Crown LM-300A, PCC-160, PCC-170, PZM-10, PZM-10LL Application Manual

PZM, PCC, SASS, GLM, LM, and CM

© 2000 Crown International, All rights reserved.
PZM® , PCC®, SASS®, are registered trademarks of Crown International,
Inc. Also exported as Amcron

128137-1

6/00

®

Crown International, Inc
P.O. Box 1000, Elkhart, Indiana 46515-1000
[phone] Fax [phone]
www.crownaudio.com

MICROPHONE TECHNIQUES FOR HOUSES
OF WORSHIP

In your house of worship, wouldn’t you like to bet­ter understand what is being said, and hear music
reproduced with a full, natural sound? You can do
this with a good sound system.

One goal of the sound system is to help the con­gregation hear more clearly. The message is im­portant, so it must be loud enough and easy to
understand. Another goal is to reproduce music
with high fidelity or naturalness.

To help you meet these goals, this guide offers
some tips on microphone techniques. The types
of microphones you choose—and their place­ment—have a major effect on the sound quality.

MICROPHONE TYPES

Microphones (or “mics” for short) are available in
many types.

• Miniature clip-on mics (lavalier mics), which
you clip onto the minister’s robe or onto musi­cal instruments.

• Lectern mics, which you mount on the pulpit or
lectern.

•

Surface-mounted mics which you put on sur­faces (floor, ceiling, walls, tables).

• Miniature choir mics which you hang over the
choir.

• Handheld mics for vocalists and instruments.

Crown makes a microphone for each of these
needs. Many of the mics are so small, they become
nearly invisible in use. In this way, the microphones
do not distract from the service.

Microphones can also be classified according to
the way they pick up sounds from different direc­tions. An omnidirectional (omni) mic picks up
sound equally well from all around. A unidirectional
mic picks up mainly what it’s aimed at. The most
common type of unidirectional mic is the cardioid

type. Unidirectional mics help prevent feedback.

Feedback is the squealing sound you hear when the
sound system is turned up too loud. The amplified
sound from the loudspeakers enters the micro­phones and is reamplified.

Microphones also differ in the way they convert
sound to electricity. A condenser or electret con­denser microphone is charged with static electric­ity inside; a dynamic or moving coil microphone
has a magnet and a coil of wire. Generally, the con­denser type is higher quality, but requires a power
supply to operate, such as an internal battery or an
external phantom power supply. This supply is al-
ready built into some mixers. Another advantage of
the condenser type is that it can be miniaturized.

A miniature condenser mic is desired when you want
the mic to be invisible—say, hanging over the choir,
clipped onto the minister’s robe, or affixed to the
pulpit.

HOW TO REDUCE FEEDBACK

First, here are some general tips on microphone us­age to reduce the likelihood of feedback.

• Use as few microphones as possible.

• Keep loudspeakers and microphones as far apart

as is practical.

• Turn down microphones not in use.

• Keep microphones close to their sound sources
— as close as possible, but no closer than nec-

essary to achieve adequate volume before feed­back occurs.

• Use directional microphones. A microphone is
directional if its polar pattern is cardioid,
supercardioid, or hypercardioid (check the mi­crophone data sheet).

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SPECIFIC MIC TECHNIQUES

Below are some suggested microphone techniques
for each sound source.

Minister

The type of mic you will use on the minister de­pends on whether the minister stays at the pulpit or
moves about.

If the minister stays at the pulpit, install a lectern
mic on the pulpit (

Fig.1

). Another purpose for a lec­tern mic is to pick up anyone who walks up to the
lectern to make an announcement or read a pas­sage.

One microphone at the pulpit gives a more consistent
tone quality than two, so install only one. Be sure to
add the provided foam

pop filter (windscreen)

to pre­vent explosive breath sounds (pops). Another way
to reduce pops is to speak about 8 inches from the
microphone and over the microphone rather than
into it.

If you don’t want to install the pulpit mic perma­nently, try mounting a handheld mic (

CM-700—Fig. 2

) on a boom stand about 8 inches

CM-200A or

away from the minister’s mouth. Put a foam pop
filter (windscreen) on the microphone.

Crown makes three microphones for this purpose:
the LM-201, LM-300A, and LM-301A. The LM-201
(see page 8) has a shock-mounted mic capsule and
a ball-and-socket swivel mount that adjusts silently.
The LM-300A (see page 8) is a slim gooseneck
model that also adjusts silently. It plugs directly into
a connector on the pulpit. The LM-301A adapts to a
5/8"-27 threaded adapter, and its cable can exit
downward or out the side.

Fig. 1—Miking the minister with a lectern mic on
the pulpit.

Fig. 2—Pulpit miking with a CM-200A.

Yet another alternative is to place a unidirectional
boundary mic (such as the Crown (PCC®-130, PCC­160, PCC-170) on top of the pulpit, near the edge
furthest from the person speaking

(Fig. 3)

.

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