Mic Technique for Live Readings and Panels
As an author, you will probably find yourself reading live at events at some time or another and it’s important to make yourself heard by your audience Paying attention to how a microphone works can greatly enhance your performance, and the audibility of your reading. After all, you are there to share your work with an audience, so it is worth doing what you can to make sure that they can hear you well and enjoy the performance without straining. It can be the difference between coming off as a professional rather than an amateur.
Most venues will be equipped with a dynamic microphone, most likely an SM58 or SM57 (see image 1), rather than an ultra-sensitive condenser mic (found mostly in recording studios). Dynamic mics have a unidirectional pattern (commonly known as a cardioid pattern) meaning that the mic picks up what is directly in front of it and cancels any sound coming from behind the mic, audience sounds etc. This type of microphone is useful because it tends to prevent any background sounds from being picked up, enhancing the clarity of your speaking voice. But it also means that if you do not speak directly into the mic your voice will not be picked up, and therefore not heard by the audience or recording device.
The cardioid pattern looks much like the shape of a heart (see image 2), and if you are speaking outside of this invisible pattern your voice will not engage the diaphragm of the microphone. Dynamic mics are also sensitive to the distance between you and the mic. The closer you are to the mic, the louder your voice will be, the farther away, the quieter. So, if you need to yell into the microphone as part of your performance you should back off of the mic several inches (at least).
Likewise if you plan on whispering a section of your piece you should get closer to the mic. In this regard you can think of the microphone as an instrument that requires some amount of skill to use correctly (although easy to learn with a little practice). Watch some videos of one of your favorite singers at one of their live shows to see examples of how effective altering your distance from the mic can be. Not all singers have great mic technique, but those that do tend to sound much better than those that don’t. You will see that as they raise their volume they pull the mic away from their mouth, and bring it closer as they grow quieter. It is also important to make sure that the mic is not being pointed towards the PA system speakers, as this will cause feedback issues (that horrible high-pitched squeal). Cupping your hand over the mic will also cause this issue, so while you may be inclined to cover the mic to prevent feedback you will actually be exacerbating it. If feedback is a problem at the venue, it is also possible to alleviate the problem at the mixing board. While it may be tempting to turn down the high frequencies on the equalizer (since this is the sound of feedback) you’ll actually want to turn down the low frequencies on the equalizer, counterintuitive as this may be.
At panel discussions, or multiple author readings, there isn’t always a mic for each presenter. In this case it is worth passing the mic around between readers, as the pattern is not large enough to cover the area of an entire table, and only those close to the microphone will be heard.
With a little practice, mic technique can be greatly improved and the better your mic technique the more your reading will be clear to the audience. After all, if they can’t hear you, how are they going to be able to enjoy your work?
Dream Foundry 2021 Art Contest Winners
Dream Foundry is excited to announce the winners of this year's contest for emerging artists. This contest is designed to provide a boost to beginners in the field, with professional judges and significant cash prizes. In addition to cash prizes, all winners will receive first pick of workshop seats at Flights of Foundry and showcase events at the online convention in April 2022.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Dream Foundry Art Contest:
WINNERS
1. Ellen He
2. Yue Feng
3. Vinnia Kemala Putri
Special thanks and a round of applause to this year's finalists:
- Mikoto
- Albokhari Mohamed
- Nair Nascimento
- Alex Pernau
- Julia Quandt
- Mols Slom
- Cathlyn Vania
Our first place winner is the recipient of the Monu Bose Memorial Prize, which the Dream Foundry is honored to issue. More information on the prize can be found here.
We would also like to extend our thanks to contest coordinator Dante Luiz and judges Juliana Pinho and Charis Loke. We are incredibly grateful for the gift of their expertise and time to help us uplift emerging voices in speculative art and illustration.
Dream Foundry 2021 Writing Contest
Dream Foundry is excited to announce the winners of this year's speculative short story contest. This contest is designed to provide a boost to beginners in the field, with professional judges and significant cash prizes. We're pleased to have had over 400 contestants, with entries from more than 40 countries. In addition to cash prizes, all winners will receive first pick of workshop seats at Flights of Foundry and showcase events at the online convention in April 2022.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Dream Foundry Writing Contest:
WINNERS
1. "Cooking: A Science" by Shinjini Dey
2. "Amadi on the Concrete" by Jarred Thompson
3. "Clear As Water, Red As Ruin" by Sigrid Marianne Gayangos
Special thanks and a round of applause to this year's finalists:
- Amy Johnson
- Brienne D. Hayes
- C. Bradley White
- Cat T.
- Kay Orchison
- Kellye McBride
- Robin Sebolino
We would also like to extend our thanks to contest coordinators Vajra Chandrasekera and J.D. Harlock and judges Vajra Chandrasekera and Premee Mohamed. We are incredibly grateful for the gift of their expertise and time to help us uplift emerging voices in speculative writing.
Free Fall Challenge 2021
We're delighted to announce that this fall, our Free Fall Challenge will be returning! This event is for creatives of all kinds, with a community space to encourage attaining goals, fostering skills, and honing craft.
The challenge will begin November 1st. Prepare to stretch your creative muscles, set goals, leap into new feats, and cheer each other on!
The goal of this month-long event is to foster skills that will help you translate your current workflow into something sustainable as you learn your limits, expand your boundaries, build endurance, and learn how to work without burning yourself out. Build a plan! Set goals! Make a schedule! And cheer each other on! And if you don't succeed, that's okay too. In fact, failing is a valuable learning experience and we're here to help guide you through it.
Maybe you're writing a novel this November. Or perhaps a series of short stories? Awesome. This is for you. If you're thinking of making a new interactive fiction game? Good! This is for you, too. Want to stretch your drawing practice or try a new medium for a month? This challenge is all yours. Want to translate a poem a day, or write the scripts for your next SFF podcast? Jump right in! Whatever your project is, if you’re dedicating the month to doing something big and difficult for you, the Free-Fall November challenge is for you, and we're here to help you with it.
We're running the challenge through our Discord server, complete with a dedicated channel for co-working, tips, and encouragement.
How it works!
- The Dream Foundry is providing space for co-working, accountability, and scheduling help.
- Come over to our Discord server and find the #free-fall-challenge channel.
- Let us know what your plans and goals are - and if you’re not sure how to set goals that are the right level of challenging, we’ll help you out!
- When you have your plan ready, you can sign-up here. If you want to join the official co-working sessions, you’ll need to sign up.
- You can also share your progress and join in on twitter with the hashtag #freefallchallenge.
- And if you stumble along the way? We’ll help you recover, with some cheerleading from the other folks working on their own challenges.
- The official launch of the Free Fall Challenge will take place in our community room November 1st. Details and invites will be sent to those who sign up using the form below. We look forward to seeing everyone there!
Preparations for your jump can start now! Drop in, get hyped, and prepare to make November a challenge that gives you life!
Sign up here!
Interview with Flights of Foundry Guest of Honor Wendy Xu
We're hosting a virtual convention this weekend, May 16th and 17th, called Flights of Foundry, and we're so excited because it's almost time! We've got a ton of great content lined up that will be going almost 24 hours a day, including panels, interviews, seminars, workshops, and more. If you want to check out our schedule, go here. And when you decide you absolutely have to attend, you can register for the con using this link.
We have a whole heap of Guests of Honor that we've invited to attend the convention to give you insight into the world of professional writers, artists, translators, and editors in the speculative genres. Today one of our Guests of Honor, Wendy Xu, is here to do an interview in advance of her attendance.
