Steve Hontz
January 24th, 2012, 09:44 AM
I had to film a church service the other day.  The pastor already had a wireless mic on him to feed their house system; I added a wireless AT899 a few inches below that (probably about 6" below his collar) to feed my Canon XF305.
The audio from my mic was quite good, but I noticed a slight ring during some of his talking.  They had just presented the pastor that day with a brand-new acrylic podium that he was standing in front of the majority of the time he was speaking.  Could I be picking up some reflections from that?  Would there have been any way to avoid that (say, using a cardiod mic vs the omni AT899)?  Is there any way to pull that out in post? I tried EQ'ing out some of the frequencies and it helped in some places and not others.
Richard Crowley
January 24th, 2012, 10:52 AM
Are you saying that the ring wasn't there before the acrylic podium?  I wouldn't attempt to guess what could be happening without at least hearing a sample.  There are way too many variations and we could be guessing all month.
Kawika Ohumukini
January 24th, 2012, 11:42 AM
Sounds like feedback but it's hard to tell. If you have a spectrum analyzer, see if the ringing is in a narrow band and either EQ it out, which you've tried, or grab a noise sample when he's not talking and use a noise reduction tool with it. GL
Greg Miller
January 25th, 2012, 11:57 AM
Right now I'm wearing a red shirt.  Do you think it's too red?  Or maybe you think it's more of an orange.
</sarcasm>  Sorry...
In other words, I would want to hear a sample before passing judgement on the source.
In general, if it's more of a resonance, the level of which goes up and down exactly when the level of his voice goes up and down, then perhaps it's a coming from the podium... either a reflection or a resonance within the podium itself.
You might go back and try tapping on the podium and see if you can excite a "wolf tone" there.  If so, record that, measure the frequency, and dip it out of the file in question.  (In that case the podium should be re-designed and re-built to avoid future problems.)
If you don't find a resonance as above, then it might have been a reflection from the podium.
On the other hand, if it's really a "ring" that lasts in time after his direct voice has died down, then it's more likely a feedback ring from the PA system, or some other resonance within the room.  How big was the room?
Please post a sample, and you'll probably get some good opinions.  Audio only, high bitrate if possible, no video required, should suffice.
Ty Ford
January 27th, 2012, 10:31 PM
I had to film a church service the other day.  The pastor already had a wireless mic on him to feed their house system; I added a wireless AT899 a few inches below that (probably about 6" below his collar) to feed my Canon XF305.
The audio from my mic was quite good, but I noticed a slight ring during some of his talking.  They had just presented the pastor that day with a brand-new acrylic podium that he was standing in front of the majority of the time he was speaking.  Could I be picking up some reflections from that?  Would there have been any way to avoid that (say, using a cardiod mic vs the omni AT899)?  Is there any way to pull that out in post? I tried EQ'ing out some of the frequencies and it helped in some places and not others.
For any of a dozen reasons, I think you were hearing the house feedback. Nothing you can do about that in your situation. 
Not through EQ, but maybe via noise reduction software,
Regards,
Ty Ford