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Audio problems (mostly echo) during live talk show. Can someone suggest how to reduce it?
Hello! I have been charged with fixing an audio problem we’ve been having during a daily live talk show. The location is terrible. It is being shot in a active train station, on a fourth floor balcony with a super high ceiling (FML). We are using lavalier mics and it in all in line (no speakers). Should I use dampeners of some sort? My thoughts were to get some sort of canopy and put it over the subject(s) with a sound dampening material attached to it and put some other sound dampeners in front of the subject(s) as well. I can’t really put anything behind them because they are on a balcony and there is nothing there but a railing and a 1 story drop to the ground floor. I am in no way an audio engineer and I am really wading through the fog here. Any help with my situation would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need any more information about the setup. Thanks!!
-Tim -
7 Replies
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Hi Tim,
If you can do what you’re suggesting, then that should certainly help. What type of lavs are you using? Even though you’re not using a PA system, you should be using a lav with a cardioid pattern.
Best,
Dave J
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OK good! It’s funny you ask, it was just discovered that we have be using omni-directional lav mic’s without screens on them. My boss seems to have already ordered unidirectional mics, whether they are cardioid or not I’ll have to find out. Will I have to custom make this canopy setup or do you have a recommendation on where I could find something like that? Thanks for the reply!!
-Tim
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The canopy is probably something you’ll have to custom make. How you make it may depend on how much you can spend and the space you have. One alternative is to use sound blankets. Put them on the floor (if the floor is not carpeted), and hang them from c-stands (out of frame). It’s one of those situations that dictates experimenting 🙂
Best,
Dave J
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Hey, Thanks! Never would have thought of the blankets, that a good idea! BTW, My boss did end up getting cardioid lav mic’s. So once we get those in, we’ll see where we’re at and then start adding the dampeners as needed. Probably won’t be perfect because the location is just not conducive for audio whatsoever. I am not in charge of such things so I just have to make it work as well as it can. You’ve been a great help, thanks man! I send you a message and let you know how it turned out when we are done! Thanks again! Have a great day!
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Hello Tim and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
Everything you have read here is good. Let us know how the cardioid lavs work. You have to be extra careful with directional lavs. Gotta point them in the right direction, gotta put foam pop filters on them.
Directional lavs pop easily.Also, a good automixer that turns down mics not being spoken into or iso each mic and duck the unused mics in postproduction. You still need to actively tweek an automixer, but it can make a huge difference.
Oh, and it’s dampers, not dampeners, unless you’re talking about water. 🙂
Regards,
Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide -
If you have a horrible ambient, an excellent way of reducing it significantly is to kick up the direct-to-ambient ratio. That is done by getting the microphone AS CLOSE to the mouth as possible. That is why you are seeing more and more people on-camera using headset microphones with nearly invisible wands and mic heads smaller than a match head. Placed just next to the cheek a few millimeters away from the corner of the mouth.
And, of course talent who isn’t whispering or mumbling. And proper mixing to have only the microphone of the active talker open at any given moment. Perhaps auto-mixing, or iso recording each mic on a separate sound track and mixing in post-production. In the absence of any production details, we don’t know if any of these options apply to your situation?
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Richard nailed this IMO.
While standard lavs can work, nothing trumps the inverse square laws of physics.
Notice that the folks doing play by play court side in basketball arenas are perfectly legible even tho the space is a huge hollow cave – and there are quite possibly 20 thousand screaming people surrounding the play by play.
A headworn boom mounted mic positioned less than an inch from the mouth solves a LOT of audio problems.
With units like the Countryman E3 and other “micro-element” full range headworn mics, there’s usually a good solution unless you’re trying to appear like there’s no mic anywhere in the scene.
FWIW.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor
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