Please speak into the microphone

“Can everyone hear me?” is usually asked by someone standing directly under a speaker.

The people who cannot hear are at the back, where answering becomes more of a philosophical exercise.

Sound checks have their rituals.

Mic one. Check.

Mic two. Check.

Then the actual speaker arrives, holds the microphone near the waist, turns away halfway through every sentence and says, “I have a loud voice.”

You do.

The microphone has abandonment issues.

Good event audio is not only about speakers, mixers and reassuringly expensive equipment. It is also about the person using the microphone.

Will they hold it properly?

Will they walk around?

Will they suddenly invite six people on stage for a conversation nobody mentioned during rehearsal?

This is why testing the equipment is only half a sound check. The other half is testing reality.

The room does not hear an audio specification.

It hears a person speaking while looking at the screen, walking past the monitor and occasionally pointing the microphone at their shoe.

Naturally, I have an adapter for almost every possible audio problem.

Possibly three.

None of them can amplify a microphone that has been placed on a table.