Karaoke Microphone Technique

Your Karaoke host may be skilled at setting up the sound system, but there is a limit to what they can do! If you aren't aware of how to handle a microphone correctly (and a lot of Karaoke singers aren't) then you are really going to struggle if you actually care about sounding good.

This article covers basic microphone technique. Following this advice and practicing until it becomes natural to you will give you a great chance of sounding as good as possible next time you are singing at a Karaoke. Once you get the microphone technique right, it's down to your KJ to get the sound system setup correctly and, of course, let's not forget your singing talent!

Microphones

A "Dynamic" microphone will typically be first choice for singers and Karaoke hosts. Generally they are of a sturdy construction, can handle high volume levels and are relatively inexpensive to buy (all essential features for a Karaoke mic!).

Something all singers should be aware of with these kinds of microphones is that they pick up sound better from in front of the microphone than from the rear & sides. Also, the closer the microphone is to the sound source (ie. the mouth) the louder and more dominant the bass tones will be.

Microphone Positioning

Therefore the positioning of the microphone is important when you are singing to ensure the best possible tone is produced by the mic. There are two essential elements to this:-

1) the angle at which the head of the microphone is held

2) the distance between the microphone and your mouth

The head of the microphone should be pointing towards your mouth with the microphone held at a slight downward angle, say around 30 degrees.

The distance between the microphone and your mouth must be adjusted depending on how you are singing at any particular time during a song. Positioning may need to change from phrase to phrase, or even word to word. If you are singing softly, the microphone will need to be brought in closer to your mouth, just as if you are singing loudly the microphone needs to be held further away, moving closer again as the volume subsides.

This may sound rather obvious, but there is a definite technique to it which does take practice to acquire. It can take quite a while until it comes naturally to you. Keep the microphone at the correct angle and experiment with the distance from your mouth as you sing quiet & loud phrases.

Common Mistakes

You will see many karaoke singers holding the microphone too far away or right upto (and sometimes almost in) their mouths. If the mic is too far away then you'll either not be heard or the Karaoke host will need to add so much volume and gain to the microphone to try and hear you that you'll just end up with feedback. If the mic is too close then the bass tones will dominate the sound resulting in an unclear, muffled, deep bass sound. So learning good microphone technique is an important skill if you want to give yourself the best chance of sounding good!

Another common problem when holding a microphone close are 'pops' (the loud and unpleasant popping type sound when 'b's and 'p's are pronounced) and the over-emphasis of sounds such as 'ch' and 'sh', for example. Although this has much to do with singing technique too, to help reduce the effect if you find it happening during your next karaoke performance, try holding the microphone a little further away and angling it a little more to try & reduce the effect.

Sounding Good

So, have fun trying to remember all this next time you're singing on karaoke. It might seem awkward at first thinking about this technique whilst also thinking about your singing and watching the words, but it will come naturally after a while and you will sound much better for it!

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Karaoke Microphone Technique

Your Karaoke host may be skilled at setting up the sound system, but there is a limit to what they can do! If you aren't aware of how to handle a microphone correctly (and a lot of Karaoke singers aren't) then you are really going to struggle if you actually care about sounding good.

This article covers basic microphone technique. Following this advice and practicing until it becomes natural to you will give you a great chance of sounding as good as possible next time you are singing at a Karaoke. Once you get the microphone technique right, it's down to your KJ to get the sound system setup correctly and, of course, let's not forget your singing talent!

Microphones

A "Dynamic" microphone will typically be first choice for singers and Karaoke hosts. Generally they are of a sturdy construction, can handle high volume levels and are relatively inexpensive to buy (all essential features for a Karaoke mic!).

Something all singers should be aware of with these kinds of microphones is that they pick up sound better from in front of the microphone than from the rear & sides. Also, the closer the microphone is to the sound source (ie. the mouth) the louder and more dominant the bass tones will be.

Microphone Positioning

Therefore the positioning of the microphone is important when you are singing to ensure the best possible tone is produced by the mic. There are two essential elements to this:-

1) the angle at which the head of the microphone is held

2) the distance between the microphone and your mouth

The head of the microphone should be pointing towards your mouth with the microphone held at a slight downward angle, say around 30 degrees.

The distance between the microphone and your mouth must be adjusted depending on how you are singing at any particular time during a song. Positioning may need to change from phrase to phrase, or even word to word. If you are singing softly, the microphone will need to be brought in closer to your mouth, just as if you are singing loudly the microphone needs to be held further away, moving closer again as the volume subsides.

This may sound rather obvious, but there is a definite technique to it which does take practice to acquire. It can take quite a while until it comes naturally to you. Keep the microphone at the correct angle and experiment with the distance from your mouth as you sing quiet & loud phrases.

Common Mistakes

You will see many karaoke singers holding the microphone too far away or right upto (and sometimes almost in) their mouths. If the mic is too far away then you'll either not be heard or the Karaoke host will need to add so much volume and gain to the microphone to try and hear you that you'll just end up with feedback. If the mic is too close then the bass tones will dominate the sound resulting in an unclear, muffled, deep bass sound. So learning good microphone technique is an important skill if you want to give yourself the best chance of sounding good!

