Astatic 1700VP Mic Solves Problems For Hudson United Methodist Church

Hudson United Methodist Church, in Hudson, Ohio, has 400 active parishioners and, like many of today's houses of worship, has two services on Sunday, a traditional service with piano and organ and a more contemporary presentation with electric instruments.

As such, they church needed a microphone that could effectively accommodate live reinforcement and recording with exceptional reproduction. As Leigh Conti, the musical director, explains, "We had done a number of recordings of the choir and organ and other instrumental situations, and we weren't getting a full spectrum of sound. There was no bass, it was very tinny sounding and give us an accurate portrayal of what was actually going on."

Conti found a solution in the Astatic 1700VP remote variable-pattern, boom mounted microphone. "I spoke to (Astatic national sales manager) Gary Dixon, and he suggested the 1700VP remote variable pattern microphone, which was mainly for the purpose of recording the choir and amplify small groups of singers," Conti says. "The microphone works exceptionally well for that purpose with a very full spectrum of sound and an accurate response that I can use to critique my rehearsals or performances.

"All along we'd been using a boom mic when I was playing piano and organ and singing," adds Conti, "and I was having difficulty getting the microphone to balance correctly without falling down on the music or being able to turn the pages without the mic getting in the way.

"So we started using the VP1700 (change to correct model number 1700VP) when I'm singing because it doesn't pick up too much of the piano, it picks up my voice very well and I don't have to be singing directly into it because of its extended pickup range. The mic has worked out very well for us and solved a whole lot of problems we were having."