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Exploring the World of Microphones

In the realm of audio technology, microphones play a pivotal role in capturing, transmitting, and amplifying sound. It’s a huge and diverse field, with nuanced differences and very specific applications. So let’s go over what we use, and why we use it.

Lapel microphones, also known as lavalier microphones, are designed to be clipped onto clothing, making them inconspicuous and perfect for situations where visibility and mobility matters. Typically an Omnidirectional Condenser, they are sensitive, detailed and consistent. Perfect for presentations and interviews, our Sennheiser Wireless Lapel mics are a permanent feature in our productions.

Handheld microphones are perhaps the most recognizable type of microphone. Their ergonomic and familiar design allows speakers, presenters, and performers to have control over their audio as they move around the stage or set. Typically a Hyper-Cardioid Dynamic microphone, they provide a very focused and powerful sound, minimising bleed from the environment and providing a clear signal on the busiest of stages. Our Sennheiser Handheld microphones are also wireless, providing maximum mobility and comfort; meaning they’re also an extremely popular and useful tool.

Lectern microphones are designed for use on podiums or lecterns, offering a convenient solution for speakers addressing an audience. These microphones are engineered to minimize feedback and capture the speaker’s voice clearly, even when they’re positioned a bit further away from the microphone. They provide a stable and consistent solution for talks and conferences with multiple speakers addressing the audience in turn, and keeping the speaker physically free from any microphones can benefit their presentation.

Finally, Boundary microphones, or “boundary mics,” use the principle of phase cancellation to capture sound waves reflected off surfaces, resulting in a natural and ambient audio capture. These microphones are often placed on large surfaces like conference tables or theatre stages, making them ideal for recording meetings, conferences and theatrical performances. They’re a useful tool due to the ease of use and minimal technical footprint, making them a great choice for more simple setups where a wide area needs to be covered effectively.

The world of microphones is diverse and adaptable, catering to a wide range of commercial applications. Whether you’re capturing the ambiance of a conference, recording a podcast, addressing a large audience, or amplifying a musical performance, there’s a microphone type that’s perfectly suited for the task.

Lets talk about connectivity…

What do you do if you internet isn’t great and you need to stream. Perhaps the wifi is slow, or you’re in a rural area. We can connect multiple internet connection together using a process called ‘bonding’.

We use a device that connects multiple internet connections together from a company call Peplink. It allows us to provide stronger, more resilient internet on site for streaming, in the homes of remote contributors and even in remote location. We can connect 3G, 4G, KASAT and starlink, fibre and wifi. Talk to us if you want to know more.

If you want to know more about how we use this technology, or how to get better internet in hard to reach places, drop us a line – kieron@presentcommunications.com

Building out a content pipeline…

With larger events now fully back in the calendar but smaller meetings and training replaced by virtual ones, consistent engagement throughout the year is more important than ever. Much of this is done online and content creation is now a key engagement activity, where networking and workshops used to be.

Many organisations’ major events calendar has been reduced to a single ‘big day’. Make sure you take full advantage of all your potential content and increase the longevity of your event by capturing as much as possible.

You have your ideal audience, speakers and experts in one place. This is the perfect opportunity to capture as much content as possible, an opportunity not to be missed. We build simple, cost-effective studios in events, exhibitions, seminars, congresses, just like yours.

Create a space for presenters to POP in, delegates to POP by.

We made a mistake…

Since the lockdowns began around March 2020, our businesses have changed. Live events has been mostly non-existent. In order for businesses in our industry to survive, we’ve had to adapt, try new things and learn new skills. Not only that, but budgets are different (smaller).

I’m very pleased with the way that we’ve adapted in the last year. We’ve been able to offer our clients excellent quality live streaming and virtual events at the right price. I’m also happy to say we’re dong it the right way, with highly skilled staff, on some of the best and most reliable equipment currently in the industry.

But it’s been a journey to get here. A few months ago, we were asked to do something new. We were asked to record 20 people in HD from a Zoom meeting. We thought we could do it. In the ‘old world’ it would have been easy. We would have been on site, brought in 20 video feeds from anywhere around the world and rented in a rack of video recorders. The quality would have been excellent and the budget doubled. This time around, we wanted to do it from our studio and we wanted to keep it cheap and keep the client. We did some testing, all appeared to work. We looked over our test recordings, they seemed ok. We confirmed with the client and won the job to work on one of their most high profile projects that year.

We started the job, pressed all the buttons, everything looked good and the ‘event’ took place. After the event, we confirmed we had files, nothing had crashed and we would send everything to the client. Everyone left (virtually) feeling happy. 

It was only went we went back over the recordings that we found the quality was poor, to say the least. Very poor. They were certainly not something I was happy delivering to the client. We worked through the night to fix the issues in post (video joke) and by the morning, we were able to deliver something. I say ‘something’ because it still wasn’t good enough, but it was something.

