Outdoor Sound System

[yellow peril]

Well, I say outdoor, it's actually going to be in a large marquee.

In this marquee will be a stage. On this stage will be little children who need to be heard by everyone.

They can't hold a mic, have a mic attached to them or even be relied upon to speak into a mic.

I have a sound system with speakers, both of which are meaty enough for the job.

The problem is what do I do about microphones? I guess I need hanging ones but what about feedback / background noise? How many would I need? Can anyone recommend a microphone? Can anyone recommend a UK company? Can anyone tell me if this is even going to be possible?

Can any sound experts help me at all?

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!

[Q.E.D.]

Seems to me like a shotgun mic (http://electronickits.com/spy/finish/listen/shotgun.htm) is your bestbet.. I'm sure you can find a UK supplier of these.

[yellow peril]

Thanks but it sounds like I might have to stand there pointing the thing all day. I'd like to set it up and watch really.

[Q.E.D.]

You can use more than one, and I believe they are available in an assortment of coverage angles. How large an area would you need to have full-time coverage over?

[yellow peril]

Probably about 10' square at a guess. I haven't even seen the stage we haven't hired yet and I'm supposed to come up with a solution.

[yellow peril]

Or 20' x 10'. Go with that, I reckon.

[gotpasswords]

It's been a while since I've done anything more complicated with microphones than holding one out to a person, but I'm thinking you might have good luck with PZM mikes on the stage.

Real PZMs (trademarked and made by Crown) are pricey, but you can fake one pretty well by taping regular mikes to the stage floor. Put some thin foam between the mike and floor, otherwise all you'll hear is thumping footsteps. The goal is to get the mike capsule as close as possible to the reflective surface (ie: stage floor or wall) without touching it.

If you've got mikes that can be switched from omnidirectional to cardioid, so much the better - tape them down so the "active" side in cardioid mode is directly facing the surface and experiment with sweitching modes to see what's better at grabbing wayward voices vs. picking up background noise.

As for feedback, the easiest thing to do is have the speakers forward of the mikes. Some creative EQ also can go a long way to stopping feedback - crank up the gain to the edge of feedback, then dial in an EQ notch at that frequency, and crank the gain some more if needed.

[Running with Scissors]

Although I'm not an audio pro, I was thinking PZMs as well. Radio Shack marketed one (made or licensed by Crown) several years ago, and while they no longer sell it, you can probably pick up a couple on eBay for a reasonable price, assuming you have the time.