post: Switching between multiple lavalier mics?

H

highdefvideo

Member
I often record two-person interview with two lavalier mics

During editing, when one person speaks, I mute the other audio track, otherwise there would be a slight echo because the lavalier mics picks up not just the wearer's voice but also a little bit of the adjacent person's.

This becomes tedious when they're having a conversation. Is there a more convenient way to do this? Maybe a plug-in to automatically switch to the loudest audio track? Or do you just tolereate the echo and mix both tracks at all times?
 
I have used side-chained compressors on projects. An expander is another option. I avoid hard muting and noise gates, which can be audible. The best sounding IMO is with volume envelopes. It is relatively quick and easy to draw them and/or copy paste in some NLEs and DAWs. Vegas Pro for instance.
 
Not a pro here, but it sounds like you want something like Dugan automix but for previously recorded material.

This plugin should do that https://www.wtautomixer.com/ but I do not know of anyone who has used it, so look for reviews first.

The duck mode in WaveRider would also work.

https://quietart.co.nz/waverider/


Finally, you could use a very aggressive ducking compressor. When one person speaks, the compressor compresses the other track making is quieter. Never done that, but it may work for free.
 
I use a compressor expander to do this but also for TV live work we have automixers on our high end Calrec Apollo and Artemis consoles.

When editing dialogue for drama or even documentaries we would trim all the audio onto split tracks and some edit systems even have strip silence to do this. Then we would edit and add mono room tone to fill in any gaps and then add a stereo room tone or ambience to give drama in particular a sense of perspective and depth.
 
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