Donny, this thread has nothing to do with headset mic V/S handheld. It's vocal control. With both singers I posted it would have made absolutely no difference which type of mic they used - headset or handheld. One, Tom Jones, is definitely a power singer, while Mel Torme is a jazz crooner. Both display outstanding vocal control when hitting notes and the very top and bottom of their vocal range. This is a rare commodity with singers, especially today. Either you HAVE vocal control, or you DO NOT - it's that simple. I'm always amazed at the number of singers I see who try to hit notes well above their vocal range and pull that mic all the way down to their waist. It's not an effect, it's a gimmick and not a very good one at that. Either you can hit the not with quality or you cannot. If you cannot, don't pull the mic away and tell me it provides dynamics - it doesn't. Listen carefully to the quality of Tom Jone's and Mel Torme's vocals when they go for the highest notes - it's impeccable to say the very least. No strain, no struggles, they just hit those notes perfectly and the mic distance did not change at all. That's what this thread is about. I couldn't do this until I got some vocal training at the local community college from a well known, local jazz singer. She taught me a lot in the six weeks I attended her class. Vocal control was an integral part of the course.

As for Englebert with and without a headset mic, do you, for one minute, think his audiences cared what type of mic he used? They came to hear him sing and the band play - nothing more, nothing less. Now, in the videos you posted, the headset mic blocked no view of his face at all, while the handheld blocked the view of everything below his nose and down to his neck. Additionally, carefully take note of the handheld mic position, the distance from his mouth doesn't vary much at all, and obviously he hits the highest possible note of the song at the very end, and that mic was the same distance from his mouth throughout the note - no change in position at all. That's the entire point of the thread - vocal control, which as I stated above, is a rare commodity these days.

To me when I listen the various singers on the reality TV shows, they all try to sound pretty much the same, they're all screaming into the mic and singing outside their comfort zones, and with very few exceptions, none seem to have that vocal quality, and most of all, vocal control, of singers of yesteryear. Maybe I'm just getting old. But, I still love to hear the Mel Torme's of the world over some kid screaming into a mic and pulling it away before his voice falls apart while singing above his range. Singers of the past could sing with or without a mic - it made no difference. Handheld or headset, it makes no difference when you have vocal control. That's my point entirely.

Gary