Choir micing

So they asked me for more choir volume. I can easily get plenty of choir volume by just running the pulpit sound through a mixer before sending it on its way. The downside is the pulpit mic is not optimized for picking up the choir.

I have one choir mic right now, a cardoid pattern. I tried it in the middle right in front of the podium, so it's not too noticeable and pretty much equidistant from everyone. Since the sound isn't going into the house system, feedback isn't an issue. Seems to work OK, although I have the director right between it and some of the choir members.

It's just a men's choir and they are fairly well balanced, and we're not talking stereo of course, so I don't necessarily need two mics. And any time you have more than one you have some possible comb filtering issues. But do you think there is value in using two? I don't think an X-Y configuration would give me much extra, but some have suggested one mic on each side aimed towards the center, and of course I could simply put two on stands closer to the choir.

The possible downside to additional mics is I can't get the sound conveniently to the satellite cabinet where I was going to do the webcast from, but I can just do it from the clerk's office.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

I'd give the single mic setup a try. Since feedback isn't a concern, the only issue is if makes the choir sound too distant.

It sounds like you are on the right track. What I did when I started running sound for our stake conferences was to read two books by Shure:
1. Audio Systems Guide for Houses of Worship (An explanatory book on amplifying sound in churches. The choir section starts on page 41)
2. Microphone Techniques for Live Sound (A more compact book, I have a copy printed out to refer to if I have a question of microphone placement for a musical instrument)
While I was quite comfortable with sound systems and how they worked, I think that my sound quality improved greatly when I start practicing the techniques that they describe for mic placement and usage.
(A full index of their educational publications can be found here)

Aaron Z

Thanks for the suggestions. I briefly read parts of those Shure guides. They do say to use as few mics as possible, although in general the size of our choir would warrant two. But that's if they need to be placed close enough for better gain before feedback. With one I'm sure it will sound a bit distant, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra money. I need to double check on if they are using just the organ or the piano as well for accompaniment, as that might affect placement.