AudioMedia - June 2008 - (Page 18)

The Dilemma Of Personal Miking Considering I’ve spent 25 years in broadcasting I’ve got surprisingly few really good celebrity stories. However, Sam Fox and the leather jump suit is one of them. And if you have an hour to spend and the price of a drink, I’ll gladly tell it to you. Suffice to say, it illustrates the dilemmas of attaching personal mics where there is no visible – or indeed invisible – means of support. Of course in theaters they’ve been getting round this for years by sticking mics to any decent bit of face or forehead. And while the talent may turn up without bra or tie, they rarely appear without a head. I always thought it a little odd that in an effort to get mics out of shot in TV we would stick them on presenters where you could see them in every shot, but there you are. The mics got smaller and the clips got neater, and now on a dark suit you will barely see a well-positioned mic. For The Record mics are not delivering repeatable results. It’s an under-the-ear fitting with enough flexibility to clamp on to lobeless ears – funny how the shape of people’s ears becomes important all of a sudden. And the 892 delivers consistently high quality sound. Having bought a couple of them for my local church I found myself having to use ‘the Britney’ mic as it is popularly styled. For the first ten minutes you feel awfully self-conscious. But after that, you forget that it’s there – unless of course you find yourself in front of a full length mirror. In which case pout, pose, and hit me baby one more time. ALISTAIR MCGHEE began audio life in Hi-Fi before joining the BBC as an audio engineer. After ten years in radio and TV, he moved to production. When BBC Choice started, he pioneered personal digital production in television. Alistair is now Assistant Editor, BBC Radio Wales, but is allowed out occasionally. However there’s still the problem of movement. If presenters aren’t looking left to right, then they’re dropping their heads to read the script, and quite significant changes in level are par for the course. And an untutored contributor can easily bang, scrape, and rustle their microphone all the way through an animated interview. So what about a headworn microphone? What indeed. In radio we don’t really care what stuff looks like – hence the lip mic – and so head and breast sets are regularly deployed. I was so impressed with the Audio Technica M50 headphones, I wondered if their AT 892 headworn mic could be fused into a flexible high quality solution. And the answer is yes and no. Presenters found the concept of separate headphones and mic unworkable – it’s a stupid idea really - but the mic itself is tops. In fact it’s a great solution to applications where personal The Ten Commandments Of Sound I’ve been in an annoyingly reflective mood of late: annoying for anyone who’s had to listen to me rabbit on about business plans and strategies forward. I’ve not quite taken to wearing a pin striped suit but it’s come close. The question has been quite profound. Am I a creative person, or a business person? It all came about over lunch, as these things often do. I was filling my face courtesy of a friend and business acquaintance who pronounced, “It’s a good job you turn out good work, because you’re crap at the business side of things.” He then proceeded to give me a two hour pep talk on running a better, fitter, more profitable company. So began a process of self analysis that’s culminated in a new super-shiny Media Mill Business Plan 2008. Things all got a little deep until I realised a few key things: that I like the hands on work that I do: playing with sound, whether it’s recording on location or mixing in the studio. That’s why I get out of bed in the morning (that and taking the kids to school). So to calm myself down a little (I’d been annoying everyone with my new, thrusting, business demeanour) I sat down and created my very own Ten Commandments that would draw a line under things: 1. Quality in everything. You’re only as good as your last project. 2. Never stop looking for new work. There has to be a project after this one. 3. Look out of the business more than in. Stop worrying about that new soundcard having the right drivers and think about how it might earn some cash. 4. Keep our blagging exploits to ourselves. Telling people you got that new studio kit for a knock down price makes you look cheap. 5. Share the communication with customers. Everyone has to answer the phone or you look like a one man band. 6. Don’t undervalue our work. There’s always someone who’ll do it for nothing, so sell on quality, not cost. 7. Don’t turn down small jobs. They bring in extra cash and may lead to greater things. 8. Be diverse. We all have different skills, from editing sound to writing copy. Make them pay. 9. No fiddling or technical stuff after 4pm. Things break more easily the closer to home time. Leave that software update/shelf fitting until the morning. 10. Enjoy it. If you’re not having fun in sound, go be an accountant. Amen. JERRY IBBOTSON runs Media Mill, a York-based audio production company started in 2000 that specialises in sound for video games. Prior to this, Jerry was a BBC journalist for ten years, ending his spell with the Beeb as a reporter and newsreader at Radio One Newsbeat. S O M E T H I N G TO S AY ? If you are an audio professional and have something constructive to say about your field of expertise, or tips for your peers, contact us with your ideas at ftr@audiomedia.com 18 A U D IUO IM E D IE A I A O V E M B2E0R0 8 0 0 5 2 A D O M D N JUNE http://www.microtechgefell.com http://www.sound-link.co.uk http://www.microtechgefell.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - June 2008

AudioMedia - June 2008 Contents Recording Post Broadcast AES Review What's Up UK? Geofocus: Australia For the Record Special Report: Videosonics Newstalk: DPA New Microphones Novation SL Compact Allen & Heath IDR-8 Eastwest Quantum Leap SD2 & Goliath Final Cut: Indiana Jones Merging ADR Module Koolworld SSL Duende Good Product Sampler: Microphones Video Guide AMSR Meyer Sound The Blue Planet Live! Royer Labs Mics R-121 & R-122

AudioMedia - June 2008

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