Isolating vocals with ambient noise

[MegaMatt55]

I could really use some expert advice, because I really don't know what I'm doing. I am the noobiest noob that ever noobed his way onto this forum.

Here's my project: I'm trying to make a video about people playing a video game. I have a gadget that records gameplay video as it happens, and my intent is to record how the players react to the game. My biggest challenge right now is sound. I want to be able to record a sound track of just the players' voices WITHOUT getting all the rest of the ambient noise in the room. With the game playing, obviously the game sound is going to be filling the room - I want to record a voice track that has as little else as possible.

Now, ideally I would have everyone miked up with clip microphones or something like that. I have a handheld sound recorder (Sony ICD-PX312), is it possible to wire 4+ microphones to it? If so, are there cheap ones that ONLY record the voice of whoever's wearing it? If there were 4 people wearing 4 mics all sitting next to each other on a couch, would everyone's mic record everyone else's vocals as well as their own?

Failing that, I need some tips on how to arrange the sound recorder so as to record the vocals while cutting out the noise blasting out of the TV. Can I build some kind of small sound wall out of egg carton foam and put it on the coffee table to shield the recorder from the TV? Should I try to suspend it from the ceiling?

Again, I have zero sound engineering expertise. I'm asking the internet now because I'm open to any suggestions.

 

[Massive Master]

Again, I have zero sound engineering expertise. I'm asking the internet now because I'm open to any suggestions.

At the risk of sounding discouraging, I'd highly suggest finding someone locally that does have engineering experience. What you're trying to do is far more complicated than it seems, considering.

You're going to need mics -- 4 Shure WL185's would be a nice place to be (and relatively inexpensive at around $100 each). And a mixer for those mics with enough inputs to take in a line out from the TV (and probably a direct box in between). Ideally, you're going to need to time-align those signals later, so running a live mix to a two-track recorder is --- well, it doesn't allow for that sort of adjustment later.

Egg carton foam isn't going to do anything. Assuming the TV needs to be heard by the participants, blocking it is sort of out of the equation anyway, no? If not, just turn it down so it isn't heard and run the line in to the recorder (ideally, two individual tracks on a multitrack unit).

Yes, those mics are going to pick up the other players. The 185 is a nice cardiod pattern (the 184 or 183 is a supercardiod, but very sensitive to any movement -- And they're condensers, so they require phantom power - Back to the mixer again).

Long story short (too late), you're going to get out of this what you put into it.

 

[Bobbsy]

Massive Master's advice to find an actual sound engineer locally is probably your best bet. However, even with the best engineer in the world, you're going to have to make some compromises.

One thing that occurs is to ask whether you're willing to consider headsets? Sound follows what's known as the "inverse square law" which means that, each time you double the distance from the source you get only a quarter as much sound. The inverse is also true--if you halve the distance from a source (say, a players mouth) you get four times as much sound. Therefore, a headset mic an inch from the player, two feet from the next player and ten feet from the TV is going to get mainly the individuals.

Or, you could take headsets to the extreme and use the kind with attached ear cups so you can cut of the sound from the TV entirely--but with everyone looking like an airline pilot or sportscaster.

However, as Massive points out, it's not totally straight forward using multiple mics and/or headphones. You have to mix the mics (or record multiple tracks) and also distribute the game sound if you go that route.