Using Lapel Microphones in Large Lecture Theatres

Digital Education encourage the use of lapel mics in the Large Lecture Theatre teaching spaces, as you can clip them closer to your mouth – this means your voice remains at a more consistent volume level whilst teaching and reduces the amount of reverb picked up in the larger spaces.

If you are recording your lecture using Panopto, it helps improve the accuracy of automatically generated captions for those with a hearing impediment, and it also allows the use of PowerPoint Live during your session, if you want to allow students to follow along on their own devices and view live captions whilst in your lecture.

When you enter a lecture theatre, the microphones should be sitting in their charging station. A green light indicates that the unit is fully charged – if the light is not green, or, for some reason, the mic is not in its charging station, you may need to check the charge level of the lapel mic before use.

All lecture theatres have built-in redundancy by also offering a desk-based lectern mic, so if the lapel mic is not functioning for whatever reason, you always have a fall-back option. Please be mindful that you may need to stay closer to the lectern mic if you are recording your session.

To turn on a lapel mic, you should locate the red ‘power’ button on the side. Press and hold this down until the light comes on.

Once the microphone has paired with the receiver, the light on the top will display green – if the green light never shows, or remains red, you may not be able to use the lapel mic and should make use of one of the other options.

Ensure that the ‘Mute’ slide switch is away from the word ‘mute’ on the top of the lapel mic, as this prevents the microphone from picking up any audio at source and will not allow audio to be recorded.

Use the metal belt clip to attach the bodypack to somewhere suitable on your clothing (such as a back pocket or belt) and clip the microphone cable to your lapel or somewhere else close to your mouth.

Test the volume in the room is not too loud or too quiet – you can adjust the overall level on the lectern controls using the up and down arrows on the right hand side of the controls.

You can also adjust the individual microphone volume by pressing the microphone button on the lectern controls and selecting the correct device. It is also possible to individually mute the microphones from here, so please ensure that the microphone you are attempting to use is not muted as shown on Lapel Mic 1 here.

If you are intending to record your session, ensure that Panopto is picking up your voice in the Primary Sources section of the basic controls. These should be locked to the correct microphones by default so you should not need to change anything, just make sure that at least some green bars are showing to the right of the camera display.

Once you have finished teaching, please ensure that you turn off any microphones that you have used by pressing and holding the power button until the light turns off and replace them correctly into the charging station on the lectern.

The charging lights on the station should light once you have correctly returned the microphones as shown on the left below. This will leave the lecture theatre in a useable state for the next member of staff making use of the space.

Note that the microphone on the right has not been replaced correctly and will not charge, meaning this microphone will not be in a useable state for the next member of staff using the space.