One of the most basic and important things to consider with microphone use is arriving at a comfortable  and  practical distance between your mouth and the mic. Volume control is incredibly important. You are not going to achieve a consistent vocal if you are waving the mic around causing volume levels to drop in and out, and it only takes a fraction of movement away from the microphone for sound levels to vary. Generally a basic control technique is to pull away slightly when you want to fade or decrescendo and pull the mic closer when you wish to be louder. Pull even closer when your voice needs more presence or a breathy effect is required. But really this is where sound check is so important. Time must be taken to check and experiment with sound levels and microphone limitations. You may find that, depending on the acoustics of the room, and even size of the venue and audience that your sound engineer (providing you’re lucky enough to have one), needs to play around with equalisation and even effects. For those who don’t have the luxury of a sound engineer, ask someone to record one of your performances from front of stage and review it after the show. Look out for flat or sharp notes as well as being too loud or soft. By focusing on what’s coming out of your speakers, you can reference immediately whether you need more volume, less echo, more vocal presence, more or less balance and so on.

One of the most respected singers in Australia, Renee Geyer, who is currently working on her 20th album, still sees microphone technique as a work in progress.

"It’s a battle I still wage" said Renee, " but with my technique live it becomes second nature that when you go for a big note, rather than hold the mic back, your head just sort of moves about appropriately. The hard part in a studio for me is when the mic is on a stand,  and I close my eyes and my head moves about as I do on stage but the mic in the studio is stagnant. You are trying not to have the mic go into the red, that’s the hard part. The sound guys usually go to great pains to set it up for me."

When working with amplified sound, the voice you are hearing through your own ears is never what the audience is hearing through the PA system. So you generally have a distorted perception to begin with. Renee Geyer agrees.

"Of course it’s not a true perception when you are amplified that many times. Depending on your foldback you can create a sound that makes you feel really good. It will enable you psychologically to come up with something that you might not have, if you had of heard your voice in that flat dead sound in a lounge room for example. When we do gigs I like to have a little reverb on my voice. It’s the old thing of why people sing in the shower, or in car parks or stair wells. To recreate that effect in your monitors, not a lot of my peers insist on it but I do. It’s a psychological thing. It sounds beautiful and therefore I’m thinking what I’m doing is beautiful  and you have a better chance of achieving beautiful."

Not surprisingly Jeff Mackenzie of Jands Electronics, distributors of Shure microphones takes a more technical slant on microphone use and believes that the type and polar pattern of the mic are the most important factors to consider.

"This greatly affects the way the mic ‘reacts’ when you sing into it." said Jeff. "  “A dynamic cardioid microphone ( where the pattern is designed to amplify sounds only from around the head of the mic) will have a much more pronounced proximity effect than an omni-directional mic.  Thus the tone of the mic will change depending on how close you get to it.  Some times this is desirable, some times not."

Jeff also recommends that you try as many different kinds of microphones as possible before you commit to a purchase. Most rental outlets stock multiple brands at reasonable prices. When selecting a microphone for your personal vocal needs Jeff believes you need to consider the following factors:

Polar pattern (omni,cardiod, supercard).  Critical in live

applications when good gain before feedback and isolation from other stage sounds is required.  Generally, for live work, I recommend starting with a cardioid, and moving up to a super-card if you find you need more isolation.

Sound.  Most vocal mics have a non-flat frequency response.  Manufacturers deliberately tailor the response to enhance vocal reproduction.  The tailoring "style" varies from brand to brand, and often between models within brands.  The only true test is to try it and go with the one that sounds best with YOUR voice.

Appearance.  The mic becomes part of your stage presence. No one wants to be seen with an un-cool (for what ever reason) mic. Most large format studio condensers would make wonderful live vocal mics, but do you ever see anyone using them in a live environment?  No.  The reason?  They are big and ugly.  You can't be seen behind them.

As for the worst possible thing you can do with a mic, I asked Jeff Mackenzie for his thoughts.

"Definitely the worst thing a singer (or anyone) can do to a mic is drop it!

The problem is not physical damage to the mic.  Any decent pro quality mic should be able to handle a decent drop every now and then.  The problem is the massive spike produced by the mic when it hits the deck.  This spike is quite capable of overloading mixers and/or amplifiers, and possibly damaging loudspeaker drivers. For this reason we strongly recommend that a compressor be inserted across each hand held vocal channel. This recommendation is also relevant to monitor systems."

Renee’s microphone gremlins usually occur because of the way she holds the microphone.

"The thing that happens all the time is where I hold the mic, which is usually that base part where there are those 3 prongs. Unless the road crew have gaffered it up really well, that can, and has come undone."

From a female vocalist’s point of view Renee has occasionally found microphone grip to be problematic in other ways.

"When I was younger I used to be a bit self-conscious. You know a woman singing with a microphone in the shape that it is, I mean what can I say. There would be times that I might have thought that a few blokes in the audience were thinking it was something else, and you can use that to your advantage or whatever depending on how cheeky one feels. So I’m guilty of that but the majority of the time it just gets my voice out there."

Getting back to performance basics, singers should also be aware of things like avoiding cupping or covering their hands over a mic. This could result in severe feedback. Another common problem which occurs is the popping sound with particular letters like ‘T’ or ‘P’. By placing the mic just under your bottom lip, (being careful not to touch your bottom lip with the mic), you’ll avoid that  dreadful popping sound when executing a big line beginning with a T or P. Singers should also avoid clothing that rustles or creates static electricity, particularly if using a clip-on microphone. If you need to wear jewellery, ensure it’s not too chunky and always be aware of where it is in relation to the mic.

It’s a good idea to turn a microphone off when removing or replacing it in its stand too. The audience can do without that sound being amplified. And if you do need to take the mike out of its stand, it goes without saying that you place the stand a good distance away from your performance space.

For most experienced vocalists, their own individual microphone technique evolves over many years and in the end becomes second nature. You do what feels comfortable for you within the limitations imposed by working in an electronic environment. And if you do feel the need to swing the mic above your head, make sure you and your audience are well insured, and also that you have a sound guy sympathetic to your performance style.