All voices deserve to be heard. Having your voice amplified with speakers can be a very mighty and empowering feeling, especially when singing out your favorite tunes. It's easy to get your voice’s full potential out when singing with a microphone, as long as you are aware of some simple practicalities about singing to a microphone. We collaborated with the audio and microphone manufacturer Shure to introduce you to everything you need to know about microphone technique for live singing - to get the most out of singing with Singa karaoke. Whether you’re singing at home, at karaoke venues, parties, or on an actual live stage, here’s our tips to get your voice heard the best possible way.
1. Pick the right microphone
Not all microphones are the same - some of them are meant for professional level singing, where as some are optimized for speech. Obviously you can’t usually bring your own microphone to a karaoke bar, but if you are looking for a microphone to combine with your Singa at home, a great choice is for example PGA 48 cardiodynamic microphone from Shure, which is optimized for karaoke use.
2. Get closer
If you are singing in a karaoke venue or other similar live singing situation, you are most likely to use a dynamic microphone, instead of a condenser microphone, that is usually used for recording or for example in orchestra concerts. Condenser microphone is more sensitive to take in the sounds, and this is why it can catch the voice from a distance and from its sides as well, where as most dynamic microphones are optimised for varied use and support bigger amounts of sound without distorting - which is excellent for live setting. With a dynamic microphone you should get very close - like your lips touching the mic grill kinda close - to the mic and sing straight to the top of the microphone.
3. Control the distance - control the balance
When you are singing live, you will probably variate with your voice and volume: singing quieter in some parts, shouting out the high notes, going crazy with the chorus - and that is all just great and part of the charm in live performance! But if you keep your microphone in the exactly same spot regardless of the volume, you will need an extremely fast audio engineer to adapt the volume for the audience to both hear you when you sing softly with low volume, and not get their ears broken when you give out all your lungs power. As we might not always have a super-paced sound guy with us, I would recommend to move your head or microphone just a little bit back if you are singing very loud. But be sure not to move the mic away for more than just a few inches, and don’t move it in the side of your head if you don’t want the sound to disappear.
4. Avoid common pitfalls
Even though live performing is not supposed to be perfect in any way, there are some simple things you can do to make it more enjoyable for your audience. First of all, holding a microphone from it’s grill, or putting the grill against your hand or any other other surface (eg. your chest, floor) can easily cause some unpleasant sounds, especially if the microphone amplification is very high in volume. Also, avoid turning the microphone against a speaker, as it can lead the sound to circle, making a very unpleasant high and loud sound. The karaoke venues usually take this into an account when they plan the layout of the space - but if you have the liberty to move around while singing or to set up your own singing venue, pay some attention to the placement of the speakers.
Keeping these things in mind, you will be unstoppable.
P.S If you're not a fan of singing in public, but still want to have an ultimate karaoke experience at home, you can check these tips on home karaoke setups and some tips on how improve your singing skills on your own.