Broadcast Mix Part 3

So to wrap up this topic, here’s a few more learnings and such…

I mentioned we actually have two broadcast/outside world mixes.  The first is the one I’ve outlined.  #2 is just a slight variation.  When we rolled out the new chain, we had one problem with it for the building feed – tvs, lobby speakers, hallways, etc.  All of the work to create a more dynamic and organic mix really didn’t work in these places because the volume fluctuated too much.  Sometimes it would be too much or too little in these spaces.  The answer became creating a second mono feed that was heavily limited and squashed and only sending it to the building spots.  This feed has much less ambience/audience and two stages of limiting – one individually over the music and speech mixes, then a second stage over the combined mix just before it leaves the console.  The individual limiters do the majority of the work inside the element and the overall limiter acts as a brickwall to keep the difference between music and speech nearly identical for playback at low volumes.  That way the feed from the auditorium is always present in these places and it sounds great for what it is.

I have found that the position of each set of ambience/audience mics is very important.  The ideal position I’ve found for everything up on the stage is as close to stage level as possible.  At one point I tried putting the shotguns way up in the air near the PA cabinets and this was a problem in two ways.  First, there was more PA bleed then I liked.  Second, because they were so high, I felt like the immediacy of the audience energy was lost.  I also tried putting them on very short stands and just placing them on the far ends of the stage deck.  This was my favorite position actually, but it was a pain because cables to the mics had to pass over traffic paths.  Also, because the mics were so accessible, I found them inadvertently moving over the course of a weekend if anyone bumped one or kids played with them.  The final landing point attached to the bottom of our side screens ended up being a good compromise because it kept the position nice and low but still put them out of the way enough where we don’t have to mess with cables and their aim will remain consistent.

I think we’re still making minor adjustments to the mix week to week as we continue to adjust for the best balance between the direct source and the ambience/audience mics.  Since this chain needs to be a set and forget thing, there are some times when it would be nice to have a bit more presence from the crowd, such as during the worship in the sample I posted in Part 2.  But where we’ve arrived at works for so much of what we do that I think we’re going to choose to compromise in a place that works pretty well for the far majority of what we do.  It would be really nice one day to have a separate position with someone mixing strictly for broadcast, but until that day ever comes, I’m pretty pleased with what we’ve landed on.

So there you have it.  Questions, feel free to ask away!  There are more samples of the new chain on my website.  The only clip not recorded through this chain is the Christmas 2007 opener.