News studio mics?

[Sean Adl]

Hi guys,

 

I run my own small production company and am currently in the process of launching a new online satirical news show. Small budget, but we already own fairly decent equipment. In terms of sound I own a Sennheiser radio 500 G4 kit with MKE2 gold lav. I also own a 416 and MKH50. 

 

I'm currently using the MKH50 attached to a mic stand to record the audio of our presenter. The room sounds a bit reflective - its a small studio built in a small living room with low ceilings, so its hard to avoid the echo (I'm hanging sound blankets wherever possible and getting the mic close without it being in shot).

 

How can I get that rich, loud sound that you often hear in news shows without hearing awful reverb or background noise?  For instance, what would be the best mic set-up to get sound similar to this? 

 

 

 

Is the above video being heavily compressed in some way to get the 'loudness' up whilst reducing background noise? 

 

I'm posting a sample video here of a test we shot in the makeshift studio just so you can hear what we're currently getting out of the mic:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njMRIqf7gMo&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

 

[Jeff Wexler]

Listening to your clip on YouTube, I prefer your sound than that which you posted from Fox News. I think you're doing fine audio-wise.

[Sean Adl]

Thanks Ray! That's reassuring to hear. Sound is not my forte at all. Lockdown, however, has forced me into learning a lot more and it has been enjoyable!

 

Maybe that particular video of mine was one of the better sounding ones. The latest one im working on doesn't sound quite as good. Now we have our background and set built, there is less room for sound blankets, so the echo is a bit more obvious than on the video above (which had a couple of sound blankets either side of him).

[Jim Rillie]

One thing - if you are monitoring on headphones, the room reverb will be more noticeable than when monitoring a speaker - maybe it's not as bad as you think.

Just a randy Canadian opinion ( - ;

 

[Eric Toline]

The on camera reporter is wearing a lav mic on his jacket lapel. You can see it at 23:00 on the time code on screen. Lavs are pretty much standard gear for news reporting as it gets the mic closest to the sound source and no one cares if any one sees it. The Sennheiser MKH 50 sounds too big & rich for news. Someone a long time ago told me that "lavs are for TV broadcast, boom mics are for movies."  Switch to your lav & wireless system and you'll sound just like every other news broadcast. 

[Eric]

In past experience I've found that the Sennheiser MKE-2 gold lav is a "tight" sounding mic. It didn't pick up as much ambience when shooting in a noisier area (compared to a boom).

As an experiment run two channels when recording your show (or just do a test record), one lav the other your 50 and see (hear) which you like better. I know this answer is really not an "answer" as with many sound/audio questions. 

Either way, you're doing fine audio wise.

[John Blankenship]

What Eric said -- a proper lav. Then, add to that a bit of compression as you guessed and you'll sound just as bad as most newsfolk.

 

(Bad in this case compared to clean and natural sound as Jeff referenced.)

 

[TVPostSound]

You lost me at Fox news, sorry.