequencies at minimum12 |
| Dynamic range | |
Nothing.
Sources
- Wikipedia, A cappella
- Wikipedia, Vocal percussion
- HomeRecording.com forum: Beatboxing mic
- School of Beatbox: The Essential Equipment for Beatboxing at Home
- Sound On Sound: Vocal Recording & Production Masterclass
- Tufts Daily: A sound strategy (student a cappella group sound setup)
- Mix: Speech and Song (Kevin Becka, Nov 2005)
- ProSoundWeb: Church Sound: Recording An A Cappella Choir (Bruce Bartlett, Sep 2013, six-voice group Joyful Noise)
- Recording Magazine: A Cappella in the Home Studio
- Sound On Sound: Inside Track - Pentatonix (Paul Tingen, Jan 2016, Ed Boyer)
- Royer Labs FAQ: Which Royer mic would you recommend for recording vocals?
- Titze and Maxfield: choir dynamic range model (JASA 142(4), 2464-2468)
- Katz and d'Alessandro: voice directivity measurements (ICA 2007)
- ProSoundWeb: Church Sound, Effective Microphone Strategies For Choirs
- SoundPro: How To Mic a Choir, Best Mics & Placement Tips
- DPA Mic University: How to mic a choir
- Audio-Technica: ES933 datasheet (hanging choir mic)
- ProSoundWeb: Choir Mic Techniques, Rising To The Challenge