Donny, of all the vids you posted above, the best was our own Larry. Most of the others failed to make eye contact with the audience, while Larry maintained constant eye contact with his audiences. Additionally, Larry is a true entertainer. He schmoozed with his audiences constantly, while the others just seemed to go through the motions and play instrumental renditions of old songs with no vocals, or poor vocals at best. One more thing. Larry was properly dressed for the occasion. Shark looking shirt and tie, black slacks, shiny shoes, clean cut look. All of these things amount to what I consider a true entertainer and deserve the top pay rates. Larry Levin gets good marks in all the top categories of the entertainment world.

Great job, Larry, I'm proud to say I know ya,

Gary (The old retired guy.)

Larry did look good, and sounded great too!

So I see we are all learning from watching and that was my point, not to nit pic who was better then the other,.......I have to be honest although Larry's were well done my only dislike is the look of the type of headset mic which is totally blocking his mouth and face bouncing around etc,.. and I guess I'll never be a fan of using it. I could see someone at least using the Countryman H6 headset mic as it's so much less obtrusive on stage giving the performer a much better stage presence imo.

http://www.countryman.com/h6-headset

Having tried two versions of the Countryman 6, I can assure you that it was probably the worst vocal mic I ever tried. Feedback was horrendous, it sounded tinny and had absolutely no depth or body at all. And, the price was ridiculous.

As for the headset mic blocking your face, it is much, much smaller than any handheld, which blocks much, much more of your face. Donny, you have said this many times and it is totally false. Take a look at your own videos and compare them to mine or Larry's. The headset mic is the size of a quarter, while the handheld is the size of a lemon at the very least, and that's without a windscreen. Additionally, most headset mics, including my Crown CM-311A sits at the bottom of the lower lip and at most blocks the lower lip and a small portion of the chin. A handheld blocks the entire chin. Some folks have sufficient vocal control to use a headset mic, and some DON'T!

The only change I made to my headset mic was to spray the mic with flesh color paint, which pretty much made it invisible to the audience. You could do that with your handheld as well, but it will still block out a lot of your face.

One more thing about Larry on stage. He's constantly moving to the beat of the song, interacting with the audience's emotions and getting them stirred up with the music. When you move on stage, this often makes them want to climb out of those chairs and dance, which is a great thing for them emotionally and physically. A good AD will get up and dance with some of them as well and encourage them to get out of those chairs. I had ADs form conga lines while I performed Hot Hot Hot, lines that snaked round the room and out into the corridors. You cannot do that when you are chained to a handheld mic! The headset mic allows the freedom of movement that the handheld takes away from an OMB entertainer. The only difference is what some refer to as the proximity effect, which some singers insist they must have. When you have good vocal control you just don't need the proximity effect, though. Garth Brooks came up with the best mic ever, especially for OMB entertainers, with the Crown CM-311A. That Countryman E6 is a great mic for some bible thumper standing in front of a pulpit and singing along with his choir.

Of the three photos below, the guy at the top, a have guitar will travel guy, who's face is mostly blocked by his handheld mic. In the photo of me, very little of my face is blocked with the CM-311A, while UD below is not singing at the time, but imagine how much of his face will be blocked when he moves in front of the mic to sing.

Gary

Gary I just cant come to grips that a $600.00 headset mic like the "Countryman H6" isn't fantastic,...That said personally I would never use a headset mic of any kind and most Power Singers I know of including Uncle Dave, Don M, etc, solo or in bands always use a hand held it simply looks so much better and the ability to manually self control the nuances of the mic in your vocals while your singing is the standard for the business as a pro singer.
I don't knock anyone that uses it but Is just not my cup of tea..sorry

ps hope yur feelin better day by day buddy


http://www.countryman.com/news/countryman-isomax-headset-mics-on-tour-with-dolly-parton/

http://www.countryman.com/

http://microphonegeeks.com/7-best-headworn-mics-for-wireless-systems-review/

I hope he gets paid a LOT to dress up in that outfit !!!

Donny, the only thing I can provide about the Countryman E6 was my own, personal experiences, which were not at all good. I have also tried several other brands and never got the results I got with the Crown CM-311A, which was designed by Garth Brooks.





AS for looking more professional, it ain't the mic that makes you look professional - either you do or you don't!

Gary

If you want to see a pro that has great Hand Held Mic Technic watch Johnny sing this tune from 2:30 till the end of the song!!!...
just a memorizing stage presence, what an amazing singer wow!!

I'm just saying a hand mic requires a certain amount of attention directed towards it because your voice has to go into it obviously. Pro Artists can use this to give certain nuances to performances in regards to the strength of their voice. A headset allows you to bounce around but you're not going to have any control over how far that mic travels from your mouth at any given point. It also can be annoying to wear for some.
That said can we get back to Nursing Home performing etc,etc, and how we can learn from each other.? just sayin'...