I just ordered one of these, and I would like to know if anyone has any experience with this mic and the L1 (especially presets). I am assuming that I will simply use the “headworn mics” setting.
As a side note, I would also love a Sure sm81 preset…
There is some discussion about the E6 in the topic Stepping out from behind the microhpone (stand) – click the title to go there.
Also, this thread: Countryman E6 wireless mic.
I had read through those threads, but the information wasn’t entirely what I was searching for, though helpful. I think I am going to spend the effort to document what I have learned with my research/experience…Here is a start:
Our reasoning for Choosing the E6:
I spent some time talking with a rep at Countryman and learned a couple things about the differences between the omni and cardioid versions. The cardioid pattern mics are more susceptible to extra noises like wind and handling (as compared to the omni). They recommended this for the volume levels that would be common in a rock and roll environment.
Our music is entirely acoustic and we are striving to eliminate the amplified feel for our audience. This is visually important as well, which is why we have avoided both the crown and the isomax (as well as the mic stand option), which are all too obtrusive for our purposes. We also do not need a high spl environment because we are almost always playing to an attentive audience (churches), and where the auditorium is large, we use the L1 as a monitor with a feed to the house system.
I have been using an omni lapel mic, which is fine as long as my back is turned to the L1 and as long as I turn the wireless off when approaching it. I explained to Countryman that I was basically playing among the audience, and they told me that, with the omni E6, I should expect a 12db increase in gain before feedback over the lapel mic that I had been using and that feedback shouldn’t be a problem as long as I was 6-8 feet from the speaker.
So I ordered the omni E6 and will begin testing it when it arrives near the end of this week, and if all goes well, I may actually use it live this Sunday.
On another note…I found this link to be helpful …perhaps we could compile all this into a wiki entry for the L1 / E6 combo? (I’m going to write it up for my own benefit anyway)
Hi tpride3,
I think that this would be a great topic for a wiki article.
I will be looking forward to your comments on the E6. When you’re ready, let’s take what we’ve got so far, add your new info and put it all into the wiki.
Here is the sketch of the setup we are using with the E6 (for reference…the keyboard and cello are on the first row of the audience):
The idea is to have as little between me and the audience as possible…This and mobility are the main motivators for our using the headworn mic. Some have commented that they don’t like losing the ability to “work” the mike, but it always seems to sound much better if I use vocal technique to achieve the tonal and dynamic subtleties desired.
This is, btw, one of the problems with the lavaliere. Even with the omni lapel mic, head movement greatly affects the volume and tone of the microphone’s output. In addition, it tends to pick up too much of the guitar, which muddies the guitar’s eq. We anticipate a great improvement with the E6…more next week…after our first live usage.
Well, I have received my E6, but I had to get a different cable. For those who are interested, there are three different Audio Technica cable connectors, so make sure you get the right one. We happen to be in the SF bay area right now, so I drove to the Countryman headquarters in Menlo Park to get a new cable.
On to the interesting things…what follows is my first impressions regarding the Countryman E6 and the Bose L1 model II.
Setting the microphone’s position
The E6i is a more flexible version that is better suited for adjusting to multiple people who wear it, but this wasn’t necessary for us, since I am the only one who will use it. Following the directions is pretty straightforward, and it is more stable on my ear than I expected it to be. The E6i that I tried before definitely did not give me that sense, so I was pleasantly surprised. This was one of my main concerns with going with the Countryman.
I had to work with the positioning to get it back far enough to prevent wind noises, particularly from the “f” sounds. I also wanted it to follow closely with my face, so that it is as unobtrusive visibly as possible. Let’s face it, if you are buying this mic, that is probably going to be high on your list of considerations.
I mentioned before that the amplification of handling noises was one of the reasons we went with the omni version, as opposed to the directional option. This, I think, allows a closer fit to the contour of the face, and I noticed that the occasional light (it can be too close) brush with my beard was not really noticeable.
So once I was satisfied with the position, it was time to get down to business with how it sounds.
To feedback, or not to feedback…
Feedback…wow, there is an often misunderstood concept. Anyway, my prior experience with the lapel mic taught me that I had to be very careful anywhere near the L1. I have gotten in the habit of turning off the body pack whenever I need to turn my back to the audience and to be careful not to do that while amplified. I also managed to use the parametric eq to maximize the amount of gain before feedback, and this was working adequately for me.
“Why bother with the lapel mic?” you might ask. For our purposes, a microphone becomes a visual obstruction to communication, and it either ties me to a single space on stage (I move around a lot) or it ties up a hand. This can then be distracting for the audience, and distraction limits communication.
With the lapel mic, we were able to manage, as long as there was enough distance between me and the L1, but this wasn’t always the case. When it wasn’t, I could never quite get the gain I needed before the squeal, and we would have to resort to using an SM81. Well, when the Countryman folks claimed a 12db gain over the lapel configuration, I was hopeful but skeptical.
I sat myself down in a chair about 2 feet in front of my L1 (model II) with the T1 on my lap and the E6 on my ear (Don’t you love all these letter-number product identifiers?). I wanted to optimize the sound for the Countryman first, so after gain staging (as per the manual), I turned it up till I could hear it over my own voice and began to play with the eq.
How does it sound
The E6 comes with three caps: one with a flat response, one with a small bump at 15000 and one with a large bump at 15000. I put the flat one on and set the Tonematch preset to “Headworn Mics.” Given the wide variety of head worn mic options, it would seem to be a good idea for Bose to provide a dynamic / condenser option (just my 2 cents).
It sounded a little boomy, so I turned down the Low zEQ setting to -6.6. This improved things, but there was still a lot of sizzle on the high end, so that got adjusted down to -2.8…nice. This is an abbreviated version of the process, btw…the actual fiddling took a good deal of time and experimentation, even with different presets.
