Playing lead guitar and singing

Welcome to GuitarNoise!

I know that feeling of having to practically stand on tiptoes to keep on-mic when you're looking down. The headset idea is really a good workaround - maybe a better one would help?

As far as boom stands, there's a bunch of good quality ones out there. I've got an old one from the 80s; it only says "Made in Germany" and I don't remember the brand. But it's got three sections for the main stand, and two sections for the boom part. You can adjust it just about any way you want. I'll go have a look and see if i can find that same one.

The boom part looks almost exactly like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=AKKM2111B&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=286139

So it might be an AKG tripod stand. 'Course, you can get the boom unit and put it on any base/stand section.

I don't know about the mics you mentioned, but I'm sure someone will be along to post about that.

Best regards.

First of all you rock. An all mom rock band indeed.

OnStage makes a pretty good boom mic stand for $150 or so retail. It's an SMS7650. I like the wide range of adjustments. Cheaper boom stands don't usually come with the adjustable arm where the mic attaches.

I never used to use a boom until I heard a recording one day of me playing slide guitar. Unfortunately I wasn't playing slide at the time, I was leaning my guitar neck on the mic stand every time I went up to sing.

Personally I think the E835 is a better choice for lead vocals. It has a wider response and it's less muddy. Some would say it lacks warmth, me not so much. One thing to be aware of though is that the 835 is very sensitive to direction. If you aren't singing right into it you are lost. If you move much while playing and singing the 58 would be a better choice IMHO.

All mom rock band? Far out!

Dunno what your using now, but some of the more upscale headset solutions might be just what you need. They should offer better feedback resistance and clearer sound. Just remember, you'll want to steer away from mikes labeled as "omnidirectional, and focus on mikes labeled "cardidoid" or "unidirectional" I don't know what your budget is, but here's a few links to browse:

From Shure:
http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WirelessMicrophones/us_pro_pg14-pg30

http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WirelessMicrophones/us_pro_ULXP14-30_content

http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WirelessMicrophones/us_pro_SLX14-WH30_content

Audio Technica:
http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wls_systems/0c0681539f9949f6/index.html

http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wls_systems/098132ab830855aa/index.html

Sennheiser:
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/category.asp?transid=cat57

And a buying guide:
http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/live-sound/microphones/wireless_buying-guide.php

I personally use an 835, and so does the lead singer in a band I play in. They're great mics sound-wise, but we've both noticed how directional it is. If you don't sing right into it, the volume level drops off quite a bit.
I am also the lead guitar player in the band, but I sing quite a bit. I also use a boom stand(an old atlas stand), and the best strategy that i've come up with for seeing my position on the guitar while using the 835 is this:
Since there's no mic stand pole directly in front of me, I hold the guitar neck out in front of me, so that the body and neck are almost perpendicular to the audience. Then, I can see the neck by just moving my eyes, not my whole head.

Hope that helped.

My simple thoughts, more as an audience member:

Eye contact with your audience is very important when sing. Looking down while singing breaks your connection with the audience. If there's another guitarist you can dedicate the more technical parts too, or definitely be able to do these parts with your eyes closed. I personally find it makes for a much better performance for the audience.

My 2 cents.

Try lowering your mic on the stand so that when you look down, you're looking onto the top of the mic. You may have to hunch over a bit when you're singing and not playing lead, but it might be a quick and easy alternative.

Also, as noted above, try to separate the solos and the vocals, or try to trade them off to another bandmember. When you play live, you can't do everything at once.

I think there are several members who would like to know where and when you play. Do check in to the Other Side forum...

Welcome to GN!

Until recently I was the rhythm guitarist and singer in my band. Now we got a guy who can actually sing. :D

But I always held the guitar out in front of me. I could sing in the mic, look at the audience, and glance at the guitar quickly for changes. So my guitar would be on my right hip, the headstock out in front of me. I don't think I could ever use one of those headsets. I like to move in and out on the mic for dynamics when needed. You also don't want the mic to be too high.

I find the trick is to quickly look when you make a change, and then look back up at the audience. And for easy changes you don't even need to look.

Congrats on the all Mom band. I would like to see that too.

Hey, thanks for all the input everyone. I have found a lot of help on this forum, just reading what other people are talking about and I finally decided today why not ask my own questions?? I'm sure I'll have more questions later. I didn't expect so much discussion already!

I will try some of the suggestions you gave me. The microphone headset I've had for the last 3 years is a SHURE WH20 Series Dynamic Headset Microphone with a SHURE T1 Wireless Body-Pack Transmitter and a Shure T3 Wireless Receiver. It was probably one of the lowest end mics for a wireless headset. Anyway, recently I did look a little bit into the CROWN CM311-AESH as another headset system, but I was a little bit reluctant to get a condensor microphone and, it would have easily cost me around $500 to get it and have it be compatable with my Shure reciever. Considering that, and the fact that people tended to not like that thing right in my face, plus the feedback problem, I've decided to go with a regular microphone/boom set up. One more complicating factor to my situation that may need considering - I have a high frequency hearing loss in both my ears which makes it difficult for me to hear myself on stage. I need to have extra monitoring. That is also why I don't want something that is prone to a lot of feedback. I think I have been using the headset as a crutch in a way, so I can keep looking down at what I'm doing!

As for our band, we are in the St. Louis area. The name of the band is Momentary Girls. Our website is http://www.momentarygirls.com . We are newly reformed - had a member change back in June, so it is like starting over. We also know very little about sound engineering, and unfortunately don't play out enough to afford to have a soundman. We usually just have to deal with the sound mix ourselves, which can be disasterous sometimes! It would be nice to just focus on making the music part and not all this engineering stuff, but, that is the way it is!

So, be prepared for sound system questions!

Perhaps you should look into the Galaxy Hot Spot personal monitors. These are small, portable monitors that mount on a stand very close to you. Here is their site, but you can pick these up at all the major retailers like Musician's Friend.

http://www.galaxyaudio.com/HSVC.html

http://www.galaxyaudio.com/index.HTM

By the way, you gals have a great songlist. :D

Actually, I did try that Galaxy Hot Spot a few years ago and took it back - it didn't help much. Now I have a VSM-200P VoiceSolo Passive Voice Monitor by TC Helicon. The other thing I've done is I'm now using my guitar amp as a monitor and mic-ing it into the mixer. That has helped a lot. Thanks for checking out our set list!

Hey, anybody ever use the ProLine Tripod Boom Microphone Stand? Just curious if it is a decent stand. I would be putting a Shure Beta 58A on it, and would be needing it to adjust fairly well, as I play a lot of guitar while singing and need to look down at the guitar a lot. I also don't know what the difference between telescoping boom and regular.

That looks just like the other one I have. I use it to hold our condenser mic for recording. Works well. The telescoping thing on the other stand is where the tubes - either the vertical or horizontal boom - fit inside one another and you can pull them out to varying degrees to create different lengths.

Or heights, as far as the vertical pole is concerned.

If the Proline you have there is exactly like mine, then the vertical section has another telescoping section inside, which allows you to raise the boom part and then lock it off with that hand-tightening grip right at the top there. The boom doesn't have any telescoping sections, but you can loosen that "T" part and slide the thing back and forth.

Okay, like this one - http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Musicians-Friend-Tripod-Mic-Stand-with-Telescoping-Boom?sku=450828

looks a little flimsy, but you can kinda see how the extension slides out from the main tube of the boom and it has that little knob to tighten it when it's where you want it.