As a member of the typical worship team, singers often rely on the gear presented to them by the situation. I have served in church plants in school cafeterias and in new worship houses that seat over 2,000. Either way, the issue of gear for any musician is important. One thing I have learned: If something sounds cheap, it probably is.
I own a fairly decent guitar that cost me about $600. It sounds pretty decent. But, when I played a friend’s $3,000 Taylor I loathed picking up my own guitar again. Most instrumentalists invest in good gear to present their best. A typical electric guitarist might easily spend up to $10,000 for his gear: amp, pedals, guitars. A pro trumpet can cost about $3,000.
How about those of us who sing? Do we invest in gear, too? I think we should. Here is a list of gear I would recommend for each singer on my team. Now, vocal mics can be shared and wireless in-ear receivers and transmitters can as well. You do want to have your own ear buds, however:
- Shure UR2/KSM9 wireless system. I have demoed this microphone and think it is amazing. I would love four to five of these for our regular Sunday worship. They cost with microphone, and receiver a whopping $1,800 a piece. My audio expert, Jeremy, tells me the double magnets mean it can cancel a lot of feedback and that they sound great.
- Sennheiser EW 300 IEM G2 is a cost-effective choice for monitoring in-ear. Being able to monitor anywhere on the stage is one plus, and the fact of removing large monitor speakers and their cabling cleans up the stage look, too! This unit, which actually has one earbud with it will cost you about $950. (If you are in a school cafeteria, having this might SAVE the mix.)
- Shure SCL5 are dual driver earbuds. You can pay a bit more to get custom molds to your ear from your audiologist (maybe about $150 more in cost). Imagine hearing the full range of music, minus very low subs and being able to have the volume be to your liking! You could stand right near the drummer or a guitar amp and have no problem with the volume. This is one way to save your ears, too. The price for this baby is around $400.
The total cost if only four vocalists purchase there own and nothing is shared would be $3,150. That is about what an average instrumentalist would buy on your team no matter what they play. If you have 8 singers share the mics and cost, each person would have to cough up about $1,500. And, perhaps even a bit less.
If I were to prioritize, I would first get the in-ear monitors times four and add the vocal mics later. Also, there are options for earbuds as low as $100 that can work great, too. So, as a plan “B” it would cost about $575 per person on a vocal team of 8 people to do this.
I am interested to know what other worship leaders, audio guys, vocalists and instrumentalists think about singers and gear. Let’s discuss.
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tehillamusic: New blog post: Gear for singers: how investing in good equipment is not just for the band! http://tinyurl.com/8bzeuf 12/30/08 06:43pm
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It’s actually not double magnets but a dual-diaphragm microphone. The microphone facing the back of the microphone is phase reversed from the one facing the singer, meaning excellent feedback rejection.
Singers? Buy their own GEAR???
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Interesting idea, though.
Steve, not just an idea I hope. Really.
Singers should definitely make sure to purchase their own equipment! It makes an incredible difference in sound when quality microphones are used. One thing I’d say is if you are on a smaller budget, don’t purchase wireless mics and go for some SM58s. They sound great.
Sean, it’s interesting that people still keep buying SM58s. Sure they sound great but there are better mics available. What you should do is do a mic shootout to find ones that fits and flatters the vocalists specific voice and where you don’t have to do much EQ. They’ll also get a feeling of uniqueness and that their special, rather than just showing up with their own 58.
I am going to chime in here. If you are an instrumentalist and show up without gear would you be able to play? Most likely not. In-ears have become almost mandatory for singers. So if you want the best situation for you then you will need to invest, if you don’t then you have no room to complain or make demands from the rest of the team that it is too loud or you can’t hear yourself, harsh? Not at all, reality? Yes. Don’t complain if you can solve the problem yourself and don’t expect someone else to buy it for you. I know that I am not a rich man but I have invested around $8000 in gear to get the best sound I can and to be able to give the FOH person the best tone I can, so why can’t singers do the same? Because they have never been told they need to.
BTW… I have a pair of Shure earbuds from Best Buy that work great… about $200. So, does not have to be expensive.
SM58s are like the honda civics of microphones. The work pretty well, theyre durable, but there never going to be a corvette. Serious vocalists should look to own their own equipment. I would suggest that investing in your gifts and developing them is your responsibility. Money is always an issue, and budgets are always tight, personal & church, but where does personal responsibility become a top priority? Tough to say, its different for everyone.
