Richard Crowley
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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The most popular and most logical modern solution is to use a headset microphone. It keeps the very small tip of the microphone wand right next to the subject’s mouth and follows them wherever they turn or tilt their head. Far and away the best solution, IMHO.
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In general, it is not recommended to provide phantom power to a microphone operating on its internal battery. Most mics will tolerate that, but some behave badly. Remember also to remove the battery unless you are using the mic daily.
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How are you doing these “run-n-gun” interviews? Do you have someone on-camera (or off-camera) who is engaging the people and asking them questions? Or are you (presumably the camera operator) doing it yourself? A very common solution to this is to have an interviewer/producer either on-camera or off-camera who interviews the subjects. Then it is easy to have a microphone in their hand which they hold up to the subject to capture perfect audio.
IMHO, modern audiences don’t expect the kind of subterfuge of concealing microphones for stand-up interviews. It is perfectly acceptable to see someone holding a microphone to the subject’s mouth in order to capture decent audio quality. If the audio is difficult to understand, what is the point of the interview at all? Unless you are showing and commenting on how people are dressed on the red carpet at an awards show, etc, the AUDIO is more important than the video here.
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Many old-school audio people prefer the sound of a traditional shotgun to any kind of clip-on microphone. But even fielding ONE good boom operator with decent equipment and proper monitoring, etc. is expensive. Providing MULTIPLE good boom operators with proper equipment, etc. just seems beyond reasonable for most of us, at least IMHO.
Not to mention that modern shooting styles with more mobile cameras and less need for big lighting setups, etc. means that we frequently don’t have the luxury of a predictable frame to even know how to position a boom mic, etc.
So much of this depends on exactly what you are shooting and with what resources (budget, personnel, time, equipment), it is almost impossible to discuss this in broad, generic terms.
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Yes, yes, and yes. There is no generic rule that covers all situations. Certainly there could be situations where you can aim a shotgun (or hyper-cardioid) mic BETWEEN two people dialoging and get acceptable coverage. But i other cases it won’t work at all.
And much depends on factors like the boom operator, the ambience, the dialog, etc. etc. etc. Way too many variables to make any generic pronouncement.
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Good show! Congratulations on identifying and resolving the problem.
We all sometimes forget that all those cool wireless gadgets we use are actually TRANSMITTING digital noise into the air. And that is NOT good for most audio equipment. It would be better to put transmitters like that in another room.
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Can you make a shorting plug so the input isn’t “flopping out in the breeze”?
Is the power cord long enough that you can move the left speaker physically to the right side (while powered up and operating)? Does the noise gradually diminish as you move it to the right, or does it suddenly disappear?
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If the “leftmost” speaker always produces the noise even when you swap them, then it can’t be the speakers, can it?
It is not clear exactly what piece of gear is FEEDING the signal to the left and right speakers. It seems most likely THAT piece of gear is the culprit.
Perhaps if you better explain the signal path in detail, we could be of more help to you. Model numbers, types of cable, etc. are all valuable details.
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Yes, your replacement cable sounds like a PRIME SUSPECT in this case.
As Mr. Toline explained, it must be wired in a particular way to work properly. This is no place for a random, generic cable. -
The most obvious detail would seem to be the output level setting of the receiver. Can you swap the microphones between bodypacks (transmitters). Are the transmitter/receiver sets in the same frequency band? i.e. can you try receiving different transmitters and going to different receivers?
The key to identifying the problem is to swap ONE thing at a time and see if it makes a difference or not:
Microphone -> Transmitter -> Receiver -> Recorder