Recording in a coffee house.

[gregk]

Hi all,

I have the MZ-RH1 and the ECMMS907 mic. Its pretty hard to get a good recording in this new situation I have to deal with. This is a weekly meeting we will be doing and we need to get a good recording, but have a very tight budget.

We have a speaker who stands half way down and a little off to the side in a room that is longer than it is wide. The biggest problem right now is that there is a lot of noise that comes from the refrigerators and coffee makers. Edit: I forgot to add also that we need to mic the speaker and the audience so we can record their discussion with the main speaker. The nice thing is that the kitchen area is all located on one end of the room and no one is sitting around the kitchen. Here is a diagram:

Yesterday I ordered 10 each of the panasonic WM-61 (omnidirectional) and WM-55 (unidirectional) mic elements. I plan to build some different rigs using combinations of these mics so I can experiment and see what will work best.

So basically I am just looking for suggestions or ideas about what will be the best way to mic this room. Also is there any way to eliminate some of the noise coming from the kitchen area? I was thinking maybe I could use boundary mics facing into the sitting area between the kitchen and tables.

I really don't know much about recording yet, so I have a lot to figure out. I have been reading on the net as much as a can but I haven't found anything dealing with a similar situation where they need to record a speaker + audience in a coffee shop situation where there is a lot of background noise.

Thanks for reading!

Greg

Edited July 19, 2007 by gregk

[judasjack]

All this is dead simple to get your head around if only you just stopped thinking about the gear! The first thing is the interview. Quality not quantity!

Also, this coming date is about communication first and foremost so why don't you have a nice chat and get the folks in the kitchen to turn things off or down.

If this diplo approach won't work, why not just close mic the dude and transmitt to a PA from one of those wireless systems that cost pennies to hire.

[gregk]

All this is dead simple to get your head around if only you just stopped thinking about the gear! The first thing is the interview. Quality not quantity!

Also, this coming date is about communication first and foremost so why don't you have a nice chat and get the folks in the kitchen to turn things off or down.

If this diplo approach won't work, why not just close mic the dude and transmitt to a PA from one of those wireless systems that cost pennies to hire.

Sorry I had to edit my post above, I neglected to mention we need to record the audience and the speaker. We are having the coffee house stay open extra for us each week, and the agreement is that we need to buy lots of stuff so they can afford to stay open. I will ask if there is any way they can reduce noise, but most of it is coming from the equipment they need to make beverages for us. I considered a portable wireless system to mic to record the speaker but they start around 500 bucks and that is too expensive for us right now.

Thanks for your response!

Greg

[A440]

You were wise to get the directional elements, for two reasons: both for the directionality and for the more limited frequency response: 100-16,000 Hz instead of 20-20,000. That will lessen some of the rumble of the kitchen equipment, and maybe even some of the hiss of the espresso steamer. You're recording speech, which is a comparatively narrow band of frequencies, so it's good that the mic rejects the lowest and highest ones.

How about an inexpensive mixer that takes mic inputs? That way you could close-mic the speaker--make or buy him a clip-on lapel mic--into one input and point a directional mic (or more than one) toward the audience members that would be speaking on other inputs. Put the speaker into one stereo channel, for clarity, and the audience into the other. Then you could upload and use a sound editing program to blend the two, as well as to filter out some of the kitchen noise.

Perhaps one of the studio pros here can recommend a mixer.

If the background noise is steady, editing programs like Audacity have a Noise Reduction function that will analyze the noise (record some of it by itself) and try to remove it from your recording, which sometimes sounds weird and sometimes good.

Edited July 19, 2007 by A440

[Strungup]

440 is right about the Directional elements , Find a cheap small drill press, ( I bought one at a hardwae store for 49 dollars on sale , ) Hobby type

and get a Wooden dowel made out of a nice hardwood , from like Woodcraft Supply , or someplace the carries the nice woods.

Measure with a caliper the diameter of the mic capsule , and get a Brad point bit just that size , NOT smaller , but not very much bigger, and also a Bit the size of the cable that will go to the element .

Cut sections of the dowel 1 and 1/4 , to 1 and 1/2 inch long ( depending oun how you want it to look ) . The drill press will come with a small clamp on the table , setup the clamp table to hold the Dowel pieces straight up [ ] <- Then drill the Capsule hole slightly deeper ( By Half the capsule) than the capsule ( if the capsule sets deep it will improve the directionality )

Do this For the number of capsules your making .> Clamp ,Drill to depth , for each one first.

Then switch bits , and drill the cable holes .

Some black foam cut to size and stuffed into the opening above the Mic element will reduce breath and wind noise dramatically ( and look cool)

A Hot glue gun will aid you in setting the capsules and foam , as well as securing the cable .

I have a small Hobby Lathe , that lets me cut grooves in the dowels for clip bands , and Brass clips are fairly easy to make . soldered to alligator clips with a high tensil solder . and there you have it

The rest of it is imagination . Running cables along the floor /wall joint for the tables against the wall , the two table that are open , your cables will run from the wall/floor of the Unused room ( which is probably where the Mixer should be ) taped to the floor and under the two tables .

One mic per table would mean littel mic stands instead of Alligator clips , and longer dowel material ( Maybe larger diametr as well so it will feel good in the hand ) 5 tables = 5 mics, plus the speaker 6 mics = min. 6 mic inputs and probably a Stereo Channel for an MD to play some music thru ( This IS the MD forum , so there MUST be the use of an MD ------ )

http://www.samsontech.com/products/product...9&brandID=2

The K.I.S.S theory works best here (Keep It Simple Stupid )

Edited July 19, 2007 by Guitarfxr

[gregk]

Hi and thanks for the tips!

I think the 1 mic per table idea is good but it might be a little too much for now. Another concern is simplicity because I need to be able to break down fairly quickly. I am going to try using 1 channel to mic the speaker and the other channel will mic the audience from 1 or 2 locations facing away from the kitchen with directional mics. Will see how that works and then try something a little different the next week if it doesnt work out quite right. Also I am just going to try a simple passive mixer like the ART PowerMIX I to mix in the mics for the audience channel, if it doesnt work out I am sure I can find a use for it with my guitar so it wont be a waste.

The other thing is that I can continue to use my current combination of the MZ-RH1 and the ECMMS907 mic and do my experimenting with a second MD recorder I have until I find the setup that works best.

If anyone has any other tips / ideas let me know!

Thanks all,

Greg

[srizvi1]

this is a pretty cool thread. I'm going to bookmark it and keep it in mind for when I need to mic up something similar. gregk, how did this work out? did you get to implement A440 & GuitarFxr's advice?