Why we keep the audio kit list short
When I set up sound for a live show, I start from a simple question: what is the least equipment that will keep every voice clear for the whole broadcast? A long list of gear usually means more cables, more places for a fault to hide and more to explain to a presenter who has five minutes before going on air.
Most of the studios we advise are small. They have a news desk, perhaps an interview corner, and a crew of three or four who also run cameras and graphics. In that setting, a dependable handful of microphones, a modest mixing desk and a pair of decent monitor headphones will beat an impressive rack that nobody fully understands.
So our method leans on repeatable choices. We pick tools that behave the same way every morning, label them plainly and write down the settings. This autumn, with many teams preparing for darker months of longer programmes, that discipline matters more than any new purchase.
Choosing microphones for speech
For desk presenters we favour small lavalier microphones clipped to clothing, with a cardioid desk or boom microphone as a second option. A lavalier keeps the distance between mouth and capsule steady, which is the single biggest factor in even speech. The trade-off is clothing noise, so placement and cable routing need care.
For interviews and panels, a boom microphone held just out of shot sounds more natural, but it needs a trained operator and a ceiling or set height that allows it. In a room without that, we usually return to lavaliers and spend the time on fitting them properly.
We avoid mixing many different microphone models on one show where possible. Matching types make level and tone easier to balance, and a spare of the same model can be swapped in without retuning everything. When a studio already owns mixed stock, we sort it by role rather than asking them to replace it.
- Lavalier for desk and standing presenters
- Boom for interviews where the set height allows
- Same model across a show wherever possible
- One labelled spare of each type in the rack
Placement matters more than price
A modest microphone in the right place will outperform an expensive one in the wrong place. For a lavalier, we aim for the centre of the chest, roughly a hand's width below the chin, with the capsule facing up and the cable looped once behind it so a tug does not reach the clip.
Rooms add their own trouble. Hard walls, glass and bare floors bounce sound back into the microphone and make speech sound hollow. A rug, a fabric backdrop or a few acoustic panels out of camera view will often help more than a new microphone. We test by having the presenter read a paragraph while we walk the room and listen.
We also check for noise sources before anyone speaks: air handling, lighting ballasts, a refrigerator on the other side of a thin wall. Fixing these at the source is cheaper and more reliable than trying to remove them in the mix once the show is running.
Mixing habits that protect the voice
On the desk, our method is plain. We set gain first, aiming for a healthy signal that peaks well below the point of distortion, then bring faders up to a sensible working position. Gain set too low forces the fader high and lifts the room noise with it.
We apply gentle compression to speech channels to even out the difference between a quiet remark and an excited one, and a high-pass filter to remove low rumble that carries no useful voice information. Neither is dramatic. If a viewer notices the processing, we have probably used too much.
Where several people talk, we lower the channels of anyone who is silent. This reduces the pickup of room sound and cuts the risk of phasing between nearby microphones. On busy panels this is the habit that most improves clarity, and it is one a trained operator can learn in a few sessions.
We keep a simple record of settings for each show, so the next crew starts from a known position rather than from guesswork.
- Set gain before touching faders
- Light compression and a high-pass filter on speech
- Lower channels of anyone not speaking
- Write the settings down after each show
Monitoring: trusting what you hear
Monitoring is where many small studios lose time. If the person mixing hears something different from what the audience hears, every decision is a guess. We recommend closed-back headphones that isolate well, used at a steady, moderate volume, so tired ears do not mislead during a long programme.
Where a gallery has speakers, we keep them quiet and check the mix on headphones as well. A mix that sounds fine over speakers in a treated room can fall apart on a phone or a television in a living room.
We also set aside a minute before going on air for a talkback check, making sure presenters can hear the gallery and the gallery can hear them. A clear return feed for the presenter reduces nervousness and stops people leaning toward microphones to catch cues, which changes the sound without anyone realising.
A short routine before going live
The most useful tool we hand over is not a piece of equipment but a checklist. It takes a few minutes and covers power, batteries, cable connections, levels with each speaker, monitoring and talkback. It is printed, kept at the desk and ticked off in order.
Batteries deserve their own line. Wireless microphones fail at the worst moments when packs are half empty, so we change them at a fixed point in the day rather than waiting to see. A small log of when each pack was last fresh costs nothing and saves embarrassment.
Finally, we leave time to listen to a full minute of normal speech from every presenter. Sound can be technically correct and still unpleasant, and only a real voice at a real pace reveals it. If something is wrong, there is still time to fix it quietly rather than during the broadcast.
- Power, batteries and connections
- Level check with every speaker
- Monitoring and talkback test
- One minute of natural speech from each voice
Clear speech on a live show comes from a small set of dependable tools used the same careful way each time: well-placed microphones, sensible gain, restrained mixing and honest monitoring. If your studio's audio feels unpredictable, start by writing down what you currently do, then trim it back to what you can repeat. A short, practised routine will serve a crew better than any extra piece of equipment.
