Mic technique for noisy restaurant environment

B

bluelight

Member
Hello,

I need to record a lecture in a noise resurant environment and I tried with a Shotgun mic ( mounted on ceiling as the speaker would wear a lav and that's the best location that I could afford) but there are still a lot ambient noise picked up.

As the noise is more than low freqency hum mixed with human chattering. I am considering the option to add another mic pointing in opposite direction to pick up more on the ambient and phase reverse to mix with the main soundtrack.

Is it viable and what other technique could I use?

What will be the best post processing technqiue to clean up?

Thanks

Ed
 
This a seminar/Lecture and the speaker is standing on the floor and and he will walk around to write notes on whiteboard.

He will not wear a lav and I only have the option to mount a Sanken CS-1 on ceiling.
 
You can try adding another mic in the opposite direction, but it will not work. First, you will not get the phase to be exactly opposite. Even if you did, you're picking up the same audio on both mics, so everything will cancel out.

The best way to do this is to use a lav or boom the mic and get as close to the speaker as possible. This is especially true for a short shotgun like the CS1. If you have to mount the mic on from the ceiling, then get as close to the speaker as possible and point the mic towards him. You might be able to get rid of the low freq hum with a high pass filter. You can get rid of the human chattering by telling those people to STFU.
 
Tell the speaker or coordinator that you're a videographer, not a magician. Lav or terrible audio. The only other idea I can think of is boundary mics on the floor about 4 feet apart..two or three if he covers a lot of distance.
 
Two other considerations; an ear worn mic like the Countryman E6 gets the mic even closer which in a noisy environment is critical. Getting the mic away from clothing noise and accidentaly chest gestures is helpful too.

Another possibility would be a handheld dynamic mic. Low sensitivity keeps out the ambient but downside is obviously he needs to be speaking into the mic like a news reporter all the time.

If there is a Q&A you are going to want a handheld dynamic for the audience.

Cheers
 
I am just going to pop in here and second the lav suggestion. I don't know why he wouldn't wear one. I shoot a lot of comedians in clubs and the shotgun does the trick, but adding a lav to the performer and then mixing the two in post, makes it soooo much more professional sounding. The result is noticable even to lay people. The comments I get from normal folk are along the lines of: "That sounds like TV," which I take as a compliment. Then you always have the shotgun as a backup in case something goes wonky with the lav.

Anyway, I would second just telling the guy he has to be wired, or you cannot guarantee the sound...
 
Tell him he has two choices. He can either wear an unobtrussive lav that he will barely notice and will allow him to move about the room freely and capture great audio.

OR

He can hold a wired dynamic microphone (such as a Beta 58) and have to hold it to his mouth for the entire lecture.

Shotgun really isn't an option in a situation like this. You'd get the best result from a dynamic mic with him speaking directly into it, but the lav is the best all around solution.
 
As Wabbit said the countryman b6 ear worn mic is another good alternative (audio technica makes something like this too). Pair that with a Sennheiser eW100 G2 system and you will be suprised how good it will be.
 
If s/he is concerned about the lavaliere showing - then hide it just like you would on a narrative project. No one would be the wiser. And I have to third or fourth it - tell whoever is hiring you that they get a choice - wear a lav and get usable audio, or don't wear the lav and take what they get.

A shotgun isn't going to help all that much.

Phil
 
Thanks,

I tried today with a combination of:

1. Ceiling mounted short shotgun
2. Camera mounted Hyper
3. G2 with ME2 omni placed ( no luck to have the speaker wearing that ). on a table behind speaker within 5 feet.

I have not heard all recordings but my team mate said that the G2/Omni combo has a better sound.

It seems that in a noisy environment, close miking with less sentivity can help to isolate ambient sound.

cheers
 
hmmm. you're in for a world of pain here. a lav on a table five feet away is NOT NOT NOT close mic'ing dude.

Heres a pertinent question: WHY wont they wear a mic??

Dont bother with this "ceiling mounted shotgun" thing. you're totally wasting your time - it completely defies what a shotgun is actually designed to do. the hyper is at least not horrific, but im guessing you were miles away right?

this is such a weird situation, there is no reason why this should be hard for you - mic them, man!
 
What you're trying to do here is akin to putting a camera across a busy city street in a department store. You would NOT be able to get a clean shot of the speaker without all the foreground action of other people and traffic going up and down the street.
If you need CLEAN sound your only option is to put a wireless lav on the speaker, that is unless of course he doesn't mind someone walking around in front of him with a boom mic a foot above his head.
 
ozduc said:
unless of course he doesn't mind someone walking around in front of him with a boom mic a foot above his head.
Click to expand...

That's a funny picture. Would be a great commercial, SNL skit, short film, wouldn't it?
 
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