Headset Microphone

APE

Inspired
I don't know where to ask. I want a headset mic that I can use for busking while I play guitar and busk. Having to carry around a weighted mic stand is too much.

The Samson AirLine distorts badly, has thin sound with hard-to-control plosives.

I don't know if I should give up on headset mics. I was recommended to try Shure BLX headset. While it might have better sound, I'm doubtful that distortion and plosives problem will be solved by it. I suspect that I'm just singing too loud, too closely to the mic and that I need to distance the mic to get the right sound (closer for falsetto, farther for loud, bellowy chest voice). And so maybe the wireless mic won't work regardless of the manufacturer.

I wanted to defer to those who have experience singing with headset mics.
 
So the distortion problem could be from 2 things. I'm not familiar with the Samson product, so I don't know if gain is adjustable on it. First is that when you sing loudly it actually overdrives the transducer in the mic. Probably not the case, but possible. More than likely you have some setting like a gain (or because it's Samson its not an option) where the output from the headset is overdriving the receiver input. This should be adjustable on the Shure. So, the distortion problem should be fixable.

Plosives...maybe. You might be able to grab a thick windscreen, and that could help. Headset mics are just prone to that.

With regards to the idea that you lose the ability to work the mic, that's the nature of a headset. It's still possible to get a decent sound though. I believe Garth Brooks uses them live. A compressor from a mixer might be a helpful workaround.

One last thing a BLX system (or low end Sennheiser for that matter) will help with a lot is that you can choose multiple frequencies. Those Samson products only have 1 single frequency!! That's bad news for wireless. The second something encroaches on your tx/rx freq. you are completely hosed. With a better system, you just choose another one. Pretty much anything from Shure or Sennheiser is going to be a better idea.

Will it 100% fix your problems? Can't guarantee that. It should help quite a bit though.
 
Most plosives can be eliminated by positioning the mic outside of your breath stream. At or slightly below the side of your mouth can be an effective choice.
 
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