Another common problem when holding a microphone close are 'pops' (the loud and unpleasant popping type sound when 'b's and 'p's are pronounced) and the over-emphasis of sounds such as 'ch' and 'sh', for example. Although this has much to do with singing technique too, to help reduce the effect if you find it happening during your next karaoke performance, try holding the microphone a little further away and angling it a little more to try & reduce the effect.

Sounding Good

So, have fun trying to remember all this next time you're singing on karaoke. It might seem awkward at first thinking about this technique whilst also thinking about your singing and watching the words, but it will come naturally after a while and you will sound much better for it!

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Microphone Technique

Although it sounds strange to you, to hear your own voice over the P.A, in fact it doesn't sound any different to the audience than if you were talking to them in normal conversation.

The trick here is to be Yourself, if you haven't got the skill to project a warm friendly personality at the functions where ice breaking is required then being an entertainer isn't for you. The trick is to find a balance, most people would simply hire the gear - saving around 50% of a D.J's booking fee and throw a NOW Cd on - if human input and personality wasn't important to them. At some functions, if they pay for an entertainer and get a human jukebox who doesn't own a mic and just sits there playing music then they occasionally feel cheated!.

I can't stress the "BE YOURSELF", advice enough, don't put on a radio style zany DJ voice - that will sound false and doesn't fool anybody. If you are lucky enough to have a D.J training you, or are a young person helping an older mentor D.J then DON'T be tempted to become a clone of him or her. Adopt your own mic style (not a false voice), use your own tag lines but don't rely on the same cliche's 20 or 30 times a night - this becomes boring and predictable.

Don't rely on "that was", "This is" introductions all night. At some functions going out with a Radio Mic and creating banter with your audience is a great way to break the ice at the beginning of difficult, non formal functions - and a good way of enouraging them onto the dancefloor early on. You can relax the mic work and the frquency of them - once the dancefloor is filling.

Of course there are always going to be functions where you need more mic work than the last, and other functions where it is going to be little mic use, but the key is to develop a style and strength and confidence in your mic working ability and not to rely on non stop music alone to do the work for you.

Just be yourself, and talk normally into the microphone. The thing to work on is to speak confidentally and clearly and try to pace yourself. Speaking too fast will make what you are saying sound garbled, speaking too slow will make you sound like you are addressing a bunch of village idiots . Pretty soon, with a little time and practice you'll develop your own individual skill and style and that is the most important aspect, don't try to copy anybody else or put on a different voice, it will sound false and make learning and maintaining the technique a lot more difficult.

If being a comedian is not you, then avoid the jokes unless you are good at this sort of thing , forced comedy can sound false and you may find yourself laughing alone, after all the Client has booked a Mobile Disco and not a stand up comedian!. One of the best pieces of advice I was given my the D.J who trained me, was to "Stick at doing what you are good at and have been booked for, and if in any doubt then leave it out".

Spontaneous one liners are another matter, if something amusing happens, then share it - use the mic to get requests, make a fuss over other people celebrating birthdays / anniversaries - people like to have their 30 seconds of glory and hearing their name mentioned, over the mic

My advice to those nervous about public speaking for the first time, is not to be frightened of the mic or avoid using one - its your closest and most useful ally, at all functions. Don't talk all over the track, learn to pace yourself over the outro of the previous track and any intro of the next track - don't gabble - talk clearly into the microphone as if you were talking to a friend. With time you should be able to familiarise yourself with how themore popular tracks end and finish, this way you can talk upto the vocal, similar to how they do on the radio - stopping your banter at the moment the vocal on the next track starts. Don't rush to perfect this or gabble to do so, it all comes with time and practice. Keep it simple to start off with.

Start with the easy stuff first, just introducing tracks, and buffet announcements. Once you've built up a bit of confidence, you'll move on from the 'That was..... this is....' routine. Try and include your audience, invite requests, make them feel welcome. Even if you are having a difficult gig don't take it out on the audience and try and look like you are enjoying yourself, even if it's not going to plan. Don't worry about making mistakes on the Mic, we all do from time to time, but don't draw attention to it, or dwell on it it'll just make it worse - besides making mistakes shows that you are human and not a pre-programmed jukebox

Keep key information on the gig, such as the Bride & Grooms' names, Best Man Name etc on a piece of paper on the mixer, so that you can casually glance down if you have a sudden memory blank, but don't write your links down as a speech, otherwise it will sound like you are reading from a script and less natural.

Remember that once the dancefloor is full, you can ease off the mic a little, but keep doing the requests and don't forget that it exists. Learn to find the balance, too much talking can bore the pants of your audience, too little mic work can make people think that you aren't earning your keep!. There are functions where you have a full Dancefloor and it would be obtrusive to chat all over the music when people want to dance, equally there are more formal functions where there isn't the room or inclination to dance, and so a bit of light hearted banter to break the ice and the empathsis on the entertainment side of being a DJ is required rather than just continuous music

All of this will take some time, don't expect to develop a mic technique overnight just take it one gig at a time.

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