The Press Conference

The house audio guy in a multi-purpose stadium works a lot of press conferences. I've done hundreds of them and I've found that there is a certain amount of art in a well produced press event. There is a balance that's present in a good press conference and it's apparently pretty hard for the novice to achieve. That's not to say it's out of the reach of part-timers, but there are several things that one needs to get right for a press event to be really successful and I have a few tips for people involved in producing these things.

Please take just a few moments and teach your presenters a few things about microphones. Which part to talk into is a good start. Tell them not to touch the microphone any more than absolutely necessary. If the speaker is two feet taller than the kid who introduced him, it's probably going to be necessary to adjust the angle of the microphone. Try pointing it at your face, if at all possible. Do not try to switch the mic on. If you try talking but the sound doesn't come out, it's probably because the sound guy didn't know you were about to start. Get his attention and try again. It's pretty unlikely that any even mostly bad sound guy would put a mic on a lectern and leave it switched off. So think about it... If you switch the switch, you're probably going to turn the mic OFF and that will prolong your embarrassment.

This should go without saying but my experience tell me it needs to be said. TURN OFF YOUR RADIOS AND PHONES. I have heard many phones ringing during press events. I'll even admit that MY radio has chirped during a post-game once or twice. It happens and it's mostly forgivable. But I've seen reporters answer their phones and have short conversations (one was talking to his "baby" on SPEAKERPHONE no less). That's just not cool.

If you're a sound guy, you should have a few tools with you so you can get it set-up and verify that it's working. Keep your set-up simple though. If something comes unplugged during the event, it's much easier to figure out what's happened if you have a minimal rig. Do you really need a huge rack of crap anyway?
I've been doing a lot of my post-games with nothing more than a sm58, Whirlwind MD-1 mic-to-line driver, Whirlwind Medusa press mult, and a JBL EON powered speaker. That's about as minimal as it gets. If I need more, it's probably because there are more mics or I really want to have some meters.
I like using our Yamaha 01V but I just got a A&H Mixwizard and it's pretty trick for this application. One thing I like about that mixer is it's internal tone/noise generator. It's pretty nice to have the ability to feed tone to the mult-box so you don't have to do constant mic checks as the camera guys come in. You'll still want to do a couple checks for the camera guys. It makes them feel better when they know the sound they're hearing is really coming from the mics on the stage. It's nice to have a compressor on the line you're feeding to the mult. It can give you a little protection and a more even level for the cameras.

On the topic of mic checks, remember that you're talking to TV camera guys and they could be rolling tape at any moment. You might also be feeding live back to the TV station or even to the whole internet, or at least the guys in the TV truck. So, you know, don't talk out of your ass or say anything you'll regret later when your boss shows you a tape somebody mailed him.

If you're holding a press conference, think about the lighting in the location. If it's a dark place and your presenters are going to be dark-skinned black guys in dark suits, it's probably a good idea to get some lights. That's an exaggeration, I know, but it's a reality that cameras need more light than your eyes to make pretty pictures.

Take two seconds to think about how many chairs you're asking for. Reporters don't mind standing and too many empty chairs looks bad so go with your low estimate on seating. That doesn't mean that you should choose the small room though. What happens when you get a good turn-out and there's no way to get them all in the room?

It's probably contrary to the usual thinking of at a live show, but considering that the TV cameras are potentially going to broadcast the images to a much bigger audience than the few reporters in the room. This means that the feed coming out of your mult-box is actually more important the speakers in the room. It's important that you pay attention to that feed, making sure the levels are consistent and even. You'll know pretty quickly if there's something wrong with your feed because the camera guys won't hesitate to give you a dirty look or even stop the event if it's really bad.
All-in-all, it's not hard to do these shows. There are certainly some things to think about and you can do a bad job, but it's probably a good place to start in the live audio game.