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Sound/light problems at seminars
  • lexiconlexicon

    Hi I wonder if I could get some suggestions for dealing with potential sound and lighting problems at a conference/seminar that I will be filming. I recently filmed a presentation for a company where the main speaker was right next to an incredibly noisy overhead projector that was loud enough to cause problems even though I had miced him with a Rode wireless lavalier. The problem was further compounded by the fact that much of the presentation was Q&A sessions with the audience all seated close to the front and near to the projector noise (who were being picked up by my Sennheiser MKE 600 shotgun from my rig). I had gone through the requirements as far as noise levels before with the organisers, but this was a last minute change of venue so I just had to deal with it.

    The same company has booked me for another conference/seminar next year in a larger room. What suggestions do you have? I'm thinking of asking them for a separate sound guy with a boom for the audience. As far as lighting goes what would you do ? The main presenter is constantly on the move and the lighting in these rooms is nearly always terrible.

  • 6 Replies sorted by
  • LiquidAlpinistLiquidAlpinist

    iZotope RX4 has a great denoiser module but it is not cheap. Boom mic is definitely a good idea if placed under the projector, as it can reject the noise from it.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    The same company has booked me for another conference/seminar next year in a larger room. What suggestions do you have?

    This one is simple.

    For speaker you need this (to make it as close to mouth as possible just not before it to avoid breath noise):

    image

    It is small electret one, also larger dynamic ones exist (if you do not have small electric supply required for electret you can use it).

    For audience you never use shotguns, just get good wireless dynamic microphone and ask to hold it close to their mouth

    image

    I suggest to look for newer digital systems, including Line 6 (as it has no level adjustments, very simple).

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  • spacewigspacewig

    @lexicon. What was the Rode lav hooked up to? Was the speaker going through a separate p.a. system (i.e.podium mic, wireless mic, etc)? Don't be afraid to be specific in the description of your setup...

  • lexiconlexicon

    @spacewig There was no p.a. the room was small enough not to need it.The speaker was going through a Rode lavalier Rodelink system attached to his lapel wirelessly into a GH3 which was set up as a B Cam that my friend was operating on a tripod. I was filming on a handheld rig with a GH4 standing about 5 foot from the speaker recording with a Sennheiser MKE600 on phantom power going into Tascam DR 70D also mounted on the rig (that I synced up later to footage rather than feed back to the GH4). I monitored the Tascam through Sennheiser HD650 headphones and my friend monitored the GH3 feed through headphones ( I don't know the brand).

    @LiquidAlpinist Thanks. I'll give the iZotope a go. What worked best for me was Adobe Audition noise reduction and a few sharp parametric eq cuts to clean the last artifacts without making the speaker too tinny.Ideally, I was looking of any methods of reducing the noise at source when you have noise problems in a room. I have a boom and a hypercardioid mic but I didn't bring them.

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev Thanks - I haven't looked at headset mics before but I can see how that would help get closer to the source and reduce noise -I'll check those out. I was thinking of looking at the Rodelink The Newsshooter kit once it's available to keep things portable for hand held mics but the Line 6 looks like a much cheaper option for conferences/indoor.

  • spacewigspacewig

    @lexicon B-Cam filming speaker and you filming speaker + audience members?

  • lexiconlexicon

    @spacewig Yes that was the plan

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