clarity of audio for speech

One of the most satisfying achievements with running sound systems is getting good reproduction of the spoken word: a sound reinforcement system that is transparent so you wouldn't notice it unless it wasn't there. We were discussing things at church this morning about improving the sound of presenters who like to move around. At present we are using a fixed SM58 running through a pair of ART300As flown overhead. Sound quality is not bad, provided that presenter works the mic. Any kind of omni-directional microphone would be asking for trouble in a reverberant space with loudspeakers present. On a note of pondering - maybe in the future loudspeakers will give way to individual headphones for everyone? Bob Clair, audio guru from Clair Audio wrote several years ago that the future is in headsets - one day you will go to a theatre or music show and have a headset that lets you have some control over what you hear. I'm not sure about it myself. Might take a while to catch on. There will certainly be issues of audiences feeling separately isolated and distant from the audience crowd that complements the collective concert experience. Possibly the people best skilled in mixing audio for such applications will be those with a background in mixing audio for in-ear monitors, as used by performing musicians - where part of the skill is adding `ambience' to the audio so that the musician doesn't feel isolated from the audience due to the earphones' sound-blocking nature.

Actually, on the topic of sound-blocking headphones - I've noticed that the Shure E Series of sound-isolating earphones are available at reasonable prices, and aimed at portable music player users. In Melbourne recently a pedestrian was killed by a tram as she crossed in front of it, oblivious, due to wearing earphones. I think wearing earphones that effectively block outside noise will be a pretty dangerous thing for pedestrians to do. Good for travelling on the bus or train, though.