Tutorials Journalism

Getting Usable Audio at Press Conferences and Scrums

Intermediate · ~20 min

Overview

Press conferences and scrums are noisy, crowded, and unforgiving of audio mistakes. There's rarely a second take. This guide covers the practical technique for capturing usable audio in these situations: when to use a shared feed versus your own mic, how to position yourself in a crowd, and how to protect against the recording failing entirely.

What You Need

A recorder or camera with a line-in or XLR input, plus a backup recorder
A wind cover/deadcat for any handheld or boom mic used outdoors
Headphones for monitoring levels in real time

Steps

Decide between a feed box and your own mic

A shared feed box, when available, gives a clean direct line from the podium mic, plug in if you can. Without one, get your own microphone as physically close to the speaker as the situation allows. A room mic from a distance in a crowd is rarely usable.

Position yourself correctly in a scrum

In a media scrum, get your mic in among the cluster of other outlets' mics near the subject's mouth, hanging back to avoid the crowd usually means unusable audio. Politely but firmly holding your position matters here.

Always run a backup recorder

A second, independent recording device running throughout the event protects against your primary device failing, a feed dropping, or a cable coming loose, all common in the chaos of a live event.

Manage wind and handling noise in the field

A foam windscreen or deadcat on any outdoor mic, and a firm, still grip on a handheld unit, prevents the wind rumble and handling noise that ruins outdoor field audio more often than any other single factor.

Sync your audio to your video afterward

When audio is captured on a separate device from video (a common press-conference setup), sync them in post using a visible clap or a shared audio spike as a reference point, don't rely on approximate timing alone.

Salvage a pass when audio went wrong

If the field audio comes back noisy or clipped despite your best efforts, a restoration pass (de-noising, de-clipping) can often recover a usable quote even from difficult source material. Treat it as a last resort, not a substitute for good field technique.

Pro Tips

Label your recordings with the event name and date immediately, in the field. A folder of unlabeled press-conference audio files becomes a real problem back at the newsroom.
Charge everything the night before a scheduled press event, scrambling for a charger minutes before doors open is a common, avoidable failure.
Ask event organizers about feed box availability when you RSVP, not when you arrive. It's often too late to request one on the day.

Knowledge Base

Field Audio Rarely Gets a Second Take

Unlike a studio interview, a press conference or scrum happens once. A missed or ruined recording usually can't be redone. This is why backup recording and pre-event equipment checks matter disproportionately here compared to more controlled recording environments.

Scrums Reward Physical Positioning, Not Just Good Gear

The best microphone in the world still produces unusable audio if it's three feet further from the subject than the other outlets' mics in a scrum. Positioning (getting physically close, holding your ground respectfully) often matters as much as equipment quality in this specific situation.

Where This Fits

This guide covers one specific part of mobile journalism. The wider picture (shooting, filing, verifying, and the practical kit for reporting alone from the field) is in Mobile Journalism: A Complete Phone-Based Reporting Kit, which frames the discipline as a whole and links out to the detailed guides underneath it, including this one. If you are starting from scratch rather than solving a specific problem, read that first and come back here.

FAQ

Q: What is a "feed box" at a press conference?
A: A feed box is a shared audio distribution point (often set up by the venue, host organization, or a pool camera crew) that outlets can plug into directly, getting a clean line-level feed of the speaker's microphone instead of relying on a room mic from a distance. Not every event has one. Check in advance when possible.

Q: Why record a backup even when I'm plugged into a feed box?
A: Feed boxes and shared systems can fail, drop out, or simply not be available for the specific angle or moment you need. A backup recorder running independently protects against losing the one chance you had to capture a specific quote or moment.