Re: Microphones (Re: DISPATCH Virtual Meeting )

[Ned Freed <[e-mail]>]

Carsten Bormann <[e-mail]> writes:

> When I started working on videoconferencing over the Internet in 1992, it was
> clear that you needed a headset with a microphone to participate.

Quite true.

> In 2020, that is no longer the case.  Using a good quality laptop, you can
> use the built-in audio system.  Echo is no longer really a problem because CPUs
> are fast enough to do the echo compensation processing (and mass conferences
> like our WG meetings have most attendees muted anyway).

The necessary speed is necessarily there, software, OTOH... it depends. And
I've found that even the best performing software doesn't work in every
environment I connect from.

And while automatically muting everyone helps enormously, screeching feedback
when someone unmutes for the first time is... suboptimal.

> The experience for your peers might even be better than for a head-mounted 
> microphone because there will be less popping and breathing noises, so they can
> actually hear the speech.  And your experience might not involve "hot
> ears”, wfor once.

> I personally like clip-on lavalier microphones to complement the laptop audio
> system, in particular if you need to be typing while speaking.  (Whether a lav
> provides an improvement depends on the room characteristics [2] as well as the
> quality of the laptop audio system.  It probably helps that I like wearing
> shirts, so I can clip them somewhere:  The important point about lavalier
> microphones is that they need to be out of the way of popping and breathing
> noises.)  Since lavalier microphones essentially are electret capsules, and
> these are really cheap even when good, it is not hard to acquire inexpensive
> ones (expect to pay ~ $15, but €4 shipped is likely to work well already [3];
> the difference is in the quality of the clips, the tendency of the cable to
> make movement noises, etc.).  [Panic buyers don’t seem to have completely
> bought them up yet, either.]

Unfortunately, any body-attached mic requires a certain amount of discipline.
It's been my observation that someone people catch on, others just don't.
(Sadly, this applies to performers as well as techies.)

There is an alternative you didn't mention and which I strongly prefer: A
speakerphone. The tech in these things has been ironed out to the point where
they work pretty much everywhere. And USB models that plug in to your laptop
are readily available.

The separate box keeps both laptop and body activity from affecting the audio.
And best of all, you don't have to think about it.

They're not especially cheap: The ClearOne Chat50 I use daily cost around $100. 
But it has performed flawlessly in a wide variety of circumstances.

				Ned