Producer Shane Brown Says Artists Need Stop Cuffing Microphones

Award-winning Reggae/Dancehall audio engineer and music producer Shane Brown has expressed concern about Jamaican artists who unwittingly compromise the quality of their performances by using their hands to cuff the heads of their microphones.

Speaking during an interview on Reggae radio station Irie FM recently, Brown warned that the manner in which some artists hold the microphone, can make or break their onstage delivery.

“One of the one of the worst things for artistes to do is cuff the microphone.   I don’t know where them get it from, or if it look cool to them or whatever, but if the microphone is what is transmitting your voice, how can you cover it?  Because if I put my hand over my mouth now, I sound different,” he said while giving a demonstration to host K’Shema Francis-Pitt.

“When you cuff that microphone, you are putting a blanket over the same thing that’s transmitting the quality of your vocals.  So one of the things I can tell entertainers: ‘do not cuff the capsule of a microphone’.  I don’t know if some a dem think it make dem voice sound bigger; it really don’t.  What you do is make your voice sound darker and more distorted.  Also, when you cuff the capsule of a microphone, there’s a certain frequency that it equalizes, so it’s more than likely gonna have feedback in the speakers below,” the God Is Love producer added.  

Brown’s comments came after Francis-Pitt asked what advice he would give to entertainers in general, as to the “dos and don’ts of a microphone” and how to use it, since many were not holding the mics correctly, thus thwarting the success of their own performances.

In agreeing, Brown had also said that the cuffing of the microphones also has implications for sound engineers like himself.   

“lt’s one of the worst thing for me to do a show with an artiste that cuff the mic, because if the vocals not right, the entire mix spoil,” he said.

“As I tell you, the vocal is the loudest part of the mix.  And at that time the entire mix spoil.  You can’t get the crispiness that you need from a vocal the song on a record.  And even when you think about it now…when you’re in a studio you can’t even touch the microphone.  So what are you thinking to think say ‘all right now we’re going on, wi a guh cuff di microphone’.    It don’t make no sense so it put the engineer in a very bad position at that time,” he added.

The much-sought-after Brown has worked with the likes of Shaggy, Beenie Man, Beres Hammond, Popcaan, Capelton, Dennis Brown, Morgan Heritage, Taurus Riley, Dean Fraser, Shabba Ranks, over the years, as well as foreign artists such as Lauryn Hill, Fugees, and Chaka Khan, has undertaken mixing projects at Sony and Universal Music Companies.

Noting that he has never had issues with any of the artists with whom he has worked, he went on to hail Shaggy, whom he said was a master at proper microphone handling.

“The artistes that I’ve worked with, them don’t have that bad habit.  I’ve toured with Shaggy for 10 years and him is one a di best.  He was and still is one of the best when it comes to using a microphone.  That man don’t play a microphone joke.   So you have to understand, mixing and engineering the whole thing…,” he said.

“So the artistes have a big responsibility man; the artiste dem need to stop cuff the microphones and it is something that I noticed even now more than ever.  As them come them hol on to the cap a di microphone suh,” he re-emphasized.

Added Brown: “Now if it is that it is it have something to do with sanitization –  I don’t know – then buy your own microphone and carry your own microphone to the shows.”

A 2020 article by sound equipment manufacturer Shure, concurs with Brown, as it noted that “cupping your hands around the head of any professional directional microphone destroys the polar pattern”.

“The result is typically poor sound quality and acoustic feedback. It is not recommended!” Shure noted.