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talk show audio
We do a TV talk show. The host has a loud booming voice that projects like few do. The audio levels on the gust mic are as high as the hosts mic. Because of this his voice often sounds like he is in a well because we hear him over two mics. His amplification range is also all over the place especially when he laughs. During recording I have a NRC compressor on him in super nice mode which is actually two compressors.
Our host likes being very close to the guest which amplifies the problem with voice bleeding into the other mic. (I record the host pan left and put him on channel one of the DVCAM and the host is panned right for channel two.)In post I create a track to isolate his audio selecting channel one and the guest mic goes on channel two on another unique track. I put a volume envelope on both tracks and lower the guest mic when the host is speaking.
I use 4 instances of compression plus wave hammer. It goes: soft limiter, softlimiter, 15db limiter, wave hammer with voice mode on volume maximizer in that order. (I found out that two soft limiters in a series is less noticeable than one hard limiter.)
The volume maximizer seems to fight what I’m doing with the envelopes and the well sound can come back.
This seems like more work than needed, but I can’t get the same quality results just applying compressors etc.
Shows I watch on TV seem to have more distance between the host and the guest.
Anyone have some ideas?
Thanks
Larry
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2 Replies
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Use unidirectional mics.
Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST
Aerial Camera/Instructor
Certified Sony Vegas Trainer -
Sounds like fun.
First thing to do is aquire the best audio during recording.
I bet you are using omni-directional Lav’s on your talent.
Invest in some good quality directional lav’s. This will give you more direct sound for both guys right away. Be careful with how much you compress things. If you compress to much you will lose your directness and start sounding boomie and
non-direct. Apply light compression no ratio higher than 4:1 and gain reduce about 2-4 db on the louder talking. It is better to write volume envelopes than to overcompress. Also apply a peak limiter to the main output to catch that stuff that really kicks the meters. You only want to catch the peaks. In your situation over compession and over limiting can kill your direct sound.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to buy
some good directional lavs.Regards, Rick.
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