How to capture sound in this scenario?

C

crammond

Active member
The client wants to have the whole "press conference" shot in a room without any kind of sound mixers and speakers. So it is going to be about 15-20 people but I was told only 2-3 people will be talking and asking questions. Since there is no sound system in the room I asked about putting wireless lavs on the people who will talk and was told that I cannot do that.

I'm left with little options. The client is aware that because of restrictions the sound won't be perfect but they still expect the best possible sound I can get.

I will record the event with my Canon C100 and the sound capturing devices I have are:

- rodelink wireless lav
- AT875r shotgun mic
- rode videomic pro
- rode reporter
- tascam dr-40

I was thinking of either placing the tascam on the table next to the group of people who will do the talking, but I'm left without any kind of "control" until they finish (I will try to set the levels but generally don't like to record something I cannot listen to while recording) or maybe plugging the VideoMic pro into the transmitter of the rodelink, put it on the table near the speaking group of people and point it their way.

Any suggestions?
 
Is this a "real" press-conference, or is this a scene from a production? Is this scripted? Otherwise, how do we know that "only 2-3 people will be talking and asking questions." That doesn't sound like any kind of press conference I have ever seen.

What is the framing? Why can't you "boom" it? Is this all one shot, or will there be a cover shot and close-ups on speaking actors, etc?
 
There is not enough information to provide advice. How many people are at the table. Is the table on a stage or just in front of the room. How far away from the table are the people that are asking the questions. How far apart will the people speaking be spaced? I.e. are there 10 people at the table but only 3 are going to speak? Are they together? Is it a round table or a straight table facing the guests.
 
assuming this is a real press conference/product release/ whatever. They don't want sound ... This is one case I would probably go with a camera mounted mic. Tell them that it will be passable to total crap depending on luck.

Maybe I'm just too old for this BS, but I have come to the point where I'm not willing to do a bunch of extra work and fight with people who just really don't care. With no mics it's going to be a shouting match anyway so you will probably get something. And it will be like their home movies, only OK for those that have memories of the actual event.

IF they let you stick the DR-40 someplace closeish then I would probably do that. But you have explained that mics are what capture sound and if you can't get some in a decent positions it will be total luck if people speak loud enough and you are aimed in about the right place. If with that knowledge they are not willing to let you do what needs to be done...

Other than the general "why fight to do them a favor" the other reason is that you actually want them to get really bad sound on something, maybe not this thing but it actually sounds like a lower loss than many things. Otherwise you will keep getting "we didn't last time and it was fine".

It's a place I hate to be at but sometimes you have to let people fail, kind of like teaching kids. You want a few soft failures because those are the lessons that really stick.

In this case you need to make sure that everyone knows this is NOT your failure by making it clear up front.

The down side of course is that even with a lot of coverage things can go wrong so if you make a stink and they buckle shoot the hell out of it so your covered.
 
Just post some distorted sound with mic pops all over it and when a question is asked just add +30db of gain in you camera mic and then cut it in with no regard for the background level change. A goosneck electret mic with no foam wind gag on it will overload quite nicely and for added effect the person who speaks can man handle it to within one inch of their mouth.

Well that is the reality that I seem to get from all the press conferences that are done on news and sports news these days! ;0)
 
sorry for the late reply.

This is not staged, it is a real "press conference" (it was named press conference by the client and from what I understand it is one) but only 1 person will speak and only 2 people will ask questions. I will be told beforehand where the talking people will sit and from what I understood (or I'll try to lobby it lol) they will sit all 3 of them together. Every one else is a guest. The client wants the conference shoot in 1 long take and as soon as we are finished I NEED to pack all my gear up and keep on following the guests through their day. Considering their budget doesn't cover a 2nd shooter nor a sound guy I cannot do a 2 camera shoot (at least not easily, most of the time my locked down camera, the C100, gets bumped by other press people) and also boom it.

I cannot boom it because of multiple other reasons:

- i will see the conference room for the first time about 15minutes prior to the conference itself so I don't even have the time to set up everything nor bring it from my car. From my experience with this client 15min means more like 5 which is barely enough to find a good spot for the camera and (for the first time) hear and see where the important people will sit. Since I've never been to the room nor am provided with any information, I have no idea if it is a round table or not and don't know how many feet/meters apart will the 3 speaking people sit (hopefully close together).

- there will be other press people who (from my experience) don't really care about other equipment and can bump or possibly even trip over the boom while trying to get their best shot.

