dry erase board shoot

[Bill Davis]

Make the environment irrelevant by using a headworn mic like a Countryman E6 or less pricy equivalent.

Superb voice pickup – little to no effect of the space surrounding the mic.

“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’Conner

[Craig Alan]

Great. thanks. Used them on stage but didn’t know they negated surface reflections. I have a couple of E6s.

OSX 10.5.8; MacBookPro4,1 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Ty Ford]

Craig.

They don’t really negate reflections, it’s a mic sensitivity thing. it’s just that they are an inch or two away from the mouth rather than 8 inches with a lav, so you turn the mic input down because the mic is so much closet to the mouth and it hears the voice a lot better than anything else. Unless it’s really loud.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader.

Cow Audio Forum Leader
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide

[Jordan Wolf]

You’re encoutnering the boundary effect – it’s the reason that Crown PCC160s and similar mics work so well at what they do.

Basically, you have interference caused by the reflection off the close surface getting back into the mic at a different time than the original sound. Just how much of a time difference will determine how much phasing you get. Once you pass a certain point, however, the destructive phasing will stop and the reflection will begin to reinforce the original sound.

If you get a chance, grab a mic, mixer, and some headphones and, while speaking, walk towards a wall. You should notice a whooshing effect (phasing). You can vary the “pitch” and speed by changing your distance to be more/less by moving to/from the surface faster/slower.

Fun stuff…now get out there and experiment! 🙂

Wolf
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[Jordan Wolf]

As for fixing the issue…there really isn’t anyting you can do other than grin and bear it. The laws of physics bend for no one; you’re stuck with the results unless the speaker’s position relative to the whiteboard surface changes.

I think an e6 or similar could work well, maybe even an e2 (the shorter version) would be the better choice since it is further from the front of the face.

Wolf
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[Craig Alan]

The experiment with headphones makes sense. I’ve done it often for testing mikes and trouble shooting audio problems. As talent, I avoid turning toward walls. I think I just need to train the person giving the lesson to know what his/her boundaries are. Your suggestion should teach them with instant feedback and within a practice session solid muscle memory.

[Jordan Wolf] “it’s the reason that Crown PCC160s and similar mics work so well at what they do.”

I’ve never used one of these. If they are mounted on a stage floor do they actually pick up dialog well enough to replace head worn mikes? Or are they in addition to. Just seems like they would be very far away from talents’ mouths. On a lectern or conference table I could see them being effective assuming the speakers are facing the mounted mike. Even then, I imagine different speakers would produce wildly different levels.

OSX 10.5.8; MacBookPro4,1 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.