Attaching a Sony ECM-55b under clothing

[Ty Ford]

Hello Michael and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

There are no set answers for successfully mounting a lav under clothing. A great deal has to do with the clothing. Silk, nylon, and polyester can be noisy. Try to stay away from them.

An ecm55 is not a particularly small mic. Countryman B6 are a lot smaller and easier to hide. The bigger the mic, the more of something there is to bump into or rub.

It’s ao important to create a vibration damping coil of the lav cable and tape it somewhere out of sight with g-tape or surgical tape.

Please let us know about your successes and failures. 🙂

Regards,

Ty Ford

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[Michael West]

Ty:
Thanks for the advise.
My decision to go with this model was economical.
Good quality at low price.
As I progress, I will definitely be looking at Countryman, Sanken, etc.
I will try to keep you in the loop regarding success/failure.
Michael

[David C jones]

Hi Michael,

How you mount it all depends on what you’re mounting to; different types of clothing will require different types of mounting.

Ty is right: stay away from anything silk or satin. I had to hide a sony ecm77b to a woman wearing an 1800’s dress made out of satin. I ended up making a baseball-sized ball of gaffer tape to isolate the mic, and I STILL got noise! Awful!

I haven’t had any success with the Rycote “Undercover” mounts, ether. I would still get some kind of clothing noise. Your best bet is most likely going to be the “sticky triangles” method.

Best,

Dave J

[Ty Ford]

Morning David,

Yes every lav setting is a roll of the dice, especially if the talent is moving a lot. And sometimes even if they aren’t. I had a problem years ago on a shoot with a T. Rowe Price executive. I kept getting this rhythmic “scrrrr. ” Turns out he had a hairy chest and the mic was picking up the sound of hair against undershirt as he breathed! We went with the boom.

Tight clothing, in general, can be a problem; if it rubs near the mic you’re going to hear it. Last week one guy’s sports coat was of a material that made noise when he raised his arm because the material of the arm rubbed against the material of the body. The mic was on the inside edge of his lapel, but close enough to hear the rub.

I have had some success with the Rode Pin Mic. It’s visible but can be disguised a bit.

Regards,

Ty Ford

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[Michael West]

David:
Noob question: “sticky triangles”?
Thanks….and I hope you’re not referring to a bad ’70’s adult movie 8^}
Michael

[Ty Ford]

triangles of sticky tape made by folding gaffers tape so it’s a small triangle and sticky on all sides.

Also try small chunks of foam. Slice or poke a hole in the foam so you can surround the capsule with foam and then trying finding a place to secure it so it doesn’t rub.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader.

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Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog

[Corbin Gross]

I’m not a seasoned vet like some of these guys, but I find it works ok to have the mic stick out just a tiny bit. It doesn’t always work, but I had a guy in the studio yesterday with a dark blue button-up shirt with a button down collar. I had the tip of the mic sticking out from the fold of his collar just a little, and you couldn’t see it on the video. It was taped in there with some gaff tape and the cord was pinned to the back of his collar.

I’m thinking with theater there’s lots of shadows, right? Maybe you can hide the visible part of the mic in a shadow.

Corbin Gross
Photo/Video
SANMAR
Marketing

[Ty Ford]

Right on Corbin!

the collar mount and also the knot of the tie mount. Loosen the tie knot, bring the lav up the back of the knot and poke it down through so it just peeks out. You may have a problem if the tie is silk.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog

[Michael West]

Ty:
Thanks for your time and patience.
I’m here at work with a piece of gaffers tape in my hand.
One side is the lovely “gaffer gray”, the other side is is “icky sticky”.
Do I just fold it corner-to-corner, gray side in, forming a flap-type thing, then attach it to surface (skin/cloth) point down (inverted triangle) and put the mic on the outside sticky part?
Or is there a wizard/origami fold, the secret of which you would share?

Re: the foam thing.
Should I make a rectangle, the thickness of which is slightly larger than the circumfrence of the mic, drill a hole through the length of it, insert the mic, then tape/secure/solder the foam/mic contraption to the talent?

Thanks again.
Michael

[Mark D’agostino]

I have had some success with using small curlers that women put in their hair to make it curly. I cut the curler so it’s about an inch long. This isolates the mic. It only works if the clothing is loose enough to hide the bump. The sticky triangle is just folded to make a pocket for the mic. Don’t forget the loose coil loop of mic cord about an inch or so from the mic.

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com