As a vocalist singing with bands (and that includes instrumentalists who sing backups as well as lead singers), it’s possible to get by without owning your own vocal microphone. Often the person in the band who owns the PA also owns the microphones. If a club, church, or other venue has a house system, there may be mics included that you can use and so on.
But if you’re a singer, we recommend that you always bring your own personal microphone to the gig. There are several reasons.
- If you bring your own microphone, you know where it’s been, who used it and how healthy and hygienic they were — enough said!
- When you have your own mic, you can choose a microphone that you specifically like for your voice, instead of hoping that whatever is available will work for you.
- You can be confident of the condition of the mic. You don’t have to worry about what sort of damage a venue mic has sustained from dropping, drop-kicking, or just lack of care.
Bringing a well-cared for mic that sounds good on your voice and that you know you can get close to is always the way to go.
As an additional note, it’s not unheard of for a studio vocalist to own a microphone that is particularly flattering for their voice.