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Microphone for conference
Hello everyone.
I am not sure if this is the place to ask, but you look pro.
Here is the situation:
We have a conference room of about 20 meters long. In front is the teacher who speaks for most of the time. The auditors can ask questions. What I want to do is record as good as possible what everyone says.I was thinking about a shotgun mic, that would be directed at the teacher when he/she speaks and at the auditors when they speak.
Do you think this is ok?
Big thx.
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17 Replies
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Wow, that is a BIG conference room. What are the acoustics like? Is it very reverberant (shiny wood paneling, or big glass windows, etc.)?
Shotgun mics in general are not useful because near reflections from ceiling, walls, even table top, “confuse” the microphone and render it not directional. Shotgun mics are also used where you have a dedicated and experienced person to keep the microphone aimed precisely at the subject. Or sometimes stationary in a seated interview situation where the subject never moves.
A microphone attached to the presenter is the most common way of dealing with an instructional setting (vs. a full-scale video production with a boom operator, etc.) At least a clip-on “lav” mic, or even a “headset” microphone with a nearly invisible wand that is very close to the subject’s mouth. And we often use wireless rigs for this to avoid tripping up the presenter with a trailing mic cable. Unless the presenter is absolutely hard-attached to the podium, etc, and never moves, using a fixed microphone is rarely effective.
How many in the audience (“auditors”)? What resources do you have to work with? What equipment? What crew? (Experienced boom operator?) What budget for rentals, etc? Is this only for recording, or do you also have to deal with reinforcement?
Are you only capturing audio for recording, or is there also sound reinforcement to deal with in this large room? What kind of quality do you need? Do you need full broadcast quality, or only casual documentation quality, or only “transcription quality”?
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Like I said in the first post, you pro, me not so much. Bascally I did not get 10% of what you said.
For the record, someone like me will be handling the mic (if it were a shotgun).The room is like a classroom only longer, so no, to very little reverberance. Thing is, the rooms is like a round table (only more like a square) https://flic.kr/p/nqbZDH (hope I got that 20m right, not very good at visual measurements).
There will always be an assistant that will point the mic if needed. Now, as the assistant will be seated, it will not be easy, but from what I can undersand, pointing it relatively at the source should do the trick?
Audience is 30-50, max 70.
The sound should be understandable, as the lessons are streamed through Adobe Connect.
Budget – as you can tell, my field of expertise is somewhat different, so I am not sure about the prices.
My boss told me that I should find a solution, he should take care of the money.It would be nice to get a starting point from you.
Big thx.
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Are you limited to one microphone? If not, use as many positioned as close to the sources and record multi-track. That you can later decide which one to use when someone speaks.
Br,
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1) Put a wireless lav (or headset) microphone on the teacher. DO NOT attempt to “aim” a microphone of any kind at the teacher, especially if you have only one microphone person to cover the auditors.
2) If you cannot get a microphone within 3ft/1m of an auditor to hear what they say, then forget trying to pick up the auditors on a microphone, and have the instructor repeat the question or statement. In many cases, it is better to have the teacher repeat the question anyway in order to make better sense of it for the other students.
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I see.
What if I were to do that. Is there a software of some kind that could help manage all the mics (turn on and off when needed). – I imagine they would be controlled from a PC?
Also, how many mics do you think would be ok for that room, or how many per person, or what is the distance from which a mic would work fine?
Do you have some mics in mind, or at least what type of mics (for the auditors, not the teacher)?
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There are “auto-mixers” that sense who is speaking and turns on that microphone. For example Shure SCM810 or Rane AM2 or any of the products from Dan Dugan, including plug-in accessories for existing mixers.
https://www.shure.com/americas/products/mixers-dsp/scm810-8-channel-automatic-mixer
https://www.rane.com/am2.html
https://www.dandugan.com/You need at least one microphone between each 2 people. If you try to do one mic per 3 or 4 people, the difference between the people (because of the different distance) will be too much. Some people will be very loud and others will be very difficult to hear.
With so many auditors/students, this method could get very expensive very quickly which is why it is rarely used. To get decent sound in that situation, people will hire 2 or 3 good boom microphone operators (depending on how many people you are trying to cover).
This really is one of the most difficult kinds of scenarios to get good sound from. There are no effective short-cuts that anybody has ever heard of.
We don’t know whether you are doing a single event or whether this is a series of sessions? There is also the option of renting equipment if you need it only a few times.
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I see, I will analyze the situation and if I have more questions, will come back.
For now, thank you.
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Hello LB and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
How many speaking auditors?
Will the teacher be at the narrow or wide side of the table?
Will there be any use of PA speakers to amplify what’s being spoken?
Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum LeaderWant better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog -
The teacher will speak mainly, but the auditors might ask questions, and as you can see they could be placed anywhere.
The teacher will be at the narrow side.
No amplifying.
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How many auditors asking questions?
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