Hi, maybe you can help me with some tech suggestions. At my local scouts troop I’m one of only a few guitar players. At camp fires I play the guitar and provide lead vocals, so that others can follow (which is important especially for songs, that are not well known). Because only a few can sit directly beside me and others might talk in parallel, I need to sing very loud, to give an orientation, which makes me hoarse way faster.

I would like to have something, that amplifies my voice, with decent quality (so no megaphone), a microphone fixed to my clothes or my head (as I need to play the guitar in parallel) and being portable (easy to carry, relatively small and powered via battery). I am able to spend like 200€ for it (300€ would be the hard upper limit). I can also build something myself, though I would need orientation on what to build exactly. I don’t have experience with audio electronics, but with microcontrollers.

Thanks in advance for your help!

  • pmw@lemmy.world
    2·
    1 hour ago

    How about another person standing next to you singing along? Boom, louder, and no electronics involved at the campfire.

  • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
    2·
    7 hours ago

    I like the Bluetooth speaker idea, but if that doesn’t work I’ve seen tour guides on buses/boats use portable karaoke machines for this. One problem might be that they add reverb by default which may not be desirable in this scenario, and I’m not sure if you can turn it off.

    Edit: just thinking about this, there are systems like you’re talking about designed specifically for tour guides or teachers. It’s a mic attached to a speaker that can sit on your hip (for example.) They’re probably well under your budget, even for a good quality one.

    • lucullus@discuss.tchncs.deOP
      2·
      6 hours ago

      Thats an interesting idea. Might really try this. Though I’m not sure about the sound quality for singing in contrast to just speaking (that being the core purpose of these systems)

      • Psythik@lemm.ee
        2·
        6 hours ago

        Bluetooth has latency; it’s not suitable for realtime mic usage. The delay will make it difficult to sing/speak.

      • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
        1·
        6 hours ago

        Yeah, I’m not sure on the quality either. Try to get one with a wired mic to avoid latency as much as possible.

        Good luck.

  • VonReposti@feddit.dk
    1·
    6 hours ago

    Before Soundboks went industrial they made portable speakers for festival goers by hooking a speaker up to car batteries and putting it in a nice box. I imagine you can get a nice setup following their footsteps. Unfortunately Soundboks is more than twice your budget so I can’t recommend them on that alone, but a cheap second-hand speaker (or some drivers and an empty box so you can fit batteries inside too), a car battery, and a cheap microphone should be doable below €200-€300.