Critical Role is a live Dungeons and Dragons show and podcast hosted on the streaming platform Twitch. If you know anything about D&D, you’d know that the game is really what you make of it. You can choose to spend tons of money on books and maps and figurines. You can also choose to spend very little money, and play the game using just your imagination. Critical Role opts for the former, turning the game into a spectacle of production. The amount of time, energy, and money that goes into producing this live game is massive. Since this is an audio production class, let’s talk about how they produce audio.
First, lets talk about mic’ing the cast. There are currently eight players and one Dungeon Master, resulting in nine individuals that need to be mic’ed. These mics were once identified as AT875Rs, although with the recent boost in production quality it is very possible they have upgraded. Regardless, I can assume that they are using condenser shotgun microphones on each cast member. This creates a sense of presence when each person is sitting at the table, creating a more 3D soundscape as their audio paths likely cross. On top of that, there is likely one or more table microphones. These are used to provide sound to actions done on the table, such as rolling dice. The Dungeon Master appears to have a different mic than the rest of the cast, allowing for a more up-close feel. I would assume this microphone has a cardioid pattern.
Now, lets talk about the mixing. With nine people talking, and background music, and table noise, the sound editing is likely a nightmare. These players are trained voice actors, so their mic etiquette is top-notch. It sounds like a little bit of excite, and some light equalization is used on their voices to give that podcast-y sound. Music is controlled by the DM on set, however, in post it sounds as if the audio is non-diegetic. This allows the levels to be maintained in post, but requires more careful placement of microphones as to not pick up the music on mic. Speaking of background noise, there is absolutely none. This audio is perfectly cleaned. I strive to achieve this level of production quality at some point.