I'm about to hang some 57s over our church congregation to pick up some crowd noise, but the facility is also a gym, so ideally, I need to be able to raise and lower them 5-10 feet so I can get a good mic placement on Sundays, but fly them out of the way for weekly basketball use. Has anyone ever had to do anything similar, or have any ideas? This isn't a huge priority so we're only willing to spend a couple hundred bucks at most.
What I need would ideally be electric, would need an extendable/wireless remote and would probably just mount within the ceiling trusses. I could probably figure out a goofy way to do this manually, but because of the placement that would probably take several different pulleys and I don't think it would be too reliable or a smooth process. The 57 and cable can't weigh more than 5-8 lbs, so maybe some kind of robotics motor/servo or something to that effect?
Any Thoughts? Or maybe this isn't even necessary? The ceiling is about 25 feet high, so I think I could get away with hanging them at about 20 feet without having to worry about it, but I'm thinking that's a bit of a stretch to get much out of the 57s.
This is somewhat related to a previous post:
http://recording.org/controllers-audio-consoles-live-sound/52893-mixing-recording-gym-fighting-poor-acoustic.html
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You don't need them to be electrically operated for raising and
You don't need them to be electrically operated for raising and lowering them. You just need to have them draped over something where you could manipulate the cord. You drop them down on Sundays and then you just pull records back and tie them off when you're done.
I've actually gotten quite good results by utilizing just a pair or two of PZM's taped onto the left and right walls and a couple on the back walls. They can be very discreet and kept out of the way while not having to worry about them even getting damaged or having to put them up or take them down every week. They can be screwed onto the walls or, they can be taped with duct tape. And you don't get that hollow sound with those. Great for ambient pickup.
You might also want to consider just hanging a couple of lavalier condenser microphones like you see on the evening newscast anchors. AT also makes miniature condenser microphones that are easily hung. Though you really can't go wrong with 57's.
You must have a singing congregation?
Mx. Remy Ann David
A couple of shotgun microphones on stands would actually work be
A couple of shotgun microphones on stands would actually work better to cover the audience with. Easy to set up and quick to take down. Check into the Audio Technica's or Rode's. High output lower noise than you get with 57's.
Sennheiser makes some nice ones also but a little more pricier.
Mx. Remy Ann David
Do you think that placing the mics 20ft over the crowd will work
Do you think that placing the mics 20ft over the crowd will work better than just placing them on stands or mounted near the edges of the stage facing the crowd?