I AM IN THE MARKET FOR A GOOD HEADSET.
IT IS EASY TO GET CONFUSED DUE TO SO MANY
DIFFERENT BRANDS AND PRICES.
CAN ANYONE PASS ALONG SOME GENERAL INFO.
REGARDING YOU CHOICE AND EXPERIENCE.
i LOOKED AT "SHURE" BRAND THAT CAME COMPLETE
WITH A CASE. IT COST ABOUT $400.00.
WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD BE A REASONABLE PRICE TO PAY. ANY INFO. WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
THANKS,
MARJORIE SEMENSOW

Hi!
Whatever2 you do, buy one that needs a directional input, meaning you have it directly in front of your mouth. Crown CM-311A is such a microphone with good gain before feedback. My friend uses this one, and it is much better than my Samson Countryman which feedbacks when you look at it. I use EV967 handheld, a great mic for me. Remember headmics requires extreme vocal control or a good compressor/limiter or you're in for a surprise!

------------------
Roy-Andrè



[This message has been edited by royandreno (edited 01-05-2005).]

I'm using the Crown CM-311-A and from my perspective it's outstanding. While it's not the most comfortable mic I've used, the sound quality, frequency response and clarity are excellent.

Good Luck,

Gary

THANK YOU ROYANDRENO FOR YOUR INPUT. I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR HELP.
I AM CONSIDERING BOTH HEADSET AND HANDHELD.
I PRESENTLY HAVE A SAMSON S12 HYPER-CARDIOID NEODYMIUM HAND HELD MIC. HOWEVER IT IS SPECIFICALLY DESIGN TO ACCEPT MOSTLY SIGNAL
COMING DIRECTLY IN FRONT AND TO REJECT SIGNAL COMING FROM BEHIND OR FROM THE SIDE.
AS YOU KNOW WHEN PLAYING THE KEYBOARD ITS
NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCOMPLISH.
WITH REFERENCE TO YOUR EV967 HANDHELD - WHAT IS THE BRAND NAME? DO YOU HAVE THE NAME OF
A COMPANY THAT SELLS THEM AND DO THEY HAVE
A WEB SITE? MY LAST QUESTION IS ABOUT THE COST. THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO HELP
THIS MICROPHONE DUMMY.
MARJORIE SEMENSOW

THANK YOU ALSO GARY FOR YOUR INPUT.
PLEASE TELL ME WHERE YOU PURCHASED YOUR HEADSET AND IS THERE A WEBSITE THAT I CAN
CHECK.
I GUESS THAT YOU PREFER USING A HEADSET OVER
A HAND HELD WITH A MIC STAND, RIGHT????
I'M STILL DEBATING WHICH ONE TO BUY,BUT,
BUSINESS DICTATES THAT I NEED ONE SOON.
MARJORIE

Hi again!
The ever famous http://electrovoice.com/
Look up Products, Microphones, Musical mics.
It's Electro Voice, superb in most things they do!
Most stores with respect for themselves sell EV!


------------------
Roy-Andrè

I'm also extremely happy with the Crown CM311A. I have been using one for over two years, and it still works great. Fantastic sound quality for a live mic.

I have found that my vocal technique has improved by having a headset mic. No more pushing for the higher notes because it creates volume spikes. I am starting to experience being able to hit the higher notes without pushing but by relaxing instead.

With the headset, I can sing and look at buttons, registrations, and at the audience to the side (and even in back of me) and still perform.

Beakybird

Just click on the advertisement at the top of this page and enter the information into the search engine. You'll find them at Crown CM311A Microphone

Cheers,

Gary

Gary,

Do you need to turn the phantom power on to plug this microphone?

Stam

Stam,

The mic has a power pack that clips to your belt and it has a 9-vold battery that supplies all the power you need. The batter life is rated for 85 hours of use.

Cheers,

Gary

For what it's worth at this late stage I have used a Shure WH-20 for about 2 yrs and have found that it works fine plugged into my 9000PRO. As memory goes I think it cost me about 200 Ausi Dollars.

Jon.

Gary,
I wanted to ask you something personal regarding your Crown 311A. Do you know anything about there being two models?
I'm confused.www.musiciansfriend.com has
a photo of that model with a single wire
over the ear price $199.99. www.media zzounds.com has a photo of that
same model number but it has (what looks like three wires that go around the ear.
You had mentioned that yours was not the
most comfortable, which one of that model
do you have? My husbands guess is that one
may be an older model. Priced the same.
Since this item is not returnable, I just want to be sure before ordering.
Thanks for your response.
Marjorie

The CM-311-A in this photo from Musician's Friend seems to be an older model. As you can see the earpiece is somewhat different and only has a single, over-the-ear hook. Additionally, there are two screws on the cover plate, which are not on my current mic.

