Where to Place Your Mics

When recording a board meeting or any type of conversation between many people, the placement of your microphones is key to having a quality recording in which everyone is heard. Depending on the size and shape of your meeting table and room, the placement of mics can vary quite a bit. So, I thought I'd share some knowledge about conference recording in hopes to help those who are interested in recording their meetings or those who got stuck with the task of transcribing those four hour long lectures. I'll organize this rant into three parts.

Part one: Boardrooms....

In a typical boardroom situation, the participants are seating facing others across the table. Place your conference microphones at the center of either end of the board table. Depending on the size of the table, two quality table-top microphones should be sufficient. 

The digital recorder can be placed near a person in the center of the table, with each microphone connected to the person's left or right.

Part Two...

 For larger meetings, such as those common in training or sales seminars, tables are often arranged in "U" voice capture by placing two or more microphones is appropriate locations.

Where the head of the table (or the bottom of the "U") is narrow, you can place the microphones on the sides of the U arrangement. By placing the first two microphones close, you can capture the voices of those sitting at the head table.

Part Three...

One of the more common requests we get is for microphone placement where the primary speakers are seated at a dais before an audience, such as in a city council or school board meeting.

There are many variants that affect microphone placement, such as whether audience voices are to be recorded. These are many of the same considerations to be made when recording a courtroom proceeding, since the various participants may be situated in several different locations about the room.

Basically, draw out the room you are using for your event. Draw twelve-foot diameter circles and arrange them to enclose the desired parties. Count how many circles you have drawn to best cover the recording area. The number of circles you settle on is the number of conference microphones you may need.

I hope this is helpful to you and I wish you luck in your conference recording endeavors. Remember, you can call our toll free number (866-408-1383) here at Novuscript with any questions.