Recording and Editing Interviews - Need Advice Please

[JCWarrior]

I am beggining to record interviews and need some help with regards to recording and editing. I am currently recording the subject, interviewer and others that may be invoved using 3 mics:

1- Condenensor Lav mic for subject
1- SM58 for main interviewer
1- small condensore for room

1) When editing I have been splitting regions and muting the unwanted regions. Would this be a prefered method during the edit and mix process?

2) I do notice that the lav mic still pics up some unwanted sounds/voices at times. My thoughts are I may need to lower the gain (just read a thread on lower levels and not try to chase the red - makes sense. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

3) The small condensor is helping to pick up interactions with others in the interview. I can't yet afford to have seperate lav mics for everyone. I've been muting regions and muting the track when the audio from this track is not neeeded/desired. Any advice in this regard would be appreciated as well.

Thanks.

[foxlemieux]

Since most condenser lav mics are omni directional they will tend to pick up a lot of room noise. They are good though because omni mics tend to give the most "natural" recreation of a given sound without problems like the proximity effect. It's more a matter of mic placement than anything.

With dialogue I tend to to set my level with 6 to 12 db of head room and leave it. In an interview (unless it's some sort of confrontational interview or an interview where you expect loud laughter) you should be able to leave the levels alone, but a limiter is always nice to have for the occasional potential peak.

I generally try to have the same type of microphone on each subject. I also try to avoid sm57 for dialogue as it just doesn't have the kind of sound I find pleasing for the speaking human voice (singing vocals are a different story). Depending on budget constraints you might have to get by with what you've got. Are the interviews being recored to video as well? If so then mic placement especially with an SM57 can be trickey. If it's not going to video then you should get the mic as close as possible without hearing too much of a bass boost. The ideal for me has been between 4 and 8 inches but you should play around with it to see what best suits your needs.

As far as editing goes it really just depends on how you feel you can work the quickest. My first thought, especially for long interviews, is to reach for a gate. I set the trigger about 6db-8db below the speaking voice of the person the mic is intended for, give it a very soft knee (slow release but quick attack) and listen to make sure there isn't too much "breathing" of the gate, and set the floor about 12db-20db below the person's speaking voice. I don't like to shut the gate completely as it can sound very obvious and unnatural. It's a process you can tweak and perfect especially if you are using the exact same set up for every interview. It might take some time to get the settings right the first time, but on the 20th interview it will save you a tremendous amount of time if all you have to do is load a plugins presets.

Hope that helps.

[albee1952]

Good advice above. Another way to do it would be to (assuming you have 2 people) put a figure 8 mic in between them. This will eliminate most phase issues and the null to each side would help keep ambient stuff out of your track. A figure 8 LDC or ribbon might be just the ticket. You did not mention the physical setup. If there is a table of desk between your talking heads, maybe 1 or 2 boundry mics(depending on the polar pattern) would also do a good job. I like to delete long pauses to keep things moving(use crossfades to make the seams unobtrusive).