I may have a gig this upcoming week doing some dialogue recording for a little gameshow skit. I'm a studio guy with studio I interfaces, mics, etc. The client wants me to be mobile and record on a location (it's a budget project). I'm able to pack the essentials (laptop, interface, headphones, etc) and go, so that's no problem.

I wanted to know what the best possible way to do this is, and if any of you have any advice. It's only dialogue. 3 people sitting at a table in a living room. I have 2 AT4040's, 1 rode nt-1a, some pencils, and sm7b, and some dynamics. How should I set up these mics and what should I be using if what I have won't work? I'm open to suggestions as far as rentals go if need be.

Use your best mic ,wide cardioid,on a boom stand ,over the table
Position the mic to balance the voices to taste
Put an absorbent on the table ,a thick table cloth perhaps

So you'd suggest 1 mic for all three? They want that "gameshow" narrative/host feel. So my first Initial idea was to get LDC's on everybody (cause that's all I got). About a foot away, angled down, everyone sitting in an almost semi- circle config.

I have to do the post-edits. Think there will be enough separation with 1 mic?

I've never done this before but really want to do a great job, I appreciate the advice/discussion.


EDIT: covering the table! Noted, thanks. Seems obvious but it would've been the first thing I would've forgot.

Is this going to be filmed? Meaning will mics in the fame be a problem?

If not I think your LDC idea will be great. If so, you may need to rent some lavalier mics.

Cheers!
-Mike

Nope, no cameras or anything. Just dialogue recording from a script.

Yeah using the LDC's was my first idea. The 4040's on the two males and the nt-1a on the female is probably the best option.

My next problem to tackle is phase relationship between the mics. Should be fun.

You shouldn't have any phase issues using three LD mics like that.

Personally, I would use dynamics for better off axis rejection. After all, a lot of voice over work is done with EV RE20 or Shure SM7 mics.

If you do use the LD mics. the NT1 is the most shrill of the two and I would not use it on female voice. Use one of the 4040's.

Why not go for maximum isolation? Set it up so they can see each other and put some kind of absorbing barrier in between them with a mic on each voice. Make sure there's no reflective wall behind each person or put treatment behind as well to keep reflections out of each other's mics.
Use sofa cushions or whatever's around.
Record some quiet room sound to use when editing.

I'd use the two 4040s and the sm7b. If you had three sm7bs I'd use those instead of the LDCs so that you could better isolate the people from the room.

that said, bring some packing blankets and C stands and show up well in advance so that you can treat the room as best you can.

Thanks for all the advice guys! Lost of great tips. It's tomorrow so well see what happens. I'm gonna bring the sm7 just in case. May even be able to get them to go at it one at a time - which would make using 1 sm7 a great idea.

So how'd it go?

whoops! Sorry for such a late update!

Went fantastic. We ended up not using the living room space (amazing).. and the talent ended up coming to my studio. Setup everyone in the same room - semi-circled so they could see each other.. condensers on everyone about 1-1.5 feet away from everyone and thats it..

Went smooth, and the final product after editing came out fantastic! Recorded about 3 minutes worth of just the room itself with no one in it.. edit out all of the parts where people arent talking.. mute/edit out the other mics respectively when someone is talking, eq, compress, add in the 3 minute "room" track and voila.

Cool.

Pathetic !

Glad it worked out! just curious; did you use any extra room treatment? What about handling any overlapping speech without isolation (if any)?

Pardon?

Well, my studio room is already treated (as best as i can). Ive got Absorbers on the wall so a lot of the resonance and natural reverberation is soaked up. It's my home studio i did this in.... it was short notice otherwise i wouldve rented out a real studio space.

So the panels soaked up most of that and dealt with the refractions.. its almost a dead room which was perfect for the application..

Then like i mentioned, in post, i just muted the other two mics while one person was talking. i dont have gobos, or room for gobos, nor do i have 3 separate iso booths in this space so i had to just deal with it.

No overlapping speech. The Material was all question and answer, so no two people were talking at the same time.

nice ... the only thing to be aware of if you do have to go to a Living Room Location next time ... C-stands, Sandbags, Furniture Blankets, thick tablecloths, turn off the phones, refrigerators, AC, can you hear traffic or dogs or roosters (the valley) gun shots (my neighborhood) the mailman, emergency vehicles, air traffic, kids, whew !!!!

stay in the studio ...

cheers

john

Obviously worked out for you with a mic on each talent so that's good.

If only two mics are available I usually tackle a multi-voice v/o job with two LDCs in XY like this: