headset mics

[jona]

can someone tell me please, what are the headset mics they use on male opera singers in a performance

also how are the huge ranges in dynamics handled by the engineers here - surely they not constantly changing volumes accordingly unless they assigned one engineer per voice - that's a lot of engineers! Hence i'm assuming the mics themselves have some ability to handle this dynamic range?

[peeder]

First I think most Opera singers have the hops to fill most halls. Kinda a requirement...you must be this tall to ride on the operamometer.

When that's not the case, the high-end people probably use DPA headsets, and cheaper would be countryman e6.

Some dynamic control is in fact riding faders and others by compression and limiting. The singers usually have pretty great dynamic control anyway...they can sing in a way that sounds soft but is really belting just about so people can hear them unamplified.

That said, I've never done sound reinforcement for opera though I've met people who have!

[fifthcircle]

If it is an indoor performance, there shouldn't be any sound reinforcement. Period. Opera is about filling the hall with the sound of the voice without electronic means.

In an outdoor performance situation, all bets are off. My personal favorite is the DPA headset. The Countryman E6 will work but is a pale comparison to the DPA.

--Ben