[Richard Crowley]

I agree with everything that Bruce Watson said. And to pile-on:

1) Recording in monaural is typically not a very good choice. You can always take a stereo recording and mix it down to mono. But you can never take a mono recording and make stereo out of it.

2) Sensibly priced microphones like the ones from Line Audio are quite sufficient for choir recording. I use similar mics for choral recording. ISK Pro Audio Little Gem: https://www.iskproaudio.com/collections/frontpage/products/little-gem

You described only the general size of the recording space. But not the acoustic properties. Recording a large group in such a small space generally results in a boxy, “closed-in” sound because of very early reflections. You should seriously consider spending part of your budget for acoustic treatment. A few hundred dollars spent on acoustic mitigation will have a MUCH more audible effect on the quality of your recording than the difference between a $200 mic vs. an $800 mic.

Having the group in a circle is a benefit to the performers because they can see and hear each other much better than in an arrangement more suitable for a live performance. I often record smaller vocal groups in a circle.

A popular choice for recording a group in a circle would be a pair of figure-8 microphones at right angles to each other. This is known as a “Blumlein pair”

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blumlein_pair

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

If this is a video/audio record of a performance, then leaving the sound-stage mix static is most certainy the way to go. The sound-track should stand-alone as a good audio recording even without the video.

However, note that if this is a dramatic piece about a musician, etc. That is a different situation where the perspective of the performer is important to the dramatic presentation.

But switching the sound-stage around with different camera angles is essentially NEVER done. Suggest to your client to view 100 (or 1000) professionally done videos and collect examples of what they are asking for. Don’t hold your breath. OTOH, “the customer is always right”. And sometimes we are not in a position to encourage sensible decisions. If it is too goofy, you can always credit Alan Smithee with the audio mix. 🙂

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

If you have correlated the noise with mains power line events, that strongly suggests power-line interference is the root problem. So your attention to the power line is a good instinct IMHO.

Bur a “surge protector” is not anything like a power line noise filter. I would go so far as to say that a “surge protector” that cost less than $100-200 may not be much of a “surge protector” either. Most “surge protectors” are $3 plastic power strips with a single-use MOV (metal oxide varistor) that cost 72 cents. And they they charge you 20x for the warm feeling of protection.

If I had that problem, I would first attempt to discover exactly which loads in your house are causing the transients. Then you can apply a snubber across the switch contacts. Always better to stop the transient at the source than try to protect yourself downstream.

It has always been the case that some microphones are more sensitive to power noise than others. No real surprise there.

Something like these are what I would consider minimum “noise filters”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IX04FDW/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003PJ6NPO/

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

It is not clear why you think you need “two separate tracks”?
What we call “Stereo” is just two separate tracks that happen to be recorded together.

If you plug one microphone into the #1 Left input and the other microphone into the #2 Right input, you will have a “stereo” track with one microphone on the “Left” and the other microphone on the “Right”. This is a very common way of recording multiple microphones and it is not clear why this is not acceptable?

You did not state what editing software you are using, but I can’t think of any editing software that won’t let you separate the “Track #1 Left” and “Track #2 Right” channels to properly mix them independently.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Your Sennheiser XS t35 wireless lavaliere mic is wired for use with a wireless body pack transmitter.
But the Ch3-4 input of the Tascam recorder is wired for use with a stereo microphone.
The way in which the connectors are wired are not compatible.
It is rather remarkable that you get any sound recorded at all.
It would probably be possible to create an adapter cable that would allow plugging the Sennheiser mic into the Tascam recorder. But they are not compatible out of the box.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

We don’t know exactly what you mean by “nowhere near as good”.
A sample of the inferior recording would permit people to evaluate and diagnose possible problems.
There are perhaps a dozen or more possible things that could cause problems.

That MV-RC100 cable is remarkably light on any technical details.
Have you used it successfully in any other situation?

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

The FCC announced in 2014 that the 600 MHz band has been re-purposed and sold off to other services, making all 600 MHz wireless microphones illegal in the United States. So perhaps it is a moot point whether a 600 MHz band wireless microphone is worth repairing?

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

You can probably do this. A much more confident response would be possible if we knew exactly which microphone you are asking about. Absent any details, it seems likely that applying phantom power to both channels would be safe.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

This is not a “race for the bottom”. ????
It is an example of that valuable axiom posited by a reviewer over on GearSlutz, one of my favorite tech quotations:

“A $200 cable is better than a $2 cable. But it is not better than a $5 cable.”

There is no doubt that the features of the $240 Kramer switcher are essential for many installations. The remote-control and system network features being the most notable.
But for simple stereo line-level input selection, the Kramer box will provide no extra value over the cheap-n-cheerful solutions. KISS. I believe in spending my budget where it will have the most benefit.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Here is one. There are probably several more options.

https://www.amazon.com/Source-Tabletop-Control-Switch-Internal/dp/B0056DQT1A

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.