- as mentioned above, there will probably be less than 5min for me to pack everything up and get on the bus and to another city for a walking tour through some nature and than again something like a lecture; no time for me to pack everything up and be on the bus in time.

I know I'm in a rather s*%tty position so I have to do the best I can with the setup I've listed above and with considerations that this is a 1 man band thing. I know I can at least throw my DR40 on the table in front of the people talking so I also think that is the best way. If they will also sit those 3 together it *should* work.

I have told them a couple of times that I cannot get them good sound without any proper mics but they don't seem to listen or understand (which is odd as something like this has happened before when they were informed I will bring a handheld wireless sennheiser mic for some presentations and they approved it. When they saw the mic I was told the presenter is shy and doesn't want to hold the mic - wtf, the sound was rather s*%t than as you can imagine..)

Should I even mention that a day prior to this conference they want me to shoot their gala dinner where there will be people having speeches and again I cannot mic anyone up... :D
 
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It sounds easy-peasy from your description; three people sitting together. You have a four-track recorder. Put that in front of the speaker. Put the hand-held in front of the questioner that is going to ask the most questions (ask them which one it is and have them sit in front of the hand-held). Put the lav on the table for the other person asking questions. Turn on record and hope for the best. Between the four mics, you should have something decent.
 
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Can you plant wireless lavs on/under the table. Just the lav would have to stick out a little at one side of the table (side closer to camera) and the wirless system can be taped under the table.
 
Sounds easy to me. The client obviously doesn't give a ****, so why should you? I'm with Noiz, let it crash and burn and maybe they'll learn for next time.
 
The downside of letting it crash and burn is that you eventually get reputation for producing crappy work. You never know who besides the client is going to see the final product and it's likely they won't know it's the client's fault it's so bad - they'll think it's because you don't know what you're doing. My gut feeling is that if the client really won't let you do the job properly, it's time to walk away from the gig. My professional reputation is worth far more then the few bucks the client would pay me to do his POS his way.
 
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Steve House said:
The downside of letting it crash and burn is that you eventually get reputation for producing crappy work. You never know who besides the client is going to see the final product and it's likely they won't know it's the client's fault it's so bad - they'll think it's because you don't know what you're doing. My gut feeling is that if the client really won't let you do the job properly, it's time to walk away from the gig. My professional reputation is worth far more then the few bucks the client would pay me to do his POS his way.
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+1 After its all done you will get the blame. Either insist on doing it properly or walk away.
 
There is no magic, or even decent solution for this, given the unrealistic constraints and conditions.
Throw a mic in there wherever they will allow it, and hope for the best.
If they "aren't expecting much" then they should be happy with whatever they get.
I would avoid an ongoing relationship with such a clueless client.
 
From your description I would use typical press-conference mics as your audio mics, and use hidden LAV mics to ensure you have back-up audio tracks. So you're going to want at least a 4-track recorder to record the main presenter's mic, plus the hidden LAV mics, and potentially an "audience" mic on a stand for the people asking questions. From the camera perspective it should look like a typical press-conference with no extra mics visible other than the main podium mics. You might want to run everything through a mixer to ensure good levels for all audio tracks. ( this could be a standard board mixer or a field-mixer )
 
It is not an in-house gig, but they are my 2nd biggest client. I work with different people inside the firm and all of them but 1 understand my concern about good audio being important. The jobs I get from this one person are always problematic audio wise (for example the presentation I mentioned above...).

We agreed today that I can put the wireless lav on the only asking reporter (it is in the brief so if more than one will be asking questions it is not my problem anymore as I've asked again today if only 1 will be asking questions) and be allowed to put either the tascam dr-40 on the table (or a stand) next to the 1 speaking person or the Rode Reporter connected to the tascam (from my recent testing I've noticed that the tascam just isn't powerful enough to run the Reporter without siginifcant hiss, so I'd probably try to avoid this setup).

The sitting plan details will only be know 15 minutes prior to the start of the conference so I will have to wait until that to see what are my best options.

Will let you know how it went.
 
In the end I was allowed to put my Tascam directly infront of the speaker and the audio is decent enough (I was actually surprised as it turned out better than I hoped for). I was also allowed to put the lav on the other person who was asking questions and the lav also picked up the voice of the speaker, but I like the Tascam audio better. Considering how it all looked it turned out pretty ok.
 
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