Briefly: Because of some of the short videos I've created (with my own HD gear) of some events in my office, I've been asked for advice on audio gear for some planned teleconferences. Can anyone suggest a couple of mics and a mixer for sound capture for these conferences. The budget is up to $1K (less is better), but high sound quality is not terribly important. The main goal is to get the sound from a few sources in the room into the computer for the teleconference.
Details:
The video is using two low-resolution computer cameras because people at both ends will mainly be looking at (previously emailed) PowerPoint presentations controlled by the person presenting at either end of the conference.
There is one primary requirement and a secondary one for audio. The primary is to capture audio from people in a medium-sized room (about 50' x 50') with a few rows of tables facing a screen. (Only one person will be speaking at a time.) There's also a small podium with a computer that will be doing the communication to the other location. The podium is off to one side of the front of the room. What's desired is a microphone at the podium for a presenter as well as a microphone for a coordinator/moderator who will be sitting at the center table in the front (facing the screen). The main purpose of these mics is to capture their voices to send to the computer for the teleconference.
There may be a request at some future point to have a wireless mic to pass around to other participants, but if this happens at all it would only be for a handful of questions at the end of the conference. The moderator's mic could be used for now, but it would be more convenient to have that third mic.
The secondary requirement is to use the audio that's captured to record the event onto a video camera. This is not even a request yet, but I can see the potential for it coming. Right now they use the mics built into the inexpensive video cameras so virtually any mics placed in front of a speaker will be an improvement.
Durability is one of the requirements as well as a set-it-and-forget-it set-up, I was thinking of a few of the Shure SM58 mics and stands, but I'm open to all suggestions. A couple of these mics, stands, and cables would still leave several hundred of dollars for a mixer. But I'm not sure which would work.
Thanks for any ideas.
Details:
The video is using two low-resolution computer cameras because people at both ends will mainly be looking at (previously emailed) PowerPoint presentations controlled by the person presenting at either end of the conference.
There is one primary requirement and a secondary one for audio. The primary is to capture audio from people in a medium-sized room (about 50' x 50') with a few rows of tables facing a screen. (Only one person will be speaking at a time.) There's also a small podium with a computer that will be doing the communication to the other location. The podium is off to one side of the front of the room. What's desired is a microphone at the podium for a presenter as well as a microphone for a coordinator/moderator who will be sitting at the center table in the front (facing the screen). The main purpose of these mics is to capture their voices to send to the computer for the teleconference.
There may be a request at some future point to have a wireless mic to pass around to other participants, but if this happens at all it would only be for a handful of questions at the end of the conference. The moderator's mic could be used for now, but it would be more convenient to have that third mic.
The secondary requirement is to use the audio that's captured to record the event onto a video camera. This is not even a request yet, but I can see the potential for it coming. Right now they use the mics built into the inexpensive video cameras so virtually any mics placed in front of a speaker will be an improvement.
Durability is one of the requirements as well as a set-it-and-forget-it set-up, I was thinking of a few of the Shure SM58 mics and stands, but I'm open to all suggestions. A couple of these mics, stands, and cables would still leave several hundred of dollars for a mixer. But I'm not sure which would work.
Thanks for any ideas.
