how to limit vocal monitor leakage into drum overhead mics?

[harmonizer]

I make recordings at live gigs of our 7 piece covers band into a multitrack recorder, and we have 5 vocal mics out front, a 6th for our drummer who sings on some songs, and a limited number of input lines we can capture simultaneously. So currently for the kit we use only 3 lines: 2 overheads plus the kick. If we had an extra line, it would close-mic the hat, so I don't think we could ever get enough lines to close-mic everything, and don't think we could afford the set-up time.

 

I do post-gig mixes, either to help us learn to play new songs better, or to use as high quality audio for our youtube videos. Our stage monitors are tilted, and located in front of our singers on the front line. We get a lot of the vocals from the stage monitors getting into the drum overheads, and it makes the vocals sound not quite as good in the final mix. Has anyone ever put something like a clear plastic flat shield on the front side of drum overhead mics, to limit the bleed-in from stage monitors into the drum overhead mics? Is there any danger that such a shield could create bad sound artifacts by giving sound something to bounce off of, so close to the drum overhead mics?

 

Any advice or experience shared would be appreciated.

[J. Dan]

Use In-Ear Monitors.

[Mike Rivers]

There's a commercial product like what you describe, a Plexiglas baffle that can be put in front of the drum kit. On the positive side, it's clear so everyone can still see your drummer. On the minus side, it's quite expensive, and I can't remember the name of the manufacturer so I can't refer you to it. Search it out yourself if you're interested.

 

By working with the radiation pattern of the monitors and the directivity pattern of the drummer's vocal mic, you might be able to reduce the leakage to a tolerable level. Instead of having the monitors pointing straight back, angle them so that they're aiming straight into the back of the vocal mics if you're using cardioids, or off to the side a bit if you're using hypercardioids. Hypercardioids will give you better rejection than cardioids if you aim the monitors toward their null.

 

Does the drummer have a monitor beside him (with the vocal mix in it)? If so, this may be where most of your leakage is coming from. A hypercardioid mic for the drummer's vocal could be very helpful here. Another approach is to get him in very close to the mic by using a headworn cardioid mic within an inch or so of his mouth.

 

Or you could just turn the #%&!@ monitors DOWN!

[dboomer]

Mics simply catch what you throw at them. You may get some help from keeping the dead sides of the mics pointed directly at the nearest interfering source. But a lot will depend on the size of the stage and the level of the sound on the stage. A few years back I did a lot of measurements with different mics (and patterns) and found even on a decent sized stage (in my case 28" x 14" with an 18k ceiling) there was almost zero difference between cardioid and super/hyper cardioid mics in terms of keeping the monitors out (and the initiation of feedback).

 

As far as a vocal mic for singing drummers, there is nothing better than a Crown 311a headset mic for keeping out ambient noise.