How should I mic my interrotron set up?

[Noam Osband]

I'm buying two teleprompters and making an Interrotron.

http://www.whiterabbitdesigncompany....web%20page.jpg

I'll be in the same room as the person I am filming but we wont be facing each other. In my setup, we're divided by a black fabric screen. I am going to be filming myself with a camcorder, likely a Canon Vixia. This will be the feed for the teleprompter facing the talent.

I want to also mic my voice into the room. I could hook myself up to a lav and hood the lav to a speaker. Does that make sense? What type of speaker might I want? I feel like there are probably some angles here I'm missing.

I'm not planning on piping his audio into me. I dont worry about being able to keep my attention and concentration. Although, if someone here feels differently, let me know why.

thanks as always!

[Richard Crowley]

The missing angles include what audio (your's? theirs?) is being recorded and whether isolation is important?

[Noam Osband]

Yeah, looking over my question there is a lot left unsaid......

So, the only audio I want recorded is the subject. That will be for production. I will be doing that with the camera shooting him: my HMC-150. I have two XLR's so I use one shotgun and one lavalier. I need to attach my sound to a speaker so the subject hears it well. We're not going to be sitting across from each other cause we're going to be making eye contact through the two teleprompters that will be set up.

I want the subject to feel totally at ease with the image on the teleprompter they'll be taking to, so I plan on partitioning the room with a curtain. But that isn't for audio reasons. It's just so the subject is alone with the teleprompter.

Does that make sense? Thanks in advance!

[Andy Balla]

I just don't understand the concept. Why the whole deal with teleprompters and piping in your voice to the interviewee? As far as audio goes, you've got the subject covered with boom and lav. Is your voice being recorded as well? I don't get what it is you're trying to do, I think.

[Jay Massengill]

I think the OP is just asking for a simple talkback system.

The considerations are you'll be talking back into the same room you're already in, and your mic is in the same room as the interviewee that will be recorded for production.

So it will be important to have fine control over your own volume levels AND to easily mute/unmute your audio. If your audio is left on, then your movements as well as the interviewee's off-mic voice will be re-transmitted through your talkback system. In addition you'll need to use a dead-quiet loudspeaker that has no self-noise when it's in idle.

I would suggest a headset, so that you can monitor the interviewee, as well as feed in a little of your own voice to monitor, and have a closely mounted mic that moves with you. However since you're on the interviewee's teleprompter, that might not work visually. I suppose a lav or micro ear-mounted mic is the next best.
This would be hooked to a small XLR mixer with phantom power for preamping your mic, for volume control, for easy muting, and routing to other destinations if needed for recording your voice.

The mixer would feed a small high-quality powered speaker.

[Greg Miller]

If I understand this correctly, it's the weirdest thing I've ever heard of.

Originally Posted by Noam Osband

the only audio I want recorded is the subject.

If you want ONLY the talent's voice recorded, yet you are talking to the talent over a loudspeaker, the sound from the loudspeaker (located near the talent) will also be recorded. The only way around that is to give the talent a headset and talk to him over that.

For that matter, if you are located in the same room as the talent (but on the other side of a curtain) then your voice coming through the curtain will also be recorded (on the talent's mic) to a certain degree.

[Richard Crowley]

Indeed, as Mr. Miller observed, if you want only the subject's voice recorded then not only do you not want to use a speaker, but you must remove yourself to another room. Else your voice through the air will also be recorded.

It seems to me that you need some sort of earpiece for the subject to hear you without contaminating the recording of his own voice. And you need to isolate yourself acoustically from the space where the subject is. That probably means a different room. A curtain will do nothing for acoustic isolation.

[Noam Osband]

I dont mind my voice being recorded. I mean, if we end up having a small back and forth in the interview, ill want my voice. But I'll be fine with what's picked up from the hyper in the room.

So, if I want to get a device I can plug a lav into to amplify it, a small sort of speaker, anyone have a suggestion?

[Richard Crowley]

Why can't the subject just hear you through the air if you are in the same room?

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Noam Osband

I dont mind my voice being recorded. I mean, if we end up having a small back and forth in the interview, ill want my voice. But I'll be fine with what's picked up from the hyper in the room.

So, if I want to get a device I can plug a lav into to amplify it, a small sort of speaker, anyone have a suggestion?

I'm reallly curious what it is about these interviews that you don't want the subject to be able to see you personally but seeing you on a teleprompter monitor is okay. Why can't you just arrange his and your chairs facing each other at a comfortable distance with the camera shooting over your shoulder and have a normal conversation? If you were in different cities what you descriibe would make some sense but since you're in the same room with only a curtain between you, what's the point?

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Noam Osband

the only audio I want recorded is the subject

Originally Posted by Noam Osband

if we end up having a small back and forth in the interview, ill want my voice.

Clear as mud.

Originally Posted by Noam Osband

So, if I want to get a device I can plug a lav into to amplify it, a small sort of speaker, anyone have a suggestion?

What you want is sold under various names such as "amplified speaker," "powered speaker," or "portable PA." There are zillions of them on eBay, but there are a lot of variations (input connector, input impedance, balanced or unbalanced, phantom power, "plug in power," etc. If you have to ask what it's called, you don't really understand these complexities, and you could easily buy one that's not compatible with what you actually need.

At one time, even Radio Shack carried such a thing, although if it's not a cell phone they probably don't carry it today; it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Also, a lot of music stores & dealers carry them, so you might try shopping locally. Take your lav along, so you can be sure the speaker you get is compatible and works OK with your mic.

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Steve House

I'm reallly curious what it is about these interviews that you don't want the subject to be able to see you personally

I just hope they all keep their pants on.

[Noam Osband]

I want the talent to be able to look directly into the camera, straight ahead.

I'll probably get a battery powered unit since I feel like phantom power off the already small battery on the camcorder will make run times shorter.

[Richard Crowley]

You haven't established that you even NEED such a thing. But if you don't want to dialog with us, good luck.

[Noam Osband]

I was talking to a cinematographer who used this setup before doing some shooting for Errol Morris, the guy who created this idea of using teleprompters to let the subject look straight into the camera. He said that when they shot, they used speakers to bring in Errol's voice into the room and make it seem a bit more real for the talent, that the conversation is truly with that head on the prompter.

I dont know anyone else who has shot this way, so I feel like I'll defer to that logic even though I didnt originally think of it as a necessity. Does that make it sound a bit more sensical?