Capturing audio interviews at a conference

G

gaddster

Active member
Just wondering what the best way is to capture audio (interviews) at a conference I am attending this friday.

I have an AT875r on top of my camera but wondering if it will pick up too much noise from the people attending. I also have a zoom H4N and a Shure Beta 87a I could use along with a rode lavaliere (not wireless).

Is it worth running out and buying a NTG-3 for this event?
 
How do TV news channels do it? They use a hand mic which is normally omni directional in pattern held at chest height.... and why do they do it?..... because it works.
How many times do news broadcasts use interviews recorded with a 'top' mic?...........NEVER
How many times do you see interviews done with a short shotgun mic?.........very rarely and then only done with very skilled interviewers.

So to get good 'useable' sound with interviews the mic needs to be of omni or cardioid pattern and placed about 300-500mm from the mouth.....Simple any different from that will deliver poor results.

If you could get the same / similar results with camera mounted mics etc don't you think TV broadcasters would be doing it?
 
Thanks OzGizmo

You're right although I am working solely on the project so wasn't sure if giving someone a handheld mic would somehow make the people being filmed a little uncomfortable.

Suppose I could put the mic in a boom stand, below chest height so its out of shot.
 
On-camera is the worst and last place to put a mic.

The hypercardioid is too wide-patterned in that scenario, and on top of the camera it is guaranteed to pick up lots of noise from the camera and the person operating it. Replacing that with a shotgun won't help much, either. Yeah, it's narrower in pickup patten, but atop the camera it is pointed straight at the interviewee... and everything that is behind the interviewee.

A handheld omni, a la ENG reporting, is certainly an option. So is a lavaliere with wireless transmitter. Since your crew is comprised of just you, that may be the better way to go.

As far as using the handheld omni/ENG solution on a boom stand, I wouldn't. First, if you're going to boom a mic, it should be a shotgun or hypercardioid boomed from overhead and very, very close to the interviewee. Depending on where the conference is, the shotgun may be better. BUT, do you really want to have to lug an extra stand around with you and your one-man crew? The wireless kit with lav is compact and easy to carry.
 
gaddster said:
Suppose I could put the mic in a boom stand, below chest height so its out of shot.
Click to expand...

You could, if you want more background noise and less from the interviewee. Signal to noise ratio with mics is about how close to the mouth you are. You move the mic out of the shot, you increase noise in audio. Simple.

People are telling you to hand the "talent" a reporter's mic (Electro Voice re50n/d-b, Sennheiser MD-42, etc.) because that's the solution to the problem you have stated. Give the talent a tiny bit of training - tell them to keep it close to the mouth (as close as 10cm in noisy environments) and don't "droop" as they talk. With an omni, that's all you need to tell them really.

On a trade show floor, take along 3m of XLR cable and use the mic wired. You're likely to run into all kinds of wireless RF interference at a trade show; wired is a much safer way to go.
 
Thanks Alex/Bruce

Lots of great advice there. I thought about the Sennheiser wireless lavalier solution but wondered if it would distract the MD from mingling at the conference. I do have a rode wired lavaliere that i could plug into my zoom H4N

So is my shure beta 87a useless because its a cardioid?
 
Conferences are really noisy. You can see footage and interviews done with camera mounted mics and they are usually really bad. Because it's at a convention your audience will accept some bad but depending on the conference it could go way beyond bad. I would probably keep the 875 on the camera and feeding one track. It would be really nice if you had some help since it is going to look a bit weird to have the interviewee holding the mic but? I'm assuming you will be asking the questions so remember you will need to get your voice also if you want a Q&A kind of interview. For logistics a plugin transmitter on a reporter mic would be pretty ideal, but you should be able to keep the cable pretty short so that could work.

Hint. If you are going to re-ask the questions later so you can get them clear, make sure to get some crowd ambience around each interview so you can lay it under your rerecorded questions.

Patterns
The shotgun on your camera is a short shotgun with a fairly wide pattern and will probably pick up a lot of what you don't want, BUT if you are working close and can do the interviews so that you are pointing away from the crowd and hopefully into something soft like a curtain it might be OK.
Omni you would think would be worse but the trick is it's MUCH closer and that trumps the omniness. Also the omni will be very forgiving of bad mic technique. The cardioid could be fine. It will isolate more BUT if you don't have someone who knows how to handle a mic they are going to be aiming it at places other than their mouth a lot and that WILL be a problem. Another reason a tighter shotgun is likely not to help.

If you head over to Basic Brewing .com and look at the video podcasts that are from the GABF (like this one) you can see what they do. They are using a cardioid I believe and there are a few times you can hear what happens when you go out of the pattern. This is a very loud conference so there you go.

BTW I would quibble a bit with the comment by OzGizmos definition of a "top mic". The reporter mic used kind of ubiquitously the RE50 IS a top mic (for what it was designed for). It's just bot an expensive studio mic. But I think his point is that trowing a tot of money at equipment is not going to solve your problem.
 
Just one question what sort of camera are you shooting on? And don't say DSLR as it's just the wrong sort of setup for this kind of thing.
 
Thanks Scott, very detailed response so I am understanding more and more here

Ozgizmo I am shooting on an ac160 and an ac90 (for some slider shots and time lapse)

Richard, I use the beta 87a for my musician work, so whilst I have a great appreciation for sound for that industry, I am still learning all the sound requirements in this industry.
 
The Beta 87 is great mic.. for it's intended usage... live vocals. However I have seen them on podiums occasionally, along with the frequently used 57/58. Either way, if the speaker goes off-axis, the volume and frequency change is significant.
I concur, one of the above mentioned omni H/H reporter's mic would be recommended.
 
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