One Microphone

(On performing with all four band members playing around a single microphone…)
Dave Wilson of Chatham County Line: After I had seen the Del McCoury Band at the Carolina theatre in Durham, we really wanted to take that approach (of using) the single microphone. We set up in a big foyer in an old Victorian house in downtown Raleigh with a single microphone. And we would record ourselves working the microphone and finding that balance of where you should stand to get picked up perfectly. When we're playing today with everybody (on separate mics), we still perform from that single mic perspective, where you feel like you're walking in when you're playing your part. Everybody doesn't just play as loud as possible all the time. You still feel like you're mixing yourself by the veracity of how you play. So it's a valuable technique. I would tell any band from the most rock and roll band to the most acoustic folky band to experiment with that and try it live because it really will teach you how to perform.