My melodies are now unchained and I am free to roam
Written: Aug 06 '05 (Updated Feb 13 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great sound and I can roam the stage
Cons: I'll need to adjust to less tenor sax in the monitor mix.
The Bottom Line: Playing wireless is unbelievable. I wish I'd done it years ago.
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| Saxguy's Full Review: AMT Datasouth Roam 1 Professional Microphone |
As I said in my review on my first wireless mike, the Audio Technical Pro 35X , I really enjoy being able to roam the stage while using a wireless mike. I’ve used the existing one for a few years now. However, I’ll bring two horns (tenor and soprano) to most of my gigs. It’s not feasible to switch the mike back and forth between the tenor and soprano because I would have to rebalance each. So, on most of the gigs this summer, I was able to wander the stage on tenor, my main horn, and play my soprano with a stationary mike.
That actually didn’t work all that well. The soprano is a smaller instrument which is pitched an octave higher than the tenor. Since it’s smaller, it is more mobile, and I find myself moving it a lot more than I do the tenor, occasionally driving the sound guys nuts.
So, I checked out the alternatives. A setup requires a microphone attached to a transmitter, and a receiver, which is then connected to the mixer using a standard mike cord. Samson is pretty much the lead vendor when it comes to the transmitter and receiver. I already had a “true diversity” receiver, which means that there are two antennae on the receiver. The receiver continually scans for which antenna is receiving the strongest signal and uses it.
The vendor, Samson, was reluctant to sell a separate microphone without another receiver. After a few questions, they admitted that two microphones could work with the same receiver as long as they were on the same channel and only one was on at the same time. Samson had two mikes available, their own branded HM-40, and, at a higher price, the AMT Roam 1. I went with the more expensive mike because of it’s wide acceptance among sax players and the Selmer company, a top saxophone manufacturer. The Samson rep cheerfully announced that the price was $569 but I might get a better price from one of their dealers.
So, I triple-checked the channel on the existing mike and the receiver and set to work to find the best price. The woodwind and the Brasswind and their sister company, Music123.com had a few in stock at nice prices, but they were the wrong channel. I found a couple of online sites, activemusician.com and musiciansbuy.com who said they might be able to get it. Activemusician.com seemed more knowledgeable and offered a lower price, $369 delivered. So I ordered it and it came right away.
Today was my first big gig since I got it, a community festival in Elgin, IL. I set up the Pro35X on the soprano, using the clip and the AMT Roam-1 on the tenor, using a clip setup that was a bit more sophisticated and adjustable. The receiver had to be in sight distance of the mikes and that was easily done, since there was power on stage and the mike connections were on stage as well. Both microphones sound checked well, although I was getting some feedback from the monitors using the Roam 1 because of it’s great sensitivity. The sound guy took the tenor way down in the monitor mix. Most bands have smaller speakers on the stage pointed to the musicians so that they can hear the balance and mix in real time.
With the tenor way down on the monitor, it actually took some getting used to. I could really only hear myself well through the monitors at lower volumes, so initially I was compensating by playing a little louder. However, I could hear the other musicians rise and fall as I increased and decreased my volume. The audiences seemed to be OK, and the venue provided a quality sound guy, so I remembered the old sports saying:
Trust is a must or your game is a bust
and I trusted the sound guy and my colleagues to do the right thing.
I got great compliments during the break from the audience. One of my students, a solid (all-state high school on tenor a year ago) player, said that the tenor could use a little boost in the mix (hotter is the operative term), so I asked him to mention it to the sound guy.
I got great compliments as well after the second set from the audience and the booker. My colleagues said that I sounded great on their monitors.
Roaming the stage is great. It looks good to the audience. It’s a freeing feeling. Intros, entrances and endings are MUCH easier to coordinate, especially endings. I always felt limited when I had to play into a stationery mike. When I start getting into flow, I start to move around a little bit unconsciously. I’m never going back to stationery mikes on my own gigs!
Here’s some detail from the AMT web site:
-Samson Airline UHF One Channel Wireless System. (Six channels available)
-AMT Microphone with flexible gooseneck
-ISO Ring (Microphone is suspended in a 4 point isolation ring eliminating valve, key and handling noise.)
-Clamp for Instrument
AMT1 System works with the following instruments:C Flute, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax, Trumpet, Trombone, Bb Clarinet
Technical Data:
Element: Condenser
Polar Patter: Cardoid
Frequency: 50Hz - 18kHz
Sensitivity: -64dB 3dB
Noise(mic only): 19dBA
Max SPL: 131dB
Thanks for reading. God bless!
Please check out my related reviews:
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Recommended:
Yes
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