OT: Need a good wireless LAV mic

[Chris Borjis]

all i know is be VERY careful that you get a good one.
spend more if you can. I’ve had 3 shoots in the last
couple of months with bad wireless LAVS that would have KILLED
the project had I not had redundant WIRED mics on
the left side of audio.

[Brian Pitt]

I have very little experience with wireless mics. I might be able to spend a little more than $400. I do realize that you get what you pay for…but for an upcoming low budget project, a wireless mic is an absolute necessity.

I was looking at a sennheiser kit on bhphoto that got decent reviews…
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=getItemDetail&Q=&sku=324242&is=REG&si=rev#anchorToReadReviews

Brian

[Max Frank]

Here’s a brilliant review and overview of lavs:
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/lavs_brockett.html

W.

[Stu Siegal]

I’ve been using the sennheiser evolution G2, and it’s precursor, for five or so years, and it’s a very serviceable, reliable wireless system for general field production, thought a bit out of your range. Try shopping around and see if you can get closer to your price, and be sure and get the ME2 omni mic, which is much more functional if people are going to be moving and talking while you shoot.

http://www.verite-media.com

[Dan Brockett]

Hi Brian:

Unfortunately, the terms, “good” “wireless” and “$400.00” don’t go together. You need to add another “0” to your price range to get good. Seriously, about $4,000.00 for something good that pros use like a Lectrosonics 400 series.

You can get barely adequate quality at about $500.00 to $1,000.00 with either the Sennheiser G2 system or the Audio Technica 1800 series. But the mics that both systems come with may not satisfy your needs for quality, you can check out my lav review at the link provided by Wayne above to determine which lav will go with your barely decent wireless system. It is most pros opinion that any wireless system below $500.00 works better as a paperweight than an audio system.

Best,

Dan

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[Stu Siegal]

Dan,

You’re telling him he needs a $4k wireless setup to sit atop a $3600 camcorder? Sure, we’d all love to own nothing but high end gear, but I strongly suspect Brian’s needs are much more along the lines of one man band/prosumer/indie doc/filmmaker, many of whom create excellent – and quite audible – content with the sennheisers/at/sony entry level setups.

Brian, buy the best gear you can afford and start (or keep) shooting, and don’t be discouraged by pros who, well intentioned though they may be, don’t recognize that their needs and criteria are at a different professional level than yours.

http://www.verite-media.com

[Max Frank]

Dan,

I just want to say that I’m so grateful for your comprehensive article that I linked above because it was so useful to me.
I’m certain it took you a very long time to compile!

I think people need to know the limitations of wireless audio, particularly when it comes to signal strength, diversity, etc – and they should shoot accordingly.
Audio is one of those things that you can’t fix in post: if you have drop-out, or if it’s overmodulated or you can hear clothing rustling against the capsule, your audio is toast. Finished. Broken.

Many of us [myself included] often underestimate the absolutely critical element of capturing good, clean audio in the field.

Audio is often the first thing to be sacrificed on a shoot and one of the toughest to correct or work-around when things go wrong.

I’d sooner buy less lights than a cheaper mic.
After all, you can do much more with color-correction software like MagicBullet Looks to vastly improve an image, even with very, very poor lighting, but with audio, your ‘correction’ options are limited.

My 2c.

Good luck Brian.
Do the best you can with the budget you have, and just be sure to work well within the limitations of wireless audio, and make sure you have an experienced ear monitor everything that’s being laid to tape on the shoot.

Wayne

[Dan Brockett]

Hi Stu:

You misunderstood my response to Brian’s inquiry. I never suggested that he buy a $4,000.00 mic system. I did assert my opinion that a “good” wireless mic system, as he inquired about via the heading of his post, costs in that neighborhood.

I have an Audio Technica 1800 series system sitting in my equipment locker that I am in the midst of reviewing and will be receiving a G2 system from Sennheiser soon for a wireless mic system review I am writing. I own two of the Audio Technica 100 series wireless systems. IMHO, all of the sub $1,000.00 wireless systems are barely adequate, none of them sound great, all are more susceptible to interference and have more distorted sound than the $4,000.00 to $8,000.00 wireless systems.

In a very simplistic summary, I categorize all wireless systems as either junk (not worth using or owning), adequate (for lower budgeted users, may work fine in some situations but also have noise and RF issues in many situations) and good (systems like the Lectro 400 series, Zaxcom,etc.) The “good” systems are the best that the technology has to offer at this point but in comparison to a $30.00 XLR cable, they still generally don’t sound as clear and have as much purity of sound and dynamic range. They are also still susceptible to RF interference and much less bandwidth availability as more HD broadcasting comes on line.

I personally use a $3,000.00 tripod on my $5,000.00 camcorder and IMHO, audio gear should be the best that your budget can support. For the average user or hobbiest, yes, a $4,000.00 wireless system would probably not be in their budget but there are situations where renting a $4,000.00 Lectro system for $100.00 a day totally makes sense if you are doing work for paying clients.

I still stand by my assertion that all wireless mics are a compromise