SANFORD, FL – Richard Wagoner, associate pastor for music at the First Baptist Church of Sanford, has been using Astatic 1600VPs to help meet the challenge of miking a children's choir, and was impressed with the results.
"Anyone who has tried to mic a children's choir knows how challenging it can be," Wagoner said. "We got the 1600VPs just before a concert featuring our children's choir. We tested the 1600VP overhead mics out in rehearsal and there was just no comparison with what we had before."
The sensitivity of the 1600VP is rated at -29dBv (35mV) @ 1Pa, which gives it the ability to pick up even the softest voices in a children's choir, Wagoner noted.
"The programmable polar pattern gave us incredible headroom for the choir," Wagoner said. The polar pattern on the 1600VP can be controlled through a small rack-mountable box called the VPC-1, included with the 1600VP, 1700VP and 1800VP microphone systems. "I've never experienced that much headroom before, and it was truly impressive."
Because the 1600VPs were designed for hanging and the church didn't have that capability, they subsequently replaced the 1600VPs with the boom-mounted 1700VPs. "We didn't want to risk life and limb by hanging them from the ceiling, and we also wanted to keep the mics available for the children in a free-standing mode."
Gary Dixon, Astatic national sales manager, noted that the 1600VPs can be converted into a 56-inch carbon-fiber boom by adding the MB-1 and an 18-inch gooseneck by adding the MB-18.
"Complete microphone systems can be purchased as the 1600VP, 1700VP and 1800VP. The 56-inch boom included with the 1700VP is lightweight and durable with its clutch-rotation pivot system," Dixon noted.
As for the mics' appearance, "they look great," Wagoner said. "We put them right smack dab in the middle of the choir overhead junction spot where all four parts come together, and the Astatic microphones make having any other mic unnecessary. In our 2010 Easter program, the new mics and their stands were nearly invisible." Summing up, Wagoner said, "We have a 30-member choir and the voices sound really good. We need less mics to get the flexibility we need and the remote control capability makes the Astatic mics a lot easier to work with."
For more information about CAD Audio/Astatic Commercial, please call 800.762.9266 or visit www.cadmics.com .
