choosing a mic for stage events on wedding

[Soumendra Jena]

Hi, we come across a lot of wedding, where there are stage events and people speak.

Normally, those mic are brought by the event managers with the audio team and all they do is, output them to speakers.

I dont get those audio.

I was thinking for a solution, so that it can do two jobs together!

Feed the speeches to my Camera as well as to the output speaker.

So, I checked this,
Amazon.com: Audio-Technica ATR-1300 Unidirectional Dynamic Vocal/Instrument Microphone: Musical Instruments

So, will this do the job for me ?

[Adrian Tan]

Well, I think it's a good idea. Don't know what anyone else thinks. I mean, we've been taking about photo/video combos recently, and maybe the whole idea of bundle packages, one-stop-shop is the way to go. AV/MC/DJ/video/photo/photobooth.

[Soumendra Jena]

Sorry, I meant to ask, whether this device which Im planning to buy, can it handle both ?

Like send audio to my 5Dmk3 as well as to the DJ system's speakers.

[Chris Harding]

Don Bloom used to put a drum mic near the speakers and it worked well for him ..I assume that's much the same? You need a mic that can handle loud levels! It did catch me out once when I carefully set up the mic pointing directly at the speaker and the audio lady decided to turn the speaker away in another direction so it's probably better to use the drum mic attached to the speaker as it can handle loud levels

Take a look at boundary mics too ... I often put two on the wedding table and they handle the entire table.

[Soumendra Jena]

So you mean, the one which I shared the link, cannot do 2 outputs ?

But I have seen, people doing it on some workshops.

[Adrian Tan]

Ok... I believe any microphone can feed its signal to two devices using something like a Y-split cable or splitter box. But I think things might get tricky/explodey if there's phantom powered involved. I'm ignorant about all things audio, so I've started a thread in the audio section to see what people say.

The mic you mentioned would, I'm assuming, be perfect for a split -- I think it's a dynamic mic with no phantom power needed. Whether it's the best mic for the purpose, I don't know. But I think it'd be usable.

[Paul R Johnson]

You can buy mic splitters, but one of the big problems is you won't know what kind of system in advance they have. Most PA systems nowadays use balanced connections on XLRs, while most basic audio cameras use unbalanced connections, so if your splitter converts the balanced output of the mic to unbalanced, as does shorting pins 1 and 3 in the XLR - in that amazon example, then you will also short the feed to the PA, which in most cases won't matter, they just perhaps have to turn the level up a tad. If, however, their mic is a condenser, then shorting the phantom power with your balanced to unbalanced connection will result in no audio - it's unlikely to damage their mixer, because sorting cables are not exactly rare. Even if you use a transformer based splitter, shorting one output puts a load on the other winding, dropping the level. Phantom feedthrough is usually compromised too. That mic is also a rather low end example - fine for speaking into at close distances, not much cop for people using it at a distance. Personally, without lots of hassle and problems, it's so much easier to simply mic up the loudspeaker cabinet they are using. Dangle the mic down from the top on the cable, sure it at the rear.Even if they turn the speaker, the mic goes with it!

[Oren Arieli]

I always prefer to take the output from the board where possible, the reason being that they already have someone manning a mixer board. If you're concentrating on the video and trying to run sound from your camera to the house, you'll find out how frustrating it can be. What will you do when there are multiple microphones needed? What about bands? Will your feed to the audio tech/DJ be wireless? What happens if you drop signal?

My regular setup is to put a wireless dynamic mic on the speakers, feeding my camera directly, and a Zoom recorder as a backup plugged right into the mixing board. The on-camera mic picks up the ambient sounds. In over 20 years, I can honestly say that the only problems I've had was with bad DJ's who don't know how to operate their board. Short of replacing them with your own employees, you'll have to deal with that on your own.

[Malcolm Debono]

The Shure SM58 seems to be the industry-standard and comes highly recommended for such scenarios mainly due to its sturdy build quality. A simple XLR splitter should do the job (feed both your camera as well as the PA / mixer) and you shouldn't have any problems with power since it doesn't require phantom power.

[Paul R Johnson]

yes - BUT - if I was the sound op (which we often supply for events) then I would NOT let somebody use a splitter if they were going to unbalance it, and stick it into a device with a 3.5mm unbalanced connector - because if I'm squeezing every last bit of volume before feedback intrudes, a sudden disconnection can initiate feedback, and a nasty hum/pop as the plug falls out. I'm always happy to provide an output for video on request, but I don't let strangers introduce unknown bits of kit into my signal chain. Of course when I'm doing the other role, I want to introduce my bit of unknown kit into theirs!

[Oren Arieli]

I agree with Paul. You're going to have a hell of a time convincing a good sound op to let you mess with their system. That being said, I carry one of these in my kit, should I need to split a line: ART SPLITCom Pro | Sweetwater.com

[Paul R Johnson]

Neat box! One thing I did discover years ago is that a transformer splitter is not giving immunity against dead shorts. I always believed they did, but on reading one of the transformer manufacturers data sheets, I discovered that shorting the isolated output does dampen down the through signal - something I'd not expected, They provide electrical isolation but are not a guarantee against shorts! Still very handy for isolation, though.