Now it mostly sounded like me, only louder (that is my objective). I started ratcheting up the gain and noticed a high ring and sibilance, so I used the parametric EQ and ultimately set it at: Level -11.2, Freq 13407 and Width .51oct. That also seemed to help with some of the sizzle. To address the sibilance, I used the De-esser set to Threshold -25.5 and Gain .2db.
Ahhh that sounded nicer, but now it was too much like me…I wanted it a little fatter (not much), so I added a very slight amount of chorus2 set at Mix 14% and Depth 73%. Then I added reverb at Mix 12% and Brightness at 7% (reverb type is Large, Time 2.20s, and Bal 50%).
My wife was sitting with her cello…getting impatient with all my fiddling withe the T1, so it was time to try it out with the guitar. We went through a song or two and started ratcheting up the volume (still 2 feet in front of the L1, btw). At this point, I can induce feedback by turning my head toward the L1, and there was a noticeable rumble from the guitar, through the pickups…yes it was pretty loud.
The main gain was set at 1 o’clock and the E6 gain was set around 3 o’clock. I was pleased, to say the least. Now, it probably isn’t enough volume for the rockers among us, but for our purposes, I can’t imagine needing to be louder where I didn’t have plenty of room on stage.
How does it compare
So I was having fun, but I promised my wife a date while the kids watched a movie, so I had to go. However, I had one more thing to try…I muted the T1 and switched back to the lapel mic (still sitting 2 feet in front of the L1). It squealed loudly without hesitation and I had to back the gain down to about 9-10 o’clock to quiet it down. I don’t know if that translates into 12db, but it was enough to make me smile.
So I love the way it sounds, but the proof is in the performance. Sunday we will use it live, and I will probably have more to say then…
Thank you Tom.
Thanks for all the detail, Tom!
I noted that you did all this sitting close to the L1 column …
Were you in a ‘performance-size’ room when you were doing this?quote:Originally posted by tpryde3:
… but now it was too much like me…I wanted it a little fatter (not much), so I added a very slight amount of chorus2 set at Mix 14% and Depth 73%. Then I added reverb at Mix 12% and Brightness at 7% (reverb type is Large, Time 2.20s, and Bal 50%)…
If not, when you get in the performance space, I would suggest that you use a bit of your ‘sound check’ time to start with the Reverb (and perhaps Chorus) off … the room may have enough. Once you’ve gotten the volume all the way up to where you are going to be using it, then – if needed – just add it back in gradually if the room is still “too dry”.
How did it sound?quote:So I love the way it sounds, but the proof is in the performance. Sunday we will use it live, and I will probably have more to say then…
Ok…on Sunday we had two gigs. The first, in the morning, was in a gym (which normally would be a pain) but this environment is a piece of cake with the L1. Because this type of venue is common for us, I have a preset scene for “gym”, which provides a good baseline for the sound check.
With the E6, I was anxious to see how it sounded. It was very nice…I have gotten in the habit of turning the volume up, just enough to feel “pushed” or “supported” by the L1 (don’t know how else to describe the feeling). Anyway, it went well, and I was VERY pleased with how the E6 performed. However, I noticed that I picked up breath sounds on the “f” consonants if I was smiling (and once when I was speaking and rubbed my nose…mental note, keep hands away from the face with this mic…lol).
Sunday night was a different story all together. The church’s air conditioning wasn’t working, so we met in the basement…a long, wide, and low room with pillars every 15 feet or so. Loud fans were blowing, so the noise floor was high. This was a true nightmare room. To complicate matters, it was an hour drive from the morning gig to the evening gig, and we got lost. That meant an abbreviated sound check.
The omni-directional E6 really is sensitive to the room environment, and this room was ideally situated to feedback. The ceiling was about 8" above the L1, and the walls and floor were a fabulously reflective concrete. Reverb and Chorus had to go off here, because they would only muddy things more. Even so, the system in this configuration was easy to get to feedback.
In addition, there was a massive bass node that caused my guitar to howl whenever I played anything near the Low E, so we had to adjust the eq and took the bass for the guitar all the way down. That helped a lot, but the same was noticeable through the E6. This meant a little tweaking with EQ, but when it was all set up so that I was “pushed” by the sound coming from the L1 and the reflections from the audience’s side of the room were kept at a minimum, it sounded great.
The truth is that I was so impressed with how the L1 sounded in this environment that I didn’t notice how the E6 sounded. We had many good comments and feedback, particularly on how clear it was, without feeling loud (they were used to the cone of death sound system method). I was careful about my consonants and didn’t have any problem with breath noises.
So I learned a few things regarding the E6:
The omni is sensitive to room shapes and it seems that where there is more vertical space, feedback is a much smaller issue. I need more experience to verify this, but it seems to make sense.
Also, it is not very sensitive to handling noises. I have it fitting so tight that the boom is lightly touching my face almost the whole length and it only picks up vocal noises. If you place the capsule further back and closer to the face, breath noises are greatly minimized.
The E6 is a whole lot more stable than the E6i, and this is a great asset.
In a loud stage environment or difficult room, the omni might prove too problematic, but for our purposes, it is ideal.
It is nearly invisible. I was talking before the gig in the morning, and the E6 was on. The other person did a double take and realized what he thought was a mole was really a microphone. He was about 2 1/2 feet away…that is small…
Ok…gotta sleep, but those are my first gig observations. Do they jive with your experiences? I still need to do some fiddling and a couple more gigs before I will be satisfied with my conclusions. But the preliminary conclusion is that the L1 and the E6 are a great pair!