four microphones to cover a room ?

[Gints Klimanis]

Hi,

I'm trying to get closer-sounding audio from martial artists that do full contact fighting. My belt-mounted wireless microphone died in the first round. So, I'm thinking of using four microphones to cover the room, feeding a four channel digital recorder (Edirol R4 Pro). Given that the space is a two car garage, the area to cover isn't huge. My camera mounted microphone (AT822 stereo mic) does a decent job of picking everything up, but it just can't get that close-up sound when the fighters are more than five feet away. That is, the breathing and grunts are not picked up as well as I would like. Given that the floor is cement and the walls are plywood, should I use boundary microphones or just regular omnidirectional condenser mics? I can mount them in the corner or the rafters or some other area that makes sense, perhaps even near the floor. Though, without considerable experimentation, it's hard to predict which locations will yield the best sound without the somewhat harsh reflections of the hard floor and somewhat hard walls.

Thanks for any advice or ideas.

[Ty Ford]

Drop em in from the ceiling?

Try the less expensive "choir mics", or Lavs though an auto mixer.

You still won't get the impact, but you'll get closer and that's what you need to do.

Regards,

Ty

[Gints Klimanis]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

Drop em in from the ceiling?

Thanks, Ty. Is there a popular "hanging from ceiling" microphone used to record symphony orchestras or theater ?

If you were to mount lavaliers on the body, do you know if any won't pop easily when they are jarred or hit , by say a kick or punch?