Strangely enough, one of the best keyboardists/pianists I’ve ever met doesnt own his own instrument, but has led worship since he was 6 and has been highly sought to play venues across the globe…
Hi…my name is Gary, and I’m a sound idiot, and I’m a worship leader. Is that an oxymoron? My drummer has in-ears, and the rest of us use wedges. Would definitely like to advance to in-ears someday, but finances are too tight for that now.
Great article Rich! Investing in equipment that can reproduce the best sound is critical for every position on a worship team. And while every person on every team is different, I’d start by asking each team member four questions:
1. Has God called you to be on this worship team?
2. Does God expect your best?
3. How committed are you to giving Him your very best?
4. Are you willing to invest financially in yourself and in your talents as a vocalist to give God more than what we’ve been giving Him?
We need to help vocalists to see and understand that their voice is an instrument and like with all instruments, it takes more than just an investment of time to reach your potential.
Thanks again, Rich! Good stuff.
Jimmy Smith
All Praise Ministries
Jimmy… that is GREAT stuff right there you just wrote.
Great start Rich! As you know I am a multi-instrumentalist playing Bass, Acoustic, and Electric Guitars it has been a challenge over the years to get the right equipment for the job. Much less the right amp’s, and or tone. Strings alone run over $100.00 for my 6string fretless and as you also know can be a financial challenge when they need to be replaced in 6 weeks time depending on use. Try having all the guitars re-strung at one time $$$$$$$$
I agree with the SM58 comments it is a reliable durable mic with decent tone. But it would be great if you could get one of your local music stores to do a “mic shoot out” for your vocalists to hear what the differences are. They then could determine what tone and sound they want, and possibly have more than one mic so they could adapt to different venues.
Either way it is nice to see you bring this subject to light, the band has been scratching there collective heads for years wondering if the vocalists actually have a clue as to what it really takes to pull a great sound off.
The ear buds get my vote for first priority purchase.
Good work, keep it up.
Tom
I do think it’s important for vocalists to be conscious of the money that their instrumental counterparts spend and invest accordingly. The vocalists at our church don’t have much $ in their gear, but they don’t really need to, either. We have a variety of Shure, Sennheiser, and EV mics (all wired) and an Aviom system, so the only major thing has been their actually monitors (a cost which has, of course, hit the instrumentalists as well!). For my own part, I do own a Shure SM86 wireless system, and have a Shure in-ear system with custom molded monitors, as well. I use that gear whether I’m in my own church or just about anywhere else.
Eric and Tom… instrumentalists already know this stuff, eh? The goal is to both ask the commitment issues Jimmy puts forward then the idea that singers are musicians needs to be there as well. The voice is an instrument!
Wow, lots of talk. I personally am a guitarist/bassist and vocalist. Which means that I have three instruments to invest in. I am also a youth pastor which means getting all this stuff at the highest end is out of the question. I have a nice $300 electric that sounds great, I just bought a Boss peddle that was just $160 and a DI box for $60. I havn’t played with the peddle yet to know what it sounds like. I have a nice Dean bass that was on clearance. I want to get vocal stuff, but yea, I’ve already invested a lot (for a Youth Pastor) in equipment. On the side, and not related to music, I do wood working, which costs money. The reality is some of us can’t spend a lot of money on vocal equipment. I agree that they (we) should invest in equipment, but for me it’s going to have to be an SM 58, and a few years until I get in-ears. Anyway, all that to say, I think it’s a good to invest and care, but it is also important to be practical with what you buy, if something will sounds good and not cost a lot get that, and not the best, it’s being a better steward of the money God blessed you with. This is a long comment.
Rich, I agree. We just upgraded our mics maybe two years ago (not as high as your recommendation but a huge step up for us) and I’ve been so pleased. Now I’m looking to do the in ear thing. Here’s the catch for us – I have a huge problem getting vocalists to realize they might need to actually spend some money for their earbuds. They just aren’t used to it and really are spoiled a bit by their “free” instrument. I can work out the cost of the in ear packs, etc. but they would need to buy their own earbuds and I am not sure I can convince them to. Still working on it.
Jan… use Jimmy’s questions!! They are perfect for your issue.