Challenging mic/recording situation - advice requested

Boundary layer microphones might be the answer... for 10 people put a mic between not in front of each person on the desk. That means 10 mics.
Minimum number would be 4 mics one in each 1/4 of the desk.
There is lots of stuff available now days for 'Teleconferencing' that would suit your needs.
ISO record each mic, put a Lav mic on the main presenter (if there is one) and a boom pole for extra FX.
Feed a guide mix to one of the camera audio channels and a camera FX mic to the other channel.
If it needs to be mixed 'live' Shure auto mixers (410 /810) give good results in setups like this and worth the hire charge.

If you don't want to ISO to a separate recorder then direct feed each camera with 2 mics (directly opposite them). Slate and or time code lock ALL the cameras.

There you go that should get your brain whirring for awhile.

Thank you for your responses!

I will definitely look into boundary mics - I've never used them before.

As for 10 lavs, while that will definitely produce the highest quality audio I don't think it is really feasible unfortunately. I guess I was looking for a solution with flexibility to ISO and quality sound but minimal gear. Maybe I'm dreaming!!

-Al

"There are no short cuts on sound , just audible compromises. - Peter Groom"

That is GOLDEN! May I quote you? May I use that in my sig (with proper attribution, of course)?

Certainly not for everyone, but a rather novel approach. Cut-n-paste from another audio forum...

"Looking for an inexpensive means to capture audio from a dynamically moving crowd, I sampled many MP3 players' recording capabilities. Ultimately the best bang-for-the-buck was refurbished SanDisk Sansa Clip+ devices ($26/ea) loaded with (open source) RockBox firmware. The most massively multi-track event was a thorium conference in Chicago where many attendees wore a Clip+. Volunteers worked the room with cameras, and audio capture was decoupled from video capture. It looked like this. Despite having (higher quality) ZOOM H1n and wireless mics, I've continued to use the RockBox-ified Clip+ devices ... even if the H1n is running, the Clip+ serves as backup. There's no worry about interference or staying within wireless mic range. The devices have 4GB capacity, and RockBox allows WAV capture. They'll run at least 5 hours before the battery is depleted (with lots of storage left over). I would suggest sticking with 44kHz (mono) capture, as 48kHz is unreliable. To get an idea of their sound quality, here is a 10-person dinner conversation (about thorium molten salt nuclear reactors) in a very busy restaurant. I don't know how else I could have isolated everyone's dialog for so little money. (And I would NOT recommend Clip+ with factory firmware... they only support 22kHz and levels are too high for clipping on people's collars.)"

RockBox Firmware

Thorium Conference






Example video of dinner/conference

We had a huge room with lines of desks in a giant U shape. Probably had 20 people in all.

We rented a pile of PZM mics, ran em into the house mixer, fed the room monitors for the rest of the room and line out to the cam.

Worked ok.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. How do they do it on the Today Show or Nightly News? Sit down interviews with a jury or in a classroom. Shure Bros has our answer. Its called a FP 10. It has 8 inputs. Faster than any hand out there. Two of these and you are set