isolated vox from a podium

[Vurt]

Watching Rumsfeld in many of his addresses lately, I've noticed a lack of background noise when he speaks as opposed to when the reporters do. Although I've seen him speak from distances of about 3 feet and not in-line with the mic, his speech is very clearly pronounced, without a single click, snap, or cough. How can the levels on the podium mic(s) be up so high to capture him without picking up a single sound from all the scratching reporters? I understand the concept of patterns, but still, I would expect some noise when he's at such distances.

 

[Garak]

Notice that their is aways a curtian behind them. Its their to absorb the sound from the room so it dosn't reflect back into the mic.

They also use lots of compression and noisegates. Everything on TV uses lots of compression.

Also the people speaking have really strong voices. Most of them don't need a PA. My first time doing live sound for a minister up here in canada was interesting, I had to cut the gain big time when they got up to the mic.