The one I'm using looks more like the one in this photo, and I just ordered a spare from Zzounds for the same price $199, which is about $100 less than it was a year ago.

Gary

[This message has been edited by travlin'easy (edited 01-08-2005).]

Crown CM-311A
Differoid® Head-Worn
Condenser Microphone


By Mark Farmer
If there was ever one thing Garth Brooks was noted for was his headset microphone coming out from the brim of his cowboy hat. Garth is one of the fore fathers to bring country into the 90’s. He took all the elements of what makes country great, took it one step further by turning it into a stadium size event and began wearing a headset microphone. This used in conjunction with a wireless unit, takes Garth and the likes of Janet Jackson everywhere they want to go during their concerts.
FEATURES
One of the benefits of this headset design is it allows the performer to be seen not standing behind a microphone stand. Performers who stand behind a mic are typically only seen from the nose up. The Crown CM-311A is a cardioid pattern which uses Crown’s Differoid® technology to reject sounds from the rear of the microphone. This innovation allows high volume levels in on-stage monitor mixes or crowd noise to be rejected for a high gain before feedback. singing drummer’s, sports announcers, juggler’s, musicians and other various entertainers would all benefit from purchasing this mic. With a headset weight of only 2.1 oz, one can barley notice it is being worn. The headset is hard wired into a belt pack to prevent a mic jack from popping loose or connection related problems The belt pack with battery installed has a insignificant weight of only 6.1 oz. If interested in adding this same headset and element to your favorite wireless belt pack, Crown has the CM-311A/E available, which terminates to bare wire. The Crown CM-311 belt pack can be powered by a 9 volt battery or by phantom power. Accessible on the top of the belt pack is a programmable mic on/off switch. This switch can be set up to work in three different ways, push on or push off, momentary on, or as it is supplied from Crown, momentary off. Removing three screws to the belt pack case allows access to a miniature switch to change the switch settings. The flexibility of these switches would allow a performer or announcer to turn the mic off completely or just press and hold the button in the instance of coughing or clearing ones throat. Next to the switch is a small red LED, which lights after the unit power switch has been turned on. A large metal belt-clip is permanently attached to the belt pack for hands free use. For ease of hook up, a male XLR connector is recessed within the bottom of the high-impact plastic belt pack.
The headset headband is made of bendable steel wire. The mic boom is constructed from durable non-flexible brass tubing. The 2-conductor shielded cable is 42 inches in length from headset to belt pack. A small clip is fastened to the cable for attaching to one’s clothing. The microphone element is housed within a small rounded silver grill, which is attached to the fully adjustable brass mic boom. A large user friendly knob or thumbscrew allows for complete adjustment of the boom, in or out and down or up. Attached to the underside of this knob is a large padded foam block. This block sits just below the right ear and becomes the stabilizer for the mic boom and element. To prevent the mic boom from bouncing, Crown suggests bending the headband wire, both side ear pieces and the wire assembly which holds the padded block for the best fit possible. Included with the mic is a foam pop filter which snaps down over the metal windscreen. The transducer on the head set is called an electret condenser.The element reproduces frequencies from 50 Hz to 17 kHz and has a cardioid pattern. This element can take up to a maximum SPL of 148 dB with only 3% THD according to Crown’s manual. The manual also states, up to 110 hours of battery usage can be achieved.
IN USE
The summer, for many mid-western sound companies, is fair and festival season. That was the case, as I had of the Ohio State Fair with seventeen days of various acts to try out the microphone for me. With a separate monitor system and a front of house board we were able to test out the mic in the monitors as well as the house system. Knowing my own voice, I choose to listen to the head set through the house system first, after plugging in directly into the FOH console. My headphones, Sony MDR-V600, also became a source to listen to the CM-311A from. I was impressed from the beginning with the Crown’s ability to reproduce my voice with such accuracy. I managed to get a drummer from one band and a lead singer from another to wear and try out the head set for me.

Mark Farmer is a sound engineer with Live Technologies in Columbus, Ohio He is a regular contributer to PAR, and can be reached on the internet via: mixthat@columbus.rr.com

Product Points

Crown CM-311A Head Mic

PLUS
+High gain before feedback
+Natural vocal reproduction
+Lightweight

MINUS
-None

THE SCORE
Splendid

And now the rebuttle:
PLUS:
*Lightweight
*Unencumbered movement
*No mic stand to tip over, or band your teeth
MINUS:
*coughs, sneezes and other unwanted noises get amplified(can't turn away from it)
*Less bass response and no proximity effect
(usefull with proper technique)
*IMO much uglier than the mic in front of the face - makes me think of an aerobics teacher. I thought Garth and Madonna both looked rediculous in theirs. Unless you can get the teeny-tiniest one in your own flesh color .... I'd stay away
* Inability to "work the mic" for dynamic changes and vocal effects

Just more food for thougt

On the power pack of the CM311A are two switches. One (a slider) turns the powerpack on and off. The other (a push button) can be set to do one of a couple of things, but I configured mine to MUTE the mic. On the top of the powerpack is a red LED light which indicates when the mic is live...and turns off when when the mic is muted. This feature is very convenient should you feel a cough, sneeze, etc coming on...or when someone comes up to talk to you while you are wearing it.

