Micing a person

[Kathy Smith]

Can someone offer tips on micing a person? Specifically, here are the questions.
If not trying to hide the mic:
1. On a guy who is wearing a suit, would you put the mic on his suit jacket or in the middle on the shirt?
2. What do you do with the dangling cable?
3. where do you attach the wireless transmitter?
4. On a girl wearing just a shirt, not button shurt just regular that goes all the way to her neck, where do you attach the mic?

Thanks

[Rick Reineke]

I'm not being sarcastic but.. It depends..
- Hiding or in plain sight?
- Does the talent wear a tie?
- One or more persons and how many mics ?
- What brand/model of mics?
- Walking and talking, sit down interview or other?

I would suggest picking up some books. Start with 'Audio Bootcamp Field Guide' by our friend Ty Ford.

[Battle Vaughan]

You might get some info from this: http://filmtvsound.com/phocadownload...ess%20mics.pdf

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

I'm not being sarcastic but.. It depends..
- Hiding or in plain sight?
- Does the talent wear a tie?
- One or more persons and how many mics ?
- What brand/model of mics?
- Walking and talking, sit down interview or other?

I would suggest picking up some books. Start with 'Audio Bootcamp Field Guide' by our friend Ty Ford.

plain sight
no tie
1 mic, 1 person
Sanken COS-11D
sit down interview

Thanks for the book suggestion, I will check it out

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Battle Vaughan

You might get some info from this: http://filmtvsound.com/phocadownload...ess%20mics.pdf

Great. I just looked at this quickly. Will read in more details tonight.

[Allan Black]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

sit down interview

Kathy, for an interview, you can't mic both the interviewer and subject with one lav pinned on just one of them, basically
you won't hear enough volume from the other one .. or am I missing something here?

You might be better with a boomed overhead mic.

Cheers.

[Rick Reineke]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

plain sight
no tie
1 mic, 1 person
Sanken COS-11D
sit down interview

I would put the mic to the direction the person speaking to, not talking 'away' from the mic, generally about 3 or 4 inches below the neckline.
A boom mic just out of frame and/or the lav is also common.. on separate channels of course and not combined in post... use either or... having both on would create phasing issues when summed to mono.
A small diaphragm hyper-cardioid condenser is a typical interior boom mic.

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Allan Black

Kathy, for an interview, you can't mic both the interviewer and subject with one lav pinned on just one of them, basically
you won't hear enough volume from the other one .. or am I missing something here?

You might be better with a boomed overhead mic.

Cheers.

I don't want the questions recorded. I was asking about specifics on how/where to put a lav on a person, not where to put it in order to capture the sound from two people.

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

I would put the mic to the direction the person speaking to, not talking 'away' from the mic, generally about 3 or 4 inches below the neckline.
A boom mic just out of frame and/or the lav is also common.. on separate channels of course and not combined in post... use either or... having both on would create phasing issues when summed to mono.
A small diaphragm hyper-cardioid condenser is a typical interior boom mic.

OK, sorry should have been clearer. Lav mic and only interviewee is being recorded. I am just asking specifics on putting the lav on the person.

[Allan Black]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

I don't want the questions recorded. I was asking about specifics on how/where to put a lav on a person, not where to put it in order to capture the sound from two people.

Well if the interviewer is in the room the problem will be they'll overlap each other, especially if it's a long interview.
Even if you warn them not to, it's natural human interaction.

A way round this will be to record it in smaller sections, or am I missing something again.

Cheers.

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Allan Black

Well if the interviewer is in the room the problem will be they'll overlap each other, especially if it's a long interview.
Even if you warn them not to, it's natural human interaction.

A way round this will be to record it in smaller sections, or am I missing something again.

Cheers.

I am just asking on clipping the mic on the person, what to do with the cable etc. Not how to mic the person so you don't hear the voice of the person asking the question. The question being asked is never at the same time as the other person is talking so you can cut it out anyway but assume there is only one person, no one is asking any questions. What is the proper place to put the mic, how far from their mouth, should the cable be hidden out of the person's reach etc. to get a good sound not how it looks.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

Can someone offer tips on micing a person? Specifically, here are the questions.
If not trying to hide the mic:
1. On a guy who is wearing a suit, would you put the mic on his suit jacket or in the middle on the shirt?

Make a fist, place the fist centred on the subject's chest, nails against the chest, middle-joint of the thumb touching the Adam's Apple. Mic goes where the middle-joint of the little finger falls.

2. What do you do with the dangling cable?

Thread it through the button fly of the shirt and loop it around to the back between the undershirt and shirt, out at the belt line in the centre of the back.

3. where do you attach the wireless transmitter?

On the belt in the middle of the back. If this is a sit-down situation where mobility is not required consider dispensing with the radio and go hard-wired

4. On a girl wearing just a shirt, not button shurt just regular that goes all the way to her neck, where do you attach the mic?

In the V-gap at the center of her bra, thread the cable under the shirt to the back. Use a mic such as the Tram TR-50 that has a bit of crispness to compensate for the loss of treble caused by being under the shirt

[Kathy Smith]

Thanks Steve. That's exactly what I needed. I am using Sanken COS-11D mic, I think it should be good under a shirt.
What if a guy is wearing a sweater?

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

Thanks Steve. That's exactly what I needed. I am using Sanken COS-11D mic, I think it should be good under a shirt.
What if a guy is wearing a sweater?

Get a vampire clip for the mic so it can be pinned directly to the sweater. Sanken: Vampire Clip for Sanken Lav Mic | Trew Audio or http://www.trewaudio.com/store/Sanke...indscreen.html Would work for the girl's shirt in your original question as well. Dressing the cable is a bit more problematic in that situation as you don't want it dangling in the breeze but a bit of gaffer's tape can help secure it.

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Steve House

Get a vampire clip for the mic so it can be pinned directly to the sweater. Sanken: Vampire Clip for Sanken Lav Mic | Trew Audio or http://www.trewaudio.com/store/Sanke...indscreen.html Would work for the girl's shirt in your original question as well. Dressing the cable is a bit more problematic in that situation as you don't want it dangling in the breeze but a bit of gaffer's tape can help secure it.

Thanks.
I do have avampire clip, this one: Vampire Clip for Sanken COS 11 | LMC Sound