B2 Productions: Audio Issues in Hotel Meeting Rooms

We just shot a series of on-screen presenters in a Las Vegas hotel. There are ups and downs of using a hotel meeting room for a production shoot. The big one is usually noise; with a close second, sound. I have yet to shoot in a meeting room with zero sound issues. Normally, the ceiling causes a strange reverb that makes a lav mic essential to recording high quality audio. The boom (the usual go-to) becomes an echo chamber with sound bouncing off the ceiling.

Don’t expect to easily fix this issue in post. You will need to plan accordingly and place the lav in the best possible spot to capture the presenter’s audio: hiding the mic in the tie or otherwise being tricky with the placement will cause issues like scratching and muddled audio throughout the presentation (yet, another case when post will not easily fix the issue without developing other ‘filter’ issues)

In our case, we made sure to clip the mic on the lapel of each presenter (with luck being on our side that all of the on-screen talent wore dark colors). Regardless, you need to explain to your client that there are two choices; bad audio with invisible lav mics or good audio with mics clipped onto the outside of the clothing.

For more information: www.b2productions.com