Compact Sound Blanket Solution Need

[Nick Griffin]

Here’s what’s probably a stupid idea but… If you are in hotel conference rooms you could try to get the hotels to allow you to rent a few roll-away beds. You could then stand up their mattresses in key places to stop most of the bounce-back.

The sad fact of the matter is there’s probably no simple and cheap way for you to transport sound-proofing because sound dampening in a square or rectangular space is based on mass more than anything — and that’s what you’re trying to not have to travel with.

Perhaps the best alternative would be to boom your interviews with a hypercardioid mic. By aiming at the subject’s chest, and being in as tight as the framing will allow, the room sound would be substantially lower in volume than it is with the traditional omnidirectional lav mic, hence much less echo.

[Steve Kownacki]

I like that mattress idea Nick! How about some bedspreads/comforters thrown over a coatrack just off camera? Don’t have your interviewee face directly at a wall, point them to the furthest wall at an angle. Keep the mic close.

Steve

[Mark Suszko]

Don’t travel with the blankets; buy them on the way to the shoot. Plan ahead and find a harbor freight or u-haul near you destination; both sell moving blankets that will work great. Some PVC pipe at the local Ace hardware if you need to build pipe and drape. Abandon it once done, and bill to the client. In the case of the uhaul blankets they are returnable for credit or maybe cash.