The talkback mic is the usual way to communicate, one-way, from the control room to musicians in the studio. But say you’re recording a closely-miked (loud) rock band in one room. How do you hear them talking to you?

And how do they even talk to each other without taking off their headphones? Sometimes the room mics can't be loud enough in the mix to hear conversations clearly. Sure, you can put out separate mics (with or without on/off switches) for each band member, and have these on faders so you can mute/unmute as needed. But that requires a lot of extra inputs, mics and attention span.

And invariably, these mics will usually be off when a band member says something important, and then you'll have to ask them to repeat. Tedious! But leaving the mic on all the time, of course, is sonically unacceptable and dangerous to hearing and speakers.

As a result I’ve developed a trick to make it all automatic, a way to leave the room mic on all the time without concern of affecting the recording while dramatically improving two-way communication ability.

Put an omnidirectional microphone in the middle of the musicians’ playing area. Condenser mics of a more sensitive nature work best for this application. I'll use a lot of gain so that I can clearly hear any band member talk at normal conversation levels. Fine… until someone starts playing guitar or hitting a drum!

So, the way to make it automatic (and safe) is to use a limiter/compressor - a BIG limiter/compressor, one capable of at least 20dB (or more) of gain reduction. I also may apply an EQ/filter, and/or, the mic's roll-off, to lose subsonic rumble (but this is not mandatory).