[Richard Crowley]

HOW did you record these? Did you record all three of these exactly the same way? I hear what he is saying about examples 2 and 3. They have a distracting metallic close-reflection “ring” to them. You could try sweeping a notch filter in there to try to reduce the “ring”. But whether it is “acceptable” or not is up to the director’s ears.

It is an order of magnitude more likely that this can be fixed during shooting than trying any number of filters and tricks after the fact. Of course you should be wearing GOOD, sound-occluding headphones. If you were, then you should have heard the problem and fixed it before hitting the record button.

[Richard Crowley]

Proper press conferences typically have a “press box” where you (and all the other reporters) can simply plug in your (XLR) mic cable to an outlet and get all the sound (presenters as well as reporters) mixed for you. Like this…

https://www.thebroadcastshop.com/images/equipment/Audio/op-va16-ml8.jpg

I don’t know why it is so fiddly to try to post an image to this forum. I guess they are just trying to discourage us from using up their hard drive space… Oh well.

[Richard Crowley]

What is your role here? Are you just one of dozens of reporters showing up for the press conference? Are you supposed to be operating the sound system for the press conference? Is this a place where press conferences are common? Or is this a unique experience?

How many reporters (or people asking questions) do you anticipate? Does the venue commonly setup microphones on stands for people to come up and ask questions? Do they have some other way of capturing audience questions? How important is it to capture the audience questions? Will the presenters repeat the question for the audience/recording?

There are many more questions here than you have answered, and it is difficult to recommend anything with so many remaining unknowns.

[Richard Crowley]

The TVS has only digital audio input. I don’t know that it does anything with the audio data coming in on an SDI or HDMI video input.

Furthermore, “sync” implies that you are delaying the audio signal so that it matches the video delay and everything is synchronized at the output of the switcher. None of your proposed solutions provides the necessary audio delay.

OTOH, the Behringer Ultracurve Pro DEQ2496 is reputed to provide both analog to digital conversion AND audio signal delay.

[Richard Crowley]

“In summary, i dont think theres much can be done as removing reverb is not something Im aware is possible at the moment.(If anyone knows different please send me the details and Ill be very happy)”

This appears to be the state of the art these days…
https://www.zynaptiq.com/unveil/videos/

But, of course a $400 (or $4000) plug-in after the fact can NEVER yield results that you would get by simply recording it properly in the first place.

[Richard Crowley]

And if you DO still want to hang some general-coverage mics, hanging a cardioid mic pointing at the table seems like it is not very optimal for picking up the desired signal (the people sitting around the edges of the table). This is a prime application for an omnidirectional mic.

[Richard Crowley]

I’m not exactly sure whether you are talking about casual recording (verbal notes) or whether you are asking about using this for video production?

While the microphones suggested by Mr. Ford are all well-respected models, remember that your recorder appears to have only 3.5mm mic input jack, so microphones terminated in XLR connectors won’t work.

There are any number of small (and inexpensive) clip-on lav mics that you could use, including one recommended by Olympus for your model…

https://www.amazon.com/Olympus-145045-ME-15-Microphone/dp/B000815CF4/ref=pd_cp_MI_1

Also on Amazon, I saw several similar clip-on lav mics selling for one cent(!) Any microphone designed for plugging into a computer will also work with your recorder (except that typically it will record on the left channel only).

Most lav mics are omnidirectional because they use the principle of PROXIMITY to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The laws of physics prevent making a microphone directional at very low frequencies when the physical size is smaller than the wavelength of the sound wave.

[Richard Crowley]

It depends on what you are mixing whether you really NEED a subwoofer. Many people mix everyday stuff (mainly speech/dialog, and some pre-mixed commercial production music) without any subwoofer. Business stuff, web clips, instructional videos, etc. But if you are actually mixing full-range music (vs. simply buying commercial pre-mixed production music) or if you are doing critical things like living on the edge trying to mix someone with a deep voice who was recorded somewhere with low-frequency ambient rumble (for example), then you probably need better coverage below the main pair speaker LF cutoff so you can hear what you are doing.

Different speakers have different LF response. Certainly you wouldn’t expect a main pair with 6-inch speakers to have the same low-end performance as speakers with 8-inch speakers, etc. It is difficult to get accurate numbers for crossover frequencies for many products because of the way speakers are marketed. Some brands are more truthful than others. And, of course, your room plays a critical part as well.

[Richard Crowley]

There is nothing magic about 5.1 speakers. Even the very best and most expensive small monitor speakers can use a good subwoofer to extend the low-end response. I would prefer to buy a main stereo pair that was designed to be used with a subwoofer (correlated crossover frequency) even if I didn’t buy the subwoofer immediately. It is more tricky to select a good subwoofer when you have to do the crossover frequency research yourself. As for the rear channel speakers, if you have piles of money, you could just buy another pair like the main stereo speakers. But a budget option might be to buy a smaller version of the main stereo pair.

Those 5.1 speaker kits sold for use with computers are ALL cheap plastic junk. Don’t touch any of them. NEVER buy something touted as a “computer speaker”. They range from bad to absolutely horrid. Even “brand names” (like Altec) that were once proud, quality audio gear have been bought out by marketers of cheap asian junk.

[Richard Crowley]

Recommended listening: Episode 108 of “This Week in Radio Tech” an interview with George Whittam, a leading expert in voice over studio design.

https://twit.tv/show/this-week-in-radio-tech/108