u/Badassostrich

Hey guys!

I'm a sound designer and when the company I work for records video podcasts, they'll use 4 × RØDE Lavalier II mics with two Wireless Pro systems. Not optimal, but they prefer to have the guests feel less "on-air", and the videographer doesn't like a cluttered picture....... -.-

So now, I’m currently mixing an episode with four speakers and I’m struggling to get a clean starting point.

Main issues:

- Voices are inconsistent in tone and level

- Mic placement varies a lot (some clipped to T-shirt collars, others properly placed on chest/shirt)

- Significant bleed/crosstalk on every mic

- Overall sound feels far from a studio podcast

- My goal is to get it as polished and "homogeneous" as possible.

How would you approach mixing something like this?

Would you use gating/expanders, sidechain compression to duck non-active mics, manual clip gain editing, dialogue isolation tools or something different?

I have access to RX11 advanced, DXRevive, Clear, and several restoration plugins.

Any workflow tips would be hugely appreciated!