Winter care and dry churches

[CastleLyons]

I'm needing some advice. I'll be playing at a large church next week, and just out of curiosity I went and took some humidity readings, knowing that churches tend to be quite dry. The humidity was so low there that it wouldn't even register on the hygrometer! (My hygrometer goes as low as 20%.) What kinds of precautions should I take for my HD? I'm concerned not only for the HD's well-being but also for the tuning issues that might arise. The Christmas concert is held in the morning, and the church won't be open early enough for me to spend as much time tuning as I'd like. There's also an orchestra and a choir that will be having sound checks at the same time. I'm in a bit of a quandary. What would you more-experienced people do in a case like this?

While we're at it, some general advice for winter care would be a good refresher for those of us who are fairly new to the HD.

[mrchips]

There isnt much you can do to change the conditions. The best thing to do is let it set for 30 min to an hour in the same area/room you will be playing in before doing any tuning. That will give it time to adjust to the humidity from where it is normally kept. If you tune it up before taking it out that will usally make the chore more like touching up any strings a tad off. A Hd will shrink some when the humidity goes low and expand when the humidity goes up from the conditions where its normally at. s a result the tuning will go flat or sharp but still stay in relative tuning to itself. For example if a string goes say 4 cents low, then all of them should be flat by about the same amount.

20% humidity is lower than normal for sure. Long term low humidity, like weeks at a time, will cause wood to shrink that could possibly cause the joints to open up. Note possibly as even that is rare in a well made HD. A day or 2 wont do any harm at all.

Generally if you're comfortable then the HD will be just fine no matter where it is. If the humidity gets real low then use a humidifier in the room where the HD is. A goof way to see if you really need one is to closely examine any real wood furniture, not the stuff made out of compressed sawdust and glue, in the same room that has been there for a year of 2. Look closely at the joints to see if any are showing any signs of opening up and for tiny cracks in the wood itself. If you dont see any then you dont need to worry. Generally the best place in a room for a HD is against an inside wall not under any AC vents or near a heater of any sort. If you have a fireplace in the room you should keep a humidifier near the HD. Fires really dry out the air in a room. Around 40% or so humidity is perfect.

Relative humidity is a measurement of the actual amount of moisture in the air. For a given volume of air heating it up lowers the relitive humidity whereas cooling it increases it. As its winter the outside air at say 25 degrees and 30% humidity, you will be heating it up. That will drive the humidity way down resulting in the inside humidity going far lower than the inside air. There are any number of humidity gauges at real cheap prices available, some even are included in the battery powered thermometers. You want to go by the average of the readings over a day or 2, not just one at some random time.

Most gig bags have fairly good padding inside them. This will act somewhat like insulation for a period of time keeping the HD close to its normal temperature but if its setting in a car in the winter for a few hours the HD will get cold, possibly freezing, if its that cold outside. I dont recommend freezing one but it usually wont harm a well made HD. Just let it warm up a couple hours before you even think about tuning or playing it. The old rule of if you're comfortable, the Hd will be fine is your best guide to go by.

[CastleLyons]

Yeah, this is going to be interesting. The church won't open its doors until 8:00 a.m., and the concert begins at 10:00. The orchestra does their sound check at 8:30 and the choir at 9:00. By 9:30, people will start arriving. If I can't get in until 8:00, then need to let the HD sit for 30-60 minutes before tuning, that doesn't leave me much time.

Thanks for all your winter care advice, Mr. Chips!

[cboody]

Get there as early as possible. Get the instrument out. Go find a room whre you can tune. Move out of the performance space to that room and tune there while the other things are going on. If you must be involved in the sound check tune as much as you can and then come back to the performance space for the sound check and go back to your tuning room after it is over.

One other thing: less than 20% relative humidity is drier than the Sahara desert! I'd suspect you hygrometer a bit. Even here in marvelous Minnesota where it is currently getting to -15 at nights our house doesn't get that dry. That said though I'd still follow the comments above...

[mrchips]

Short periods, a day or 2, where the humidity is below 30% is not uncommon here in the Dallas area during the winter. Now heat things up and it gets way drier than that. My hygrometer also quits at 20% too so I dont suspect its dead. it comes back to life at 21% by the way. It also saves the min and max of temperature and humidity. I reset it in the early spring to get rid of the out of range dry readings. I keep the thermostat around 40 if Im not out there doing things. I crank it up to around 70 then.

[CastleLyons]

One other thing: less than 20% relative humidity is drier than the Sahara desert!

Are you saying that being in church is like wandering in the wilderness?

cboody, your advice sounds good, so that's what I'll do. P.S. I used to live in Minnesota, so I know what you mean. I'm in Missouri now. I recently tested my hygrometer--it was a bit off, but a simple math calculation lets me know the true result. Hard to calculate from a reading of "LO" however.

