theatre/confrence etc. mics

[benweblight]

ok, here goes:

 

http://www.mveducation.com/invt/5883

 

1)is this a good kit for small/medium theatre/confrence etc work

 

2) if I get hat I would need to sort out some leads for it, is it likely to be cheaper to buy one (and maybe mod it), have one made, or make one myself (it needs to be 4x XLR-XLR 1x XLR-jack female (I suppose this could be adapted), plus if not too much more expensive, 2x jack/XLR- 2x phono)

 

3) after my mixer, what is more important, mics or outboard? (fx unit etc.)

[Solstace]

Hi...

 

I'll try to answer these as best I can - might help!

 

1) Checked out the site - I'm not the world's biggest fan of Audio-Technica kit, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to spend effectively £30 per mic and get anything better, as such. My thoughts are that anything else in a similar range from other manufacturers tends to be more of a sideways move than anything else.

 

2) I'm not sure I understand what you're looking to do with leads... can we have a little more info? As for the "diy vs. pre-made" issue - whatever floats your boat. It's possible to make leads etc cheaper and better than some commercial offerings, but I've found it's often not worth the extra hassle of going the DIY route unless you're doing something particularly exotic or unusual.

 

3) Provided the mixer is of decent quality, I'd say that mics are more important than outboard - I think others will agree with me if I mention the "garbage in, garbage out" principle. Working with the Audio-Technica kit you mention as an example, I'd think about getting a pair of Shure SM-58's in place of the MB1000L's provided with the kit - last time I was looking at purchasing mic's I found SM58's going for £100-£120 per pair, with some stores even offering to bundle them to me with stands and 6m XLR's - that may have changed though!

[dentos]

I'm sure more money on mics is the better way to go, in terms of outboard all that's entirely needed is surely an EQ, then compressors and reverbs and stuff, but spend the money on mics, audio tech do represent good value which is nice, super.

[Just Some Bloke]

It all depends on what you want to do with your kit.

 

You say "small/medium theatre and conference work". I work in small - medium theatres (2 venues in fact of 350 seats each), one of which does some conference work and we wouldn't dream of carrying equipment that was that cheap, I'm afraid. You get what you pay for and we would expect better quality from our stuff. However, for school or local hall stuff where quality isn't so important it could well be an ideal package.

 

Also, in theatre and conference work most people coming in will ask for SM58s because it's what they know and you need to be spending the £140 on 2 of them without the flightcase and other mics really. That's what I'd do with the money, to be honest.

 

As for what else to buy, I'd say that as long as your mixer has some EQ somewhere then go for reverb as your next buy - again because that's what the clients will ask for in theatre. Once you've got a few mics, a mixer and a basic reverb then you can think about buying a graphic. Finally, as far as basic kit goes, a compressor will be useful if you know how to use it.

 

But don't forget that the other thing you'll be asked about all the time is radio-mics and good systems aren't cheap, so start saving now!

 

HTH

[benweblight]

thanks for the advice so far, but I think you have misunderstood

 

although I am planning to get an sm59 at some point, I didnt look at that kit for the vocal mics, I was more looking at micing up the whole stage, rather than individuals if you get my meaning

[IanG]

I was more looking at micing up the whole stage, rather than individuals

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Have a look at the thread on boundary mics

[benweblight]

theres a boundary in the kit

 

ps: thease mice any good for use as mics for 'mic for lighting desk' topic?