Leno/letterman mics

onetooloud · Post by **onetooloud** » Thursday Nov 20, 2003

I've noticed this one too many times and have to ask opinions on this. Many talk show hosts have large diaphram and or ribbon mics on their desks and also have lapel mics. What are they up too? Are they even using them ? Many times these mics are quite some distance from the person being interveiwed! Sometimes approaching 20 feet.
Due to the distance from the source and source volume wouldn't that tend to give the speaker a hollow cavelike sound and pickup all kinds of unwanted noise? Or is this used for something else? Perhaps just props.
What do you think? Enlighten me.

Craven Sound · Post by **Craven Sound** » Thursday Nov 20, 2003

Most talk shows, even SNL, use a boom mic that is above the talents heads. There is also a boom operator, that pans and tilts the mics toward the person speaking. If you look closely, you can sometimes see the shadow of the mic moving.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Thursday Nov 20, 2003

Craven's right. The majority of the "heavy lifting" is done with a boom mic. A lavalier mic is added for when the talent moves to different locations, and for redundancy (you know...just in case). They use a handheld when they go out to the audience for 2 reasons... first, they usually have a tighter pickup pattern, so they don't feed back in the house PA as quick, and secondly, because it psychologically gives the audience member, who isn't a broadcast pro, a target to talk towards. Any one of those mics could theoretically do the job alone, but the combination works best.
The ribbon mics like Letterman uses are largely props, a holdover from the early days of TV, when that's all there was to use.--->JMS

onetooloud · Post by **onetooloud** » Thursday Nov 20, 2003

My general feeling was that the mics on the desktops where props, its those mics I've wondered about. Anyone else?

Craven Sound · Post by **Craven Sound** » Friday Nov 21, 2003

I frequently watch the Comedy Central feed of Conan O'brian. He's always wacking the AKG mic on his desk-top over, and continually beating on it. I have never heard it clunk, so if they ever do use it, it's only on an as needed basis.

facingwest · Post by **facingwest** » Sunday Nov 23, 2003

To my understanding, it is a prop. They just have the mic set up for the "tradition" of talk shows.