Now there were only a few things left for us to do.

  1. Apologise to the client profusely. Obviously we didn’t send a bill despite the fact we know the end client did pay for the eventual product. From my point of view though, as a business owner, I was not happy AT ALL with the work we had done and was not prepared to let the client pay for that quality of work.
  2. Research, read and learn everything we can about how we had made a mistake.

Now we’re in a unique position that we’ve made the mistake and we’ve learnt from it. And so what’s the outcome / silver lining? We know how technically challenging it is to deliver something like this. We made the mistake and we’ve learnt a lot. As a result, we rebuilt our entire network (more money than we’ve ever spent before one a single item) and changed our workflow for this kind of project. Now we know exactly how to deliver this project, should we ever get asked again! And next time, we’ll get it perfect. Even better than that, as a result of the new things we’ve learned and the improved infrastructure, our workflows for all kinds of projects have changed and improved. Everything we do is now to a far higher standard.

Bringing in multiple presenters from home…

With the current lockdown situation, everyone is working from home. This has presented the events world with a new challenge (and we love challenges); How can we broadcast an interactive conversation online in a professional way with high production values.

We were approached by Streaming Tank and High Snobiety to live stream a DJ set. So far, so good. With 12 DJs…. From around the world. And they have to be able to chat and drink and party together.

The technology that we put together allows presenters to interact but the audience to see a slick broadcast. This can be used in a plethora of scenarios whether it’s a AGM (we have used this tech for End of Year Reporting) or a product launch. 

Check out this video…

How can Video Conferencing and Webcasting help with your event?

Present Communications have specialised in Video Conferencing and Webcasting for almost 10 years.

Now is a great time to learn more about the benefits of these technologies for your business, especially when it comes to your live events.

If an important presenter can’t make it, we can video link them in to the room for fully interactive 2 way conversations.

If multiple delegates can’t make it to your conference, we are able to live stream to anywhere in the world, to up to 10,000 people.

We’re able to integrate with your own video conferencing systems, whether they’re H.323, SIP, or something like Teams, Webex, GotoMeeting or Zoom. We can also stream to other platforms like Elite and Talkpoint.

Makes it even easier by using a venue with everything already built in such as #15Hatfields.

Announcing Regular Technical Training…

We are really dedicated to providing the best support to our clients as is possible.  We believe that the key to this is consistency in everything we do.  In fact, that’s why our first company value is Consistent Excellence. 


We are offering training on the last Friday of every month to all of our technical staff, full time and freelance.  The schedule will be decided as we go along so we’re asking you, ‘what do you think would be most useful?’. 

These will initially be in Wimbledon at our warehouse but we’re hoping to host more in conference venues so that our techs can become more familiar with those spaces, staff and processes. Anyone who works with us or wants to work with us is welcome to join…

Multi-site, global, extending your reach…

Hybrid events, online seminars, live webcasts, video conferences, video streams, webinars… We are spoilt for choice when it comes to options to interact with our peers, customers, employees or the public more broadly.

For one particular client a few weeks ago, they had a number of offices around the world and they wanted full interactivity, control and HD quality and so they came to us.

We were able to link their offices together and show any site or any combination of sites on any screen connected to our network around the world. 

Hybrid events like this, utilising existing video conferencing technology don’t have to be expensive. Many offices have Cisco or Polycom equipment and/or infrastructures. Products newer to the market like Zoom and Starleaf and making interoperability much easier and the technology more prevalent. 

If you need a solution for hybrid events but you’re not really sure what you need or how you can make it work, call us.

Cisco SX80 for hire

We’ve been leading the way in Video Conference solutions for live events for a while now using our Cisco C90 units for HD video links around the world. Whilst the units are still great, clients are becoming more familiar with the Cisco SX80 and the rest of the SX range and we’ve had a number of requests for them this year.

Well, who are we to argue. We have now invested in a number of units, complete with cameras, microphones and touch panels to add to our rental stock. 

  • Standards-compliant 1080p solution, compatible with standards-based video without losing features
  • 1080/60p @ 10mbps 
  • H.264 / H.265 3 Screen output
  • Offers four simultaneous video inputs
  • Comes with four Cisco table microphones & camera

Get in touch to find out more about these awesome systems.

We’re Hiring

2018 has been a fantastic year.  We’ve beaten all our records again and delivered more successful events to our clients than ever before.

We fully intend to grow even more next year and we’re recruiting more technicians in order to assist us in making sure our clients get the best possible service.

We offer opportunities to train and grow in-house and encourage new starters to take on as much responsibility as they want.  We lead the market in video conferencing and live webcasting and train staff in this area to a particularly high standard.  We also offer CTS training and accreditation.

We’re looking for keen, enthusiastic and driven people to join our team and really make a mark.  We don’t want people looking for a 9-5.  This is live events, after all.