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Microphone for conference
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În theory it could be all of them. From my experience it is like about 7 from 30 who are more active.
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Not a good time for good audio.
So they are all sitting around the table. Please provide a lot more detail.
Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum LeaderWant better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog -
I think you need to talk to your boss about the reality of this being a difficult production. You could have the teacher wearing an E6 mike. We are looking at a few hundred bucks plus another 7 or so for the cordless kit. do a search on BHPHOTO for countryman E6 and Sennheiser G3. The other speakers would need to have the mike come to them or vice versa. You could set up a mike on a stand and when someone has a question they could move to it. Or they could raise their hand and a co-host could move to them. You could use a cordless handheld for this. If money was not an issue I would just hire a pro – pay them to set up the shoot and train you on how to use the equipment. Or the idea above works as well. The teacher repeats the questions being asked before answering. Being at a school I deal with this type of request all the time. Everyone thinks capturing a meeting or a presentation in the auditorium is a piece of cake. The visual not so hard; the audio, always a challenge.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Firstly, thank you all for the input.
@Ty Ford, I will try to explain as well as possible.
1. So there is this room https://flic.kr/p/nqbZDH
2. One teacher and 30-50 auditors.
3. The teacher is static, so basically, a wireless system is not necessary. He could stand up or sit down, but I think that a mic can record at that distance.
4. We have been doing these conferences for over a year with a cheap mic, and while it could be better, it is acceptable. We are looking to upgrade.
5. A wireless mic for the audience would be an interesting idea, even more so if it could be turned on by the push of a button on the mic.
6. Repeating the question is possible, but not always. Also, it could turn into a discussion, so it would be best to have a mic for the more active.
7. I was thinking, from everything that you advised, that a mic on a stand with 360 degrees coverage for the teacher would be best. It would also pick up a couple of auditors from the first rows.
8. As for the audience, either two mics, placed at an equal distance – in the middle, and when someone would speak, the appropriate mic would be turned on.
9. Or, a wireless mic that would be passed among the audience and turned on when one would speak.What I dont know is how would I join all the audio streams. Is a mixer necessary? Or these mics can go straight into the PC?
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Wow! Great documentation. Very helpful.
My top idea would be a wireless lav for the presenter and push to talk desk mounted mics at every position.
My next idea would be figure of eight mics between each pair mounted between the tables and run through a series of auto mixers. I’ve only seen them in 8 channels maximum, so you’d need at lest three, maybe four of them. with the output of each automixer going to a separate track.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum LeaderWant better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog -
I have seen these mixers with 8 channels that vary from 300$ to 1,200$.
For my purpose, which do you think will suffice? -
I still think your best choice for the main speaker is an E6 not an omni that picks up the first couple of rows of the group. Even a mounted mike facing the speaker, you’ll get significant drop off in sound as he turns his head from side to side. It can be wired, but you’d have to run the wire to the camera and with this set up if the camera moved at all that could prove to be a problem with a long XLR and all that furniture. But you know the lay out and if the cam will be static as well then wired is way cheaper.
I can’t see two mikes centered between the long audience group picking up all their voices. If you get a plug-on G3 transmitter, you can pair this with any hand-held mike and yes many of them come with an on-off switch. However, without it being sent to a monitor they will have no way of knowing their mike is off. You’ll be the only one who will know if they forget to turn it off or on. You can also have this mike on a separate channel than the speaker’s mike and control the gain that way. From low room noise to +4 or so when someone is asking a question. A mixer will always give you more control and better sound than trying to ride the gain on camcorder audio controls. If you use a different channel you can also adjust it in post. No doubt Ty’s suggestions are much less of a compromise but not cheap. There is also the possibility that in that room at any given day there will be interference on any cordless system. Always best to test it on that day and make sure you have a clean signal. Sometimes changing the channel helps (so know how to find a clean channel in advance of the event) . And in worse case, have an xlr back-up plan. In fact, if the camera will be static and the long xlr cord is in the center of the rectangle, you could have one handheld on each side of the table. So three mikes total and you’ll need a mixer for that. That’s still a lot of passing the mike down the table. Another option is to record the sound to an audio recorder and just run the on-board mike on the cam for audio sync in post.
Please post a clip of the finished film with the set up you choose. I’m interested in the result. It’s a very common request. And not an easy thing to pull off well.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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