Eddie

Headset mics are obviously not for everyone. For me, however, they offer a significant degree of freedom to be extremely mobile without worry about the position of a hand-held mic on a boom. Granted, you'll have to change your singing technique to some degree, but that has never been a problem. As for coughing or talking with people, this was quickly overcome by merely setting up the mute switch, which does not make any sound at all when turned off or on. After just one week of using a headset mic, the hand-held mics went into their respective bags and haven't been out since--that was four years ago.

Cheers,

Gary

With both hands busy, and a cough coming on ..... I'd rather just turn my head than take a hand off the keys to reach for my belt switch..... but that's just me.

I am currently playing drums and singing. Not very easy, I might add.

My problem with boom mics is one of physics. When I play riffs on the drums and rotate my torso, I come back to my home position facing forward and invariably I have a mic on a boom either hit me in the face or I have to jerk my head to avoid it.

The headset Mic sounds like a silver bullet to me on the surface, but UD raises a couple key issues for me; bass response and voice dynamics.

With a boom mic, if I am singing a LOUD passage like a chorus, or yelling I can control my output by backing away from the microphone. With a headset mic I will not be able to do that. Why techniques do you recommend to get around this problem for me?

Also, I have a very bassy voice, so the bottom end problem is not really an issue with me. I've had to switch from a SM58 to an SM57 for this reason. Would you compare the bass response of the CM-311a to that of the Shure SM57?

Thanks Guys
Al

In my limited experience with headphone mics, I find that a compressor/limiter is almost mandantory. I'm pretty sure Gary uses the one built into the PSR3000. This limits the loud passages and brings up the soft ones, and is customizable.
DonM

After talking to Gary I’m considering a headphone mic. Since I added my midjay I had to have a two-tier stand so the mike attachment for my x-stand doesn’t work properly.

I have considered my like of experience in not working the mic for loud passages, but my psr3000 has limiter capabilities, which might solve this problem.

Hankster, you are too old a dog to learn new tricks.
We're leaving for Bastrop in 30 minutes--wanna go?
Don

I also have a deep voice and this has never been a problem with any of my mics other than the SM-58. Several months ago I posted some MP3 comparisons on this site and let everyone decide for themselves. There were a half dozen songs, some with the Crown 311-A and some with the Sennheiser E-855. No one knew which mic was which until the responses were in.

Most of those that responded thought the songs performed with the Crown were actually done with the Sennheiser. Upon discovering which songs were recorded using the Crown, the vast majority of the respondants were astonished at the crisp, clear sound the mic produced.

As for singing technique, that's a different story. Every song on my website {url=http://travlineasy.com]Travlin' Easy[/url] was recorded using the Crown CM-311-A. I don't yell into a mic (never have), I'm able to control my levels without changing position from the mic, and I don't believe I've had to cough more than a half-dozen times in the past 4 years during a performance (just lucky I guess).

As I said earlier, headset mics are not for everyone. Some folks even felt that they were not professional looking, but I would argue that point. A lot of today's singers use headset mics, they do incredibly long show, put a lot of feeling into their vocals and the quality is outstanding. I've never heard anyone say Garth Brooks doesn't look professional because he doesn't have a handheld mic. The same holds true for a significant number of top entertainers.

Most headset mics are not very comfortable--and I'm in the process of modifying one of mine to solve the problem. Some have bulky windscreens, however, this too can be overcome by going to a smaller windscreen, which is usually available.

I sincerely believe the best attribute of a headset mic is the freedom it offers, while at the same time provding high-quality vocals. You can maintain good eye contact with your audience, see your keyboard, make changes on the fly and still be singing without worrying about your relationship to the mic. For me, the headset mic has been a great asset. For others, it may not be.

I think the most unfortunate thing about purchasing any mic is the store's policy about returns. Most stores claim that they cannot take mics back because health department regulations do not allow this. WHAT A CROCK! I checked with the Department of Health & Mental Hygine in several states and they almost laughed when I told them about this policy. I, obviously, did not check every state, however, of the five that I did, none had any such regulation or law on the books.

If you know of someone with a headset mic, ask to try it out for an hour or two--then make up your own mind based on that experience. Like I said, they're not for everyone!

Cheers,

Gary