SOUNDBOOTH MISSIONARIES TM
SOUNDBOOTH MISSIONARIES
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 this is the spot for you to teach
To teach proper mic holding tape a  pen to the nose of the singer.  Place it between the eyes and hold it in place with a small peace of bandage tape.  Put the ball of the mic on the end in line with the pen.  The angle and length of the pen is the proper setting for most mics.  It will teach the singers / speaker, that the mic needs to follow their face and not to chew on the mic.  Leonardo da Vinci  studied the relationship of the body parts (Vitruvian Man)  The alignment of the roof of the mouth (I used a tongue depressor healed to the roof by the singers tongue) and the line of the nose (from the bridge down) gives an angle which divided in half is the vocal projection.  To prove this I took a unidirectional instrument mic and made a small hole in the end of a wind screen and taped the sides so it had a very narrow pattern.  I set the gain low and had the singers move the mic around looking for the highest reception.  In all cases the angle was equal to the calculated alignment.  If you watch pro singers they almost all lift their head back to project the sound in the same way.
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After mastering "on axis" your singers can practice tone and volume changes by using "off axis and distance".  I have one singer who is a natural at off axis.  I preset her mic and she controls the entire song.

I have been asked about cable breakage and cable control.  Sharp bends and repeated twisting are the biggest killers of a cable next to pinching by running under traffic areas or threw doors.  At the church where I run sound I found the cable breaks were in the first 4’ on the mic end.  We bought ½” Velcro ties from Office Max and tied the cable at the mic holder and at the bend of the boom extension leaving about 8” for a nice smooth curve to the mic.  We also have put a ban on spinning the cable around the boom/stand.  The Velcro provides the cable control.  The problems dropped drastically.  The next thing I do is I have ‘H’ frames that I wind cables on.  I do not wind them like wrapping a rope on your arm that twists the cable inside the outer cover.  I Velcro the XLR to the H frame and wind the H.  The cable does not twist as it is reeled in.  Home Depot has a cord real that has a handle and a crank.  It holds about 100’ of mic cable.  If you need to hand wind a cable make a loop and reverse the loop and make your next loop.  Then go back to the first side and loop again.  This makes a figure 8 in your wind and your cable does not twist.  You can lay the cable on the floor and layer it in a figure 8 pattern and fold it in half when done.   Next make sure you buy good quality cable.  Look for very low oxygen copper with 17 or more strands (higher is more flexible)and 22 or 24AWG Quad 4.  It is about  $1.00/ foot @ guitar center and the ends are $4.50 each.  A top line cable 20’ can be made for $29 if you can solder.  While we are on the topic of breaking keep the o-ring good on the female end of your cord.  When the o-ring wares down the mic flexes on the pins.  This movement causes the female part to open and loosen which looses your connections and the whole connector needs replacing but a 100 pack of 014 o-rings from WWGrainger (1KET7) is only $3.13 a good investment

Tom thanks for your Q I hope this helps

Try a small 8 or 10 channel mixer on your drum set.  Use quality short cords and premix your drums on stage with head phones.  send a mixed feed from a monitor out to the drum mixer for reference on the aux. return channel, then send a clean boosted out put to your master board.  once mixed the drums do not need much change and the drummer can make it sound the way they think it should.  It is no different than a guitarist with effects gear.
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