Anybody using the "Gim-Crack" (sp?) holder? Looks as if it would be fairly unobtrusive, and allow you both to do solo talking bits and audience member interview bits with just the one mike...

It's a gizmo that goes around your neck and holds a big (mike-stand-type) mike.

(Or "mic" if you prefer.)

Kyle,

My small system is the Fender. Its so good, you just pick it up and go.

I can get my whole show with the Fender in my Volkswagen golf GTI soft top. I think you call them rabits in the states.

I have tuned it. It will do 0-60mph in 6.5seconds. Is this Magic on the Move?

Mind you, for shows in central London I have to allow three hours travelling time for a 15-mile journey.

Paula

Better be careful, Paula, or you'll get into a Fender bender!

Oh man, that was a lame joke,hehehe, but I liked it.

Yeah, I LOVE my Fender 150 system. It has been really great for me and the shows I do. I highly recommend them to anyone.

Kyle

I have to weigh in on the side of having a wireless lapel on AND a hard wired good ole sure-fire Shure ball mic on a regulation issue stand for a show.

-Ed

Oh, dear... Made me smile though.

Paula

Isn't that what magic is all about?

I use an AKG SR-80 wireless with the AKG HT-80 mic, which looks like a handheld mic. I wear it on a cord with a flexible sculpture wire holder. Once it's on I don't even know it's there.

I like the idea of a separate mic for picking up volunteers. I always bring a wire mic anyway as a back up.

I tried a couple of cheap, wireless headset units and didn't like them or trust them. I have one decent headset that works very well but I really hate the big black dot in front of my face.

OliverTwist

I remember Michael Finney at a convention quickly taking a piece of rope and tying it in such a way to make an around-the-neck mic holder. I think his remark was..."I can't believe you guys waste your money on those fancy ones".

Chris, I may have been at the same convention. I saw it and it cracked me up. It worked, though.

Kyle

Last night I worked a venue where the consumer told me they would have their own system including a mike stand.

Murphy's law, they did not. I made a mike holder with a rope (could have used a wire hanger). Later in my program my wife became the mike stand. Usually she is just there for the writing and director's notes.

Her latest line made its debut last night.

After one of my more manic bits, I asked the audience if they knew what ADHD was.

They shook there heads.

I then looked at my wife and quipped, "Annie says it is Attention Deficit, HUSBAND DISORDER."

Be safe and creative.

Harris

Yeah, that is the kind of thing an assistant would say. I do not yet have my own mike stand, and I had to use a mike holder so I had my hands free, and I had it tall enough that the mike bit hung in front of me. It worked fine but a mike would be better. Any suggestions, (if possible, high quality, low price)

Matthias

I use a DPA headset that is flesh colored when I do talking material. They are nice because they pick up the vibrations through your check and only come down around your check bone. I can't stand it when I see magicians wearing those big Madonna headset microphones with the black bar running along their face and the big pop filter in front of their mouth. I see a lot of young magicians wearing these and they look awful. It totally covers your face and is a distraction. If you were Justin Timberlake you could maybe pull it off.

It's just my opinion that they look unprofessional. But who am I...

SperriS

I prefer to use a lapel or lavaleer mic and a stand mic when doing any of my shows. I also always bring my own fender passport 150 system with my own mics and patch cords. I am more use to my own system and over half the time, my system ends up being far superior then what the client can provide for me.

Kyle

I use a lapel mike, it's the best way to go

I go for the wireless Samson since they have the sender on the headset, perfect with no wires running down to your pockets and you can also take it off your head using it as a mike for a volounter...

Their PA isn´t that good.

They are at http://www.samaontech.com by the way

I use a lapel Shure mic and a hand held Shure for bringing people up...Thats what works for me.

Finney uses a Gim-Crack. It's only about $10. That's what he used at Abbott's Get-Together, a couple months ago. I use a Gim-Crack, too.

I used wireless mics, but got fed-up with them becoming obsolete a few months later. Even wired mikes in my area are affected by wireless transmission - always use shielded cable.

I use a Sennheiser Evolution 845s, a hand held mike. It has such good feedback rejection and great gain that I can talk in front of the speaker. I've been really disappointed with the feedback and low gain when using any clip-on mike. Besides, a great handheld can be had for a reasonable price. My handheld wired mike only cost about $130. The Shure Beta SM-58a is a great mike, too, at about $160.


Someone mentioned turning off a wireless mike before going to the john. Many years ago, I was in church when a visiting priest went to the john with his on. Everyone got the gory details, over the PA, of his number two.

FOr those of you using a mic holder that is slung over your neck so that the mic dangles somewhere below your chin, do you find that the mic cannot effectively pick up what you are saying? I have seen a mic holder which is like a steel structure that sits on the performer's shoulders and the mic is held directly at the performer's mouth. Do you guys think that might help?