The question behind the question
Almost every enquiry about sound begins the same way: which microphone should we buy for a presenter who also has an audience in the room? The honest first answer is that the microphone is rarely the real problem. The problem is usually that speech, audience reaction and any music are all trying to reach the same mixing desk through the same few inputs, and nobody has decided which of them matters most at each moment.
Before we recommend any equipment, we ask what the programme needs the viewer to hear. A talk show needs the presenter clear and the audience present but never competing. A music segment needs the opposite balance. Writing that down as a short priority list for each part of the running order saves more time than any purchase, and it makes every later choice about microphones, gain and monitoring easier to defend.
- Decide what the viewer must hear in each segment
- Write the priorities beside the running order
- Choose equipment only after that list exists
Presenter microphones: lavalier or handheld
For speech we usually compare two options. A lavalier leaves the presenter's hands free and keeps a steady distance from the mouth, which suits studio formats and anyone who moves between desk and set. Its weakness is clothing noise and a tendency to pick up the room as well as the voice, so placement on the chest and a tidy cable run matter a great deal.
A handheld microphone gives a closer, more controlled sound and rejects more of the surrounding audience, which is why it holds up well in noisy rooms. It does depend on the presenter holding it consistently. We often suggest a lavalier as the main pick and a handheld kept ready for audience interaction, so that the person asking a question is heard without raising the gain on everything else.
- Lavalier: hands free, steady distance, watch clothing noise
- Handheld: closer sound, better rejection, needs good technique
Capturing the audience without drowning the speaker
Audience sound is best treated as its own element rather than a by-product of the presenter's microphone. Two or three small condenser microphones hung above the seating, aimed at the crowd and away from the stage, give a natural reaction that can be raised for applause and lowered for speech. Trying to get that sound from the presenter's open microphone forces the gain up and brings in every cough in the room.
Keep these audience microphones on their own group fader at the desk. When the presenter starts a long answer, the group comes down a few decibels; when the room laughs, it comes back up. That single fader does more for the sense of a live room than any additional hardware, and it is easy for a second operator to learn.
The mixing desk: what you actually need
Producers often ask how many channels they need. Count the sources you will really use at once, then add a few spare inputs for the guest nobody planned for. Groups matter more than raw channel count: presenter microphones on one, audience on another, playback on a third. With groups, one operator can rebalance a whole show with three faders instead of chasing a dozen.
Check also that the desk offers the outputs your production chain expects, such as a clean programme feed, a separate feed for the floor and a mix-minus return for remote contributors. A desk that sounds good but cannot send those feeds will cause trouble on the first rehearsal. We review the signal path on paper before anyone orders hardware, because changing a plan costs nothing and changing a rack does.
- Count simultaneous sources, then add spares
- Use groups to simplify balancing
- Confirm the programme, floor and return outputs
Monitoring: hearing what the viewer hears
Monitoring is the part most often left until last. A mix judged on laptop speakers or an untreated control room will not translate, and the first complaint arrives from home. Closed-back headphones are the minimum for checking speech and spotting noise, and nearfield speakers in a quiet room let the engineer judge balance as a whole.
Equally useful is a habit of checking the mix at a low listening level, since most viewers do not watch at full volume. If the presenter stays intelligible when the level is turned down, the balance is sound. We also suggest a short, consistent routine at the start of each session: a line check, a level check on every microphone and a listen on the same headphones each time, so that faults are found before the audience arrives.
A short routine for a mid autumn schedule
These weeks bring a busy run of recordings and live evenings, often in halls and venues that are cold, damp and noisier than the summer ones. Radio microphones can suffer from changes in temperature and crowded frequencies, so a spare set of batteries and a quick frequency scan on arrival are worth building into the call time.
Plan one rehearsal with the audience present, or at least with their seats occupied, because a full room absorbs sound and changes the balance you set in an empty hall. Keep notes of the gain settings that worked and carry them to the next booking. A one-page sheet per venue costs a few minutes to write and saves the first half hour of every later visit.
- Spare batteries and a frequency scan on arrival
- One rehearsal with seats occupied
- A settings sheet kept for each venue
The answer to the question we hear most is rarely a single product. Decide what the viewer must hear, give speech and audience their own paths, group the desk sensibly and monitor in a way that matches the living room. If you would like a second pair of ears on your plan, the contact page is the place to start.