The best way to capture great audio is to follow a few simple steps and to be sure to lookout for a few problem areas that can ruin the audio from say your interview or that very important business meeting. With this easy guide, we’ll have you asking the right questions and using the right microphones for the job in no time.
AUDIO BASICS:
• Survey Your Environment: A great first move when evaluating your meeting space that you will be recording in, is to find the noises. Listen for background sounds such as colleagues talking in the next room, air conditioners or projectors. Microphones are sensitive and not selective. They can pick up all sound.
• Get Rid of That Echo: Also known as Reverb or Bounce, sound reflects off hard surfaces. Depending on the room, you will have a variable amount of natural echo occurring but sometimes you’ll have an excessive amount due to exposed hard flooring, hard walls and or even hard ceilings. The best thing you can do to mitigate the reverb in a room is to add things like rugs on the hard flooring if there isn’t any carpeting or dampening, as well as hanging lightweight fabrics over any hard walls or ceilings if possible. If you can not do these, then you have to choose the right microphone to overcome these challenges.
• Microphone Dynamics: When recording you or someone else, it is important to understand the abilities of your equipment. With microphones, you need to know things like how far away you should be or how close you should be, during recording. Sound decays over distance so if you are too far away, you won’t be heard. If you’re too close, you may drown out other people in the meeting. A great way of testing these dynamics to do a test recording well in advance of any meetings, commonly known as a sound check. Without fluctuating your volume, begin reading aloud or making a constant sound while moving around the room, moving closer and further away from the microphones. During playback, you should hear the dynamics of which will allow you to assess if your recorder and microphone set up is correct for the size of your room. Use this knowledge when setting up your room for recording and microphone placement.
How We Can Help:
• Olympus offers several solutions for recording audio and if you need your recordings to be encrypted, we can do that too. Our DS Series recorders are portable and incredibly accurate. Their dual microphones control the directionality to keep the focus on the person dictating and suppress ambient noise in offices, hospitals, cars, airports and other noisy environments. For added piece of mind the DS-9000 offers 256-bit encryption using our DSS Pro Audio format.
Perfect for large or small meetings, interviews, personal or on-the-go recordings, the DS Series fits many roles. View this article for a quick guide to the, “Best Settings for DS-9500 & DS-9000 in Conference Room Mode.”
Whilst the built-in microphones on the DS series are great for recording personal notes, interview and small meetings, for larger conferences you will need to use additional microphones to ensure that everyone can be heard.
DIFFERENT MICROPHONES FOR DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS:
Sometimes your recording environment is larger than expected or setup a little bit differently and you need a few other microphone options. Olympus has you covered with the ME-33 Boundary Microphone and the ME30W Microphone Kit
ME-33 Boundary Microphone:
The ME-33 boundary microphone is a powerful, omni-directional microphone that is purpose-built to record voices from a distance – even in the largest conference rooms. Combined with an Olympus professional voice recorder*, it consistently produces audio files in crystal-clear sound quality by automatically cutting extremely high- and low-frequency sounds.
It also gives you scalable recording power: By connecting multiple ME33 microphones** using the bundled connector, it is also possible to produce a stereo sound version (with six units) or a monoaural version (with three units) of whatever you wish to record.
*Olympus Voice Recorder not included. ** Please note: ME33 microphone is sold individually.
• Ideal solution for conferences
• Superior sound quality
• Purpose-built for voice captures
• Stereo recording possible
ME30W Microphone Kit:
For meetings, conferences and concerts, with the ME30W microphone kit, it is easier than ever to capture sounds in large gatherings, all in high quality stereo.
This professional solution includes two omni-directional microphones engineered by Olympus for seamless compatibility.
With 360°coverage, you’ll never miss a contribution – no matter where the speaker is sitting.
These left and right channel, low-noise stereo microphones cover a 20Hz – 20,000Hz frequency
bandwidth and can be attached to two foldable mini tripods which are included in the kit. For maximum coverage, they can be placed up to 5 meters (16ft) apart – perfect for recording in large rooms, small concert venues or when many participants are sitting around a very large table.
The ME30W Conference Microphone Kit includes a soft carry case that keeps everything together, compact and protected on the move.
• Capture sound in large gatherings.
• 2 omni-directional high-quality microphones.
• Tripods included for ease of set up.
ME31 Compact Gun Microphone:
The ME-31 is a good choice for outdoor use or lecture recording due to its construction. The directional design limits interference from nearby sound sources. This is useful for recording a particular voice or signal that would otherwise be obscured or overpowered by other sources. For example, the ME-31 can help capture a keynote speaker at a conference without recording a lot of chatter from attendees to the side of you.
• The directional microphone which can be used in various ways such as recording a lecture and a field sound
• The metal cutting body realized high rigidity
• The grip which can be attached to the microphone stand and the tripod is supplied
• The stand can be placed on a table with the grip attached
• The wind screen is supplied to decrease the wind noise