You need to fix the choir not rearrange the microphones.

You have to get her to sing in a way that blends with the other singers. You can use her confidence and abilities to help encourage the others to sing out, which they are not doing....at the same time she has to control her voice to blend and not overpower them.

You've got to take control. You need her in this situation. You can use her to improve things

The worst choirs are ones that cannot do anything but sing loud....or soft. If you work with her the problems that you are experiencing can be turned around to improve the entire choir.

You need her to be asking you if she is singing too loud and the others asking you if they are singing loud enough. Praising her for her abilities will help encourage her to work with you and influence the choir in a positive manner.

If the choir needs amplified - which in some churches is absolutely necessary - one microphone in the center should be enough...all people standing an equal distance from it. Get one microphone up high, just like you are planning and arrange the people in a half circle around it...they need to sing to each other, not the room, otherwise there can be no blend.

Individual microphones for each singer or two singers put through a mixer gives you the sound of these voices. If you want choral sound you need to amplify the blended voices of the choir or a microphone, not blend them in a mixer.

I hope that this is encouraging and not putting you and your situation down. You've got the drive and dream of a good choir, you can achieve this with 4 to 6 singers. The blended sound of singers is one of the few things that are true synergy. This problem can be turned into a promising situation.

By the way, if she will not try to blend, get rid of her. It's that simple!

To answer your concern directly, use double mics on boom stands above all "heads" and have a spread pattern thrown by the mics (condensors my choice) in a broad spectrum.

What strikes you as sarcastic?

Is. Works. M, do you run board in stereo or just mix for mono? Bet it works nicely for live work.

I use ORTF for choral/organ recording but with omnis plus a third piezo ambiance microphone about 30' back.

It is possible to blend in a choir if you really know how to use your instrument.

Indeed it is!

However, in some buildings, it's a necessity if the choir is to be heard by anyone other than God and the MD.

However, if you have sound-dampening tile on the ceiling, and the previous people built a new choir area around the corner in the transept, and there is no chance for remodel...then even with awesome singers, still, no one will hear you. They already paid for the expensive system a couple years before I came...so while not ideal, renovating is not an option.

I am finding the mic placement advice very helpful, since I have to use what I've got.

FNJ, we're "old school" to a fault, no stereo, no slider level mixers, one main, two 8-channel dialed Shure mixers, feedback suppression, power switch on, power switch off.
Thanks for the backup.
@ryand- one new year's resolution that will be more difficult for me than losing half my body weight will be to stop having or poking fun on internet boards.

This issue reminds me of the cathedral in my diocese. Its sanctuary was rearranged in the 1980s so that it would look attractive on TV at the time, since the diocese ran its own local cable channel (which is now available in other cities and called "CatholicTV").

The front pews were removed and a broad open space was covered with carpet. An organ console was installed at the front-right and a place was erected for the choir there. BIg ugly platforms for cameras and other equipment were installed. That's the situation.

Without amplification, the choir and the cantor wouldn't be heard beyond the first row on the right side.

And -- as it happens -- that section is set aside during special events for the deaf community and the ASL interpreter! So nobody would hear the choir! :-)