6 min read
Interview audio setup: the two microphone rig that never lets you down
Most interview audio problems are decided in the first five minutes, before anyone has said a word.
An interview is the most common shoot in professional video and the easiest to get wrong, because the room is chosen for the picture and the sound is expected to cope.
The rig
- A lav on the subject, on channel 1. Reliable, consistent, immune to head turns.
- A shotgun or hypercardioid on a stand overhead, on channel 2. Natural tone, more room.
- Optional second lav for a second subject, on channel 3.
- Never record only a mix. Keep every microphone on its own channel.
Placement that survives the edit
Position the lav about a hand's width below the chin, on the side the subject turns towards, with the cable secured so clothing cannot rub it. Put the boom just outside frame, angled down at the mouth and away from the ceiling, closer than instinct suggests. Distance is the enemy: halving it removes far more room than any plugin will.
The room, in five minutes
- Turn off air conditioning, fridges and fans, and put a note on the door.
- Point the subject away from hard parallel surfaces such as glass.
- Add soft mass just out of frame: a coat, a blanket, a sofa cushion.
- Record two minutes of room tone before the subject leaves the chair.
Levels and format
Aim dialogue around minus 20 dBFS average with peaks well below zero, and record 48 kHz, 24 bit, or 32 bit float if the recorder supports it. Match the sample rate of the cameras so nothing needs resampling later.
Handing over edit ready files
The recorder writes a poly WAV with lav on one channel and boom on another. Split it into named mono stems at the offload so the editor can cut with both microphones available and choose per line. That single step is the difference between an interview that mixes in an hour and one that takes a day.