0547 – Listen Out For These Common Microphone Muck-Ups

2022.07.01 – 0547 – Listen Out For These Common Microphone Muck-Ups

AUDIO TROUBLESHOOTING

Basic studio sound problems

• Forgetting to put the mic on or turn it on – even pros very occasionally omit to attach a lapel mic to themselves or start talking before they have faded their mic up.[1]
• Forgetting to take it off or turn it off – or walking away from a set and forgetting that people can still hear you, or leaving a mic ‘live’ in the studio and your words still being heard by a production team, or broadcast to listeners.[2],[3],[4]
• The mic picking up sound that it’s not meant to – drumming fingers on a desk, the rustle of a script, the jangling of the presenter’s bangle, a mobile phone ringing in the studio, perhaps because the ‘pickup area’ of that particular microphone has been ignored or misunderstood
• The mic not picking up the sound it should – as a presenter moves away from it (or conversely, picking up a sudden and unplanned burst of sound or increase in volume as they move closer or suddenly cough or laugh), or perhaps because the ‘pickup area’ of that particular microphone has been ignored or misunderstood, or a lapel mic being incorrectly positioned.

Do not touch the mic when you are speaking. Although you may be able to get away with moving a mic arm while on air, touching the stand, or mic itself (easily to do when wearing a lapel mic) will invariably result in a loud sound being broadcast or recorded. The sound is usually reduced with the use of a ‘shock mount’ the ‘cat’s cradle’ of strings that hold the mic in suspension and position and absorbs any movement that it feels. But the rule of thumb: set it and forget it.

[1] In 2016 this BBC Breakfast presenter forgot to wear his microphone https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/1780291/blunder-on-bbc-breakfast-as-presenter-forgets-to-wear-his-microphone/  

[2] In 2010 the then UK PM Gordon Brown was caught on mic calling Rochdale pensioner Gillian Duffy "bigoted", when he didn’t realise his microphone had been left attached and ‘live’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEReCN9gO14

[3] As David Cameron announced his resignation date as British Prime Minister in 2016, he walked away from the podium singing a song before walking inside number 10 Downing Street, forgetting his mic was still on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gz6mZYxS0A

[4] And this TV host in New Zealand left his microphone on while taking a toilet break and it was broadcast live on TV. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3759338/Wee-having-technical-problems-moment-breakfast-host-heard-urinating-live-TV-forgot-mic-leaving-air-presenter-looking-awkward.html

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