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Audio Setup for Recording Panel and Speech
First post:
Hi, I’m a fairly newly hired videography intern at a conservation non-profit, and after only a theory-based film and media concentration at a small liberal arts school, I’m doing quite a lot of learning on the job.
I’ve mostly been producing a short webisode series, but soon I’ll be running A/V for a reception—specifically, I’m supposed to get audio and video of a panel discussion involving four people, then a speech and its two introductory speeches. My main questions regard audio recording: we have a Zoom H2 that we’ve used for the webisodes, with decent results, that I planned to use for principle audio. As redundancy is key, I was planning to just use the included shotgun with a JVC GYHM100u (B camera) as we’ve also used that with decent results. However, I can’t get B camera as close as I’d like for the attached shotgun (probably 10-12 feet), so should I even bother with that? The crowd will be behind B camera, and fairly quiet. I guess I also haven’t been overly impressed with the H2—what settings would you recommend for sitting on the podium for a speaker vs. sitting on the table in front of the four panel members? I also have the option of renting an H4n…should I just go for that, as I’ll be renting a camera anyway?
I guess I’d like to avoid lavs, just because we’d need a total of 7 different people mic’d, and the less intrusive I can be, the better. Am I missing an obvious, pretty cheap alternative to the setup suggested above?
Thanks so much, and sorry for the tome ^
-sam
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3 Replies
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Hello Sam and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
The standard way to do that is to use Shure SM58s on table stands for each of the panelists. Will all the speeches be given from a podium? If so, another SM58 on a gooseneck on one of those little podium mics, but get an extra foam pop filter for it because someone will eat the mic and pop it a lot.
You can get by with two table mics and have them pass them as needed. That’s make it 2 plus the podium mic. Get a Shure or Audio Technica Auto mixer and run it to your camera or recorder. Even though it’s an auto mixer, you’ll have to pay some attention to it to get the best levels.
If you have to feed a PA system be very careful about speaker volume and placement or you’ll get feedback. Will you need to record audience Q&A?
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field GuideWatch Ty play guitar -
Thanks so much for the suggestions.
All speeches will be from the podium, yes. The site has a small mic on a gooseneck on the podium for their PA system…are you saying throw an additional mic up there for recording purposes?
I guess I wanted to avoid renting a mixer just because I’ve never used one before, and I feel like the learning curve could be pretty steep (and, to keep cost down, we won’t rent this stuff more than 1 day before the event), but is that pretty much a necessity?
Do you think the audio quality from the possible setup I mentioned will be unacceptably bad? (keeping in mind that the target audience will not be audio professionals—it just needs to be good, not amazing).
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“All speeches will be from the podium, yes. The site has a small mic on a gooseneck on the podium for their PA system…are you saying throw an additional mic up there for recording purposes?
I guess I wanted to avoid renting a mixer just because I’ve never used one before, and I feel like the learning curve could be pretty steep (and, to keep cost down, we won’t rent this stuff more than 1 day before the event), but is that pretty much a necessity?
Do you think the audio quality from the possible setup I mentioned will be unacceptably bad? (keeping in mind that the target audience will not be audio professionals—it just needs to be good, not amazing).”
Time to stretch yourself and grow.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field GuideWatch Ty play guitar
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