Mic Tips: Ensuring Everyone Sounds Their Best

August 10, 2020

 

Every voice is different. Literally, vocal patterns are as unique as fingerprints. As a DJ, it is YOUR job to ensure that every voice that speaks or sings into your microphone knows how to use it properly. Here are some tips to help every distinct voice you encounter sounds its best.

First, as a DJ, you should know how to use your microphone properly. If you don’t it makes teaching someone else to use it impossible. I can’t recommend highly enough learning as much as humanly possible about microphone etiquette and your specific equipment. Every different microphone you use has different characteristics that you should discover for yourself before instructing anyone else how to use it. So, you should test ALL of your microphones with your own voice before you even hand it to someone else at an event.

In addition, you SHOULD instruct anyone that is going to use your microphone about microphone etiquette and how to sound their best while speaking or singing into it. You should never assume that ANYONE knows how to use a microphone, because that is how mistakes happen. Obviously, any time that you give instruction you should be respectful and avoid sound domineering. In my experience, being knowledgeable and professional ensures that the people you instruct will listen to and, more importantly, accept the advice that you provide. Ensuring that your advice isn’t ignored is just as paramount as the instruction you give or how you give it.

Lastly, be ready to make adjustments. No matter how well you teach someone, or how much experience they have, things happen. Your speaker is often nervous, and nerves make people do weird things. Making adjustments in real time is just as important as the instruction you provide, because once you hand that microphone to someone else, the jig is up. It’s nearly impossible to give someone advice after they’ve begun speaking without some sense of embarrassment or awkwardness. So, adjusting mic levels in real time is a necessary skill for any DJ.

Jammin’ DJ’s trains every single one of our DJs how to use their microphone, how to administer training to anyone that should need to use that mic, AND how to properly make real time adjustments to ensure that every speaker sounds their best.