To those of you who have used a mic when playing in a church sanctuary... What advice do you have for that... like where's the best place to set the mic, how far away from the HD, etc.

[mrchips]

Generally the best mike for a HD is a good small condenser positioned in front of the HD aimed at the upper third of the treb bridge. For best results it should be around 12 to 16 inches away from the top of the HD in a position where you wont smack it with a hammer.. Be sure to check that the mike is securely attached to the mike stand. A mike bouncing off your HD can really ruin a day. I have been known to tape a mike in place when it feels loose.

If a small condenser inst available then go with a dynamic mike made for instruments such as a sure SM57. This type of mike is more sensitive to the higher frequencies found in string instruments. It should be positioned the same as a condenser but at around 12 inches. Dynamics are not as sensitive as condensers so generally have to be closer for the same result. Any closer than about 6 inches they will introduce artificial base.

As most churches have the same people doing sound all the they are quite familiar with the acoustics of the building and the gear they are working with. The above is the ideal situation but the reality is you gotta go with what they have in the way of mikes. But stay as close as reasonably possible with the above suggestions, epically the position. Depending on the HD sometimes you have reduce the highs some to get a good overall sound.

[Dan Landrum]

Hey Chips, recognizing that there is no specific right vs wrong way of mic'ing, can I offer an opposing opinion on this subject?

I know the way you describe it is the way HDs are usually mic'd, but imho and mileage, it emphasizes the harsher aspects of HDs in live situations. The lower, richer sustaining tones don't stand much of a chance being mic'd from the the smallest portion of most hammered dulcimers. (Studio work is completely different.)

Churches are generally reverberant acoustic spaces, and if an engineer isn't mic'ing an entire group from a short distance then close mic'ing with two microphones usually gives me the tone I'm seeking. If the space is quiet enough then, yes, I can use a condensor, but this isn't usually the case. I use two microphones on boom stands positioned about middle of the instrument as close to the playing area as I can get them without interfering with hammering. I'm careful to to avoid violating the rule of thirds which says the any distance mic A is from the instrument, mic B must be three times that distance from mic A. This eliminates the cancellation that can occur with two mics.

As to the mics themselves, the SM57 is, imho, just about the worst mic you can use on an HD. The dynamic properties of that particular mic are perfect for mic'ing amplifiers and snare drums because they emphasize mids and need a lot of sound to excite their diaphragms. SM57s are great workhorse mics and I use them lots. You'll find them all over thousands of professional recordings, but not often on acoustic instruments. When used on HDs SM57s excel at picking up the attack, but are lousy for getting the tone carrying sustain.

The Beta57 is an entirely different microphone and requires much less SPL (sound pressure level) and I do enjoy hearing HDs on those. The Beta57 has a greenish/blue rubberband around the capsule and is easy to spot vs an SM57.

Have I done gigs using SM57s? You bet. Will I do it again if that's all that is available? You bet. But I'd chose just about any mic other than that, and I absolutely never mic from the small rail. If I only have one mic on a stick stand it still goes to the side and gets angled down 45 degrees toward the center of the bass bridge.

Sorry for the long post, but I think this is kind of a big deal. If you're mic shopping, spend the extra dollars for the Beta57 unless you're going to use it to mic an amplifier. The SM57 is a cardioid and a Beta 57 is supercardioid. The Beta 57 has a brighter frequency response.

Stepping off the soapbox now and offering the space to the next fellow knucklehead willing to offer an opinion on a subject as subjective as this one.

[CastleLyons]

Thanks for all the advice, everybody. Now if I can just get over these jitters, sweaty hands, and twisting stomach....

[mrchips]

Notice generally there? As I well know no 2 mikes work the same nor does even to HDs as far as sound goes..

Those are my general preferences as the starting point. And rarely will 2 places act the same as far as acoustics go too. If you happen to doing something where there they have their own in house sound guy the best way to go is with his suggestions as he knows exactly how the building affects things..

[CastleLyons]

Well, it's over. I played my first big gig, a solo number at a large Christmas concert in a large church sanctuary. I didn't do too badly. Pretty good actually, except that my hands were shaking, which made the hammers shake. But only a couple minor mistakes. I guess on this forum we just call them "new arrangements."

Thanks for all your advice. Turned out to be a cloudy, humid day here in the Ozarks, so I think that made the church more pleasant on the inside. Didn't have any tuning issues at all, after all that fuss I made.

But I'm glad it's over.

[kwl]

I'm glad to hear that your gig went well. Hands that shake is a common problem for many of us who play out. The shakes tend to ease as one gains more experience. Hope you get the chance to do this again. Best wishes.

Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."