Common Observations
Perhaps you have seen people around holding their microphone upside down as though they were a rap superstar…
This may really look cool, but does it really help you in your singing or rapping?
You may also have seen performing artistes pull their microphone away from their mouth when they are belting or singing a loud note. However, the further they pull, the lesser the microphone is able to pick up their voice and amplify it appropriately.
It is important to learn how to use the microphone well so that it works to your advantage, instead of making your voice harder to be heard.
A recommended microphone technique is that you place the microphone straight in front of your mouth or slightly below and angled up towards your mouth, with about 1 inch to 1.5 inch away from your mouth.
Watch the video by Intune Music Director, Aaron Matthew Lim!
Here are some more tips in order to boost your microphone game:
1) Hold the microphone steadily with fingers wrapped around the microphone in a comfortable position. Do not cup the head of the microphone because that will reduce the amount of sound that the microphone can pick up. Always only hold the main stem of the microphone to allow for maximum pick-up.
2) Make sure that your grip on the microphone is secure so that the microphone does not fly out of your hands when you are singing! However, never squeeze the microphone too hard because that can cause some flow-on tension in your hand, arm, shoulders and to the rest of the body.
3) Always face the microphone towards your mouth, because dynamic mics are very directional and only pick up sound that is in front of the microphone head, and within a certain distance. Make sure you listen to your voice coming out from the speakers, and gauge whether that is the sound that you want, and whether your voice sounds good when spoken or sung through a microphone.
4) If you are going to sing a loud and powerful note, make sure you pull the microphone further away from your mouth. And if you are going to sing a low or soft or airy note, make sure you bring the microphone closer to your mouth so that it can pick up more of the soft sounds. Always adjust the microphone distance based on what you are singing.
Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning covered by Intune Music Vocal Student, Amanda Liu
5) When you are required to perform with a microphone, always rehearse with a microphone or with an object with similar weight and dimensions, so that your microphone usage will not throw you off during your performance!
6) Never place the microphone too close to your mouth when you are speaking or singing, because that will only make your voice sound distorted and muffled. Always gauge the desired microphone distance by listening to how you sound through the speakers.
7) Always point the microphone head vertical and towards the sky when not singing or speaking with it. This is to prevent feedback noises from occurring, especially when the microphone is accidentally pointed towards the speakers on stage.
A singer may have excellent vocal skills, but he or she may not have the appropriate microphone technique, and that would limit their performance and make them sound less perfect than they can be.
Besides holding the microphone appropriately, you must also have heard of the word, “soundcheck”. What exactly is soundcheck? And what do you need to do during a soundcheck? We will touch on that in the next article! Stay tuned!
At Intune Music, as our vocal instructors are very experienced in performances hence when our students are ready for performance, we will guide them towards it and our instructors will impart their valuable performance experiences for our students!