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Audience mixing question
does anyone have any eq and compressor suggestions for audience mics? i’m doing a live recording for a rather large church and was curious if anybody could help me make the crowd sound big. thanks for any tips.
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7 Replies
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Hello Rob and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
Try more mics. The more complex the sound field the bigger they sound. Also, if the mics are too far away it’ll sound small.
Regards,
Ty Ford
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thanks Ty. there is a good amount of shotguns for me to use so hopefully that helps. one more question if you don’t mind is what’s a good compression ratio to start with on those crowd mics?
Rob -
Rob,
Well, you may or may not need any compression on just those mics. Try without first and see. Compression is sometimes overused.
I like no more than 3 dB of gain reduction at 4:1 to 20:1 (content and particular box depending). Fairly fast attack, slower release.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
I have used for TV broadcast with great success for micing theatres and other venues including sport stadiums at least 6-8 mics
2x omni mics….
(sony ecm77’s or other brand) spaced about 3-5m apart on the first or second balcony.. this is normally the wide shot camera (panned full L+R but can be reduced if the crowd sound gets to “big”)
1 x Stereo mic….closer to the crowd giving a broad spread of at least 100 people (panned full L+R)
another Stereo mic a bit wider if you have got another one.( I prefer X-Y mics rather than M-S but thats a personal choice)
2x shotgun mics…. sennheiser 816 and or 416 (or similar) this gives sound from groups of approx 5-20 people these mics can be spaced apart (doesn’t need to be used as a stereo pair) (panned half L+R)a little lower in the mix as not to define what people are saying.This then gives the mix of Broad FX , Mid Width FX, and Tight FX.
I would normally run this lot through a small mixer or groups to bring it back into the main mix as a complete stereo source.
The Crowd was compressed “lightly” 2:1 – 4:1 but kept seperate from the main mixer compressorGive it a try I think you will like this combination… Good Luck……
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Great response Brian,
When I’m mixing (especially music) I think in photographic composition terms; background, midground, foreground. Your mic approach does something similar and makes for a more complex soundscape.
Do you use any compression other than on the main bus?
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
Hi guys,
I have been doing talk shows for the last 10 years, and I like to use lots of lavs (Sony 55’s) hung from the grid right over the audience. On the last one I had eight hung over a 200 seat audience. I also had a shotgun on each side to give it a little more ooomph when I transitioned from only audience mics to opening the lavs on the host/guests. I had all the audience mics except the shotguns on an external mixer and on the output of that I had a stereo compressor with a ratio set at around 10:1, and a relatively high threshold. Most of the time the compressor wasn’t doing anything, but if the audience suddenly went nuts, it acted more like a limiter.
You have to be careful of raising the noise floor too much.
Peter -
Thanks for the help everyone. I’ll let ya know how it goes. You made a newcomer feel welcome. Thanks again.
Rob
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