Recording a Group conversation...

[jlacck]

Hey guys, I have a question about a project that I'm going to be starting n shortly. Someone recently approached me with an idea about recording a conversation of 4 people for a project. I was curious as to what would be the best way to do this. Should I rent 3 extra mics and set the performers in the same room with their own mic (similiar to the way studios do voice overs?) Or should I have the performers surround a single mic or two and record them that way? Bear in mind that this is basically an interactive conversation so overdubbing would likely be useless. Does any anyone have any suggestions?

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by jlacck

Hey guys, I have a question about a project that I'm going to be starting n shortly. Someone recently approached me with an idea about recording a conversation of 4 people for a project. I was curious as to what would be the best way to do this. Should I rent 3 extra mics and set the performers in the same room with their own mic (similiar to the way studios do voice overs?) Or should I have the performers surround a single mic or two and record them that way? Bear in mind that this is basically an interactive conversation so overdubbing would likely be useless. Does any anyone have any suggestions?

LDC omni mode

[voicegenius]

Originally Posted by phillysoulman

LDC omni mode

thumbsup

[jlacck]

Hey Philly, thanks for chiming in. I believe the performance will have 2 females and 2 males. My only concern with the one mic method is the limited control that I might have in balancing the vocals (I'm assuming that id have to use some serious automation). Would an AKG 414 work well for this application since its just speech (no rapping/singing). If I had to use a single mic to rent, are there any alternatives that you would recommend instead?

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by jlacck

Hey Philly, thanks for chiming in. I believe the performance will have 2 females and 2 males. My only concern with the one mic method is the limited control that I might have in balancing the vocals (I'm assuming that id have to use some serious automation). Would an AKG 414 work well for this application since its just speech (no rapping/singing). If I had to use a single mic to rent, are there any alternatives that you would recommend instead?

...no automation required.
414 ...omni mode is what I use for that purpose

Just gather around the mike in a 180 degree position and ...voila

[jlacck]

I think I'll definitely go ahead and try your suggestion. Is there a minimum or maximum distance that you'd rather placing the performers around the mic? That said, what about stereo micing? Any use of that for this application?

[FiveP]

Depending on how serious you want to go, and the availability of the equipment, I wouldrent an ediroll R-44, youreally wont have to worry much about peaks, this thing is dynamite

R-44 Compact, Solid State, 4-Channel Field Recorder