AKG Acoustics WMS 4000 Akg Wms Uhf Vocals, Angle of incidence, Holding the transmitter, Feedback

AKG WMS UHF VOCALS

Angle of incidence

To get a well-balanced, natural sound, sing to one side of the microphone or above and across the microphone’s top (left). If you sing directly into the microphone, it will not only pick up excessive breath noise but also overemphasize sibilants (right).

Holding the transmitter

Be sure never to cover the lower half of the wire-mesh cap with your hand. If you do, the microphone element's polar pattern will change from cardioid to omnidirectional. In a concert hall, this change in the pickup pattern will signi- ficantly lower the usable gain before feedback. Also, do not grasp the transmitter body at the lower end, where your hand would cover the integrated antenna and weaken the radio signal.

Working distance and proximity effect

Basically, your voice will sound the bigger and mellower, the closer you hold the microphone to your lips. Moving away from the microphone will produce a more reverberant, more distant sound as the microphone will pick more of the room’s reverberation. Proximity effect is a more or less dramatic boost of low frequencies that occurs when you sing into the microphone from less than 2 inches. It gives more "body" to your voice and a sexy, bass-heavy sound.

Feedback

To increase usable gain before feedback, the microphone on the HT 40 has a supercardioid polar pattern. This means the microphone is most sensitive to sounds arriving from in front of it (your voice) while hardly responding to sounds arriving from the sides or rear (from monitor speakers for instance). To maximize gain before feedback, never point any microphone directly at a speaker. The safest place for a microphone is usually behind the FOH speakers.

Antenna

The swiveling antenna is mounted on the front panel, allowing the receiver to be rack mounted.

Case

The side panel supports are removable for mounting the receiver in a 19" rack.

Alternative receivers

You can also use the HT 40 with the SR 40 diver- sity receiver or the PR 40 portable receiver.

Squelch threshold control

(on rear panel).

On/off switch

with status LED.

RF LED

Illuminates to indicate that RF signal is being received. If the RF signal fails or the squelch comes on, the MUTE LED will be lit.

SR 40 Receiver

Frequency color code platelet

Receivers using the same frequen- cy are marked with the same color code.

Volume

Matches the output level of the receiver to the input gain of the mixer. (For details refer to page 27)

Microphone cleaning and maintenance

Microphones, like any other instrument, need regular clea- ning to maintain clarity and intelligibility. As a microphone is being used, its foam pop screen and front grill collect dirt particles that may ultimately clog the acoustically transpa- rent foam cells. Just unscrew the front grill and remove the internal windscreen. Soak the windscreen in sudsy water for a night, then allow it to dry completely. Clean the front grill with isopropyl alcohol.

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