RTE Microphone volumes

ballysheil

This might have a thread somewhere or in the past but is it only me who thinks that the RTE mic volumes are way too high, especially in the morning? Let me elaborate a bit, it,s not the sound volume that bothers me but rather the sound of the presenters breathing, licking their lips, swallowing etc, it,s the most intrusive i've heard anywhere, or is it just me?

Fuzzy Clam

It has been mentioned before. I presume you're referring to Radio One. The processing may play a large part.

NIMAN

I also mentioned this recently.

Morning Ireland is the worst. The guy on it spends most of the show snorting down the mic. I cannot understand how the production folk don't tell him to move away from it when he's not talking.

And now the woman has started too.

ballysheil

Just the show I was thinking of.
Yes, the processing, sound signature and so on all could make sense, it's just a bit early in the day for snorts, sighs, lip licking, and may other fascinating wet mouth noises. (I really need to get a grip this is sounding weird)

DT100

I often hear the inside workings of Cathal Mac Coille's nose of a morning,not great with the cornflakes.

mike65

RTE sound engineering is like poor local radio when set besides the Beeb. We can only be glad Marc Coleman is on Newstalk.

Fuzzy Clam

Aside from any processing issues, it could be that these days there seems to be little attention to technique in the studio. Presenters may not be aware that any noises they make will be picked up by the mics.
Certainly presentation standards have dropped in the last few years.

Fuzzy Clam

DT100 wrote: »

I often hear the inside workings of Cathal Mac Coille's nose of a morning,not great with the cornflakes.

Maybe you should be eating Rice Crispies:)

ballysheil

Does seem to be persistant and intrusive, often catches him by surprise mid sentence. Without wishing to offend or intrude I hope he's had it checked out.

Trick of the Tail

Its mic technique but more importantly poor choice of mics.

The modern trend for condenser mics in radio studios which accentuate gutteral noises amongst other things.

Condenser mics - well, only good ones (and there aren't many that are good in a radio studio) can sound OK but require much more control.

If you don't have the constant supervision and control, put dynamic mics in and listen to the problems disappear.

Give me a Shure SM-7B, an EV RE20, a Beyer M201 or a Heil PR-40 in a radio studio over ANY condenser, any day.


A.

Bobba Fett

mike65 wrote: »

RTE sound engineering is like poor local radio when set besides the Beeb. We can only be glad Marc Coleman is on Newstalk.

This. Seriously. The quality of sound and in particular the musical inserts on RTE Radio 1 is atrocious. I would love to see the interview that their current "engineers" went through to get their positions.