Audio in a Noisey Room?

[Anonymous]

I am trying to shoot 5 seperate tables of people simultaneously at a training session. There are three people at each table. As you can probably guess, there is a lot of background noise. I am currently using shotgun mics on camera with attenuation turned on to try to reduce background noise. I know wireless LAV Mics would probably be better, but we would need to purchase a lot of them as well as mixers. There are three to four people at each table and we are using two cameras. Is there a better way?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

If the audio you are trying to capture is at those tables simultaneously I think it will be very difficult to get it all without background noise from a camera mounted shotgun. If you can mount that shotgun on a boom pole and have a “helper” position it downward above the heads of the people at the table, I think that would probably help. If you need a wide shot though, you’ll most likely get the boom operator in the shot – and that is no good. Could you selectively focus in on one table at a time with the operator running around from table to table and then mix it with some wider shots with the boom person out of sight? If you are using 2 cameras and you have one instructor, you might be able to make one camera the primary with the shotgun directed toward the speaker and the second camera get table shots with audio from the boom.

Good luck.

Trey

[Anonymous]

a nice pzm mic on the table would be good.

John

[Anonymous]

John,

I have no exprerince with PZM mics. Would it pick up much beyond the range of the table? Also, can you reccomend a good one to try?

Thanks

[AaronMurphy]

Here’s a great PZM you can rent:

http://www.proaudiosuppliers.com/crown-pzm-30d.html

Go to crown’s website for more models.

It’s an omnidirectional mic that goes in the middle of the table. As long as your subjects are within 3-4 feet of the mic and the room is not LOUD, you should get pretty good seperation between your table people and the background noise.

We use a variation of this model to hide mics in the head-boards of the cast’s beds on the Real World for MTV. I was the Supervising Mixer on that show for 2 seasons.

They should be no more that $15/a day (each) to rent. Try VER (video equipment rentals), Wexler Video, or LocationSound.com if you don’t have a local rental house that can help you out.

[Anonymous]

If you want a cheap solution, carry a wired omni direcitonal microphone with you on a small base.

As you go from table to table, place the mike on the table and record, then move onto another table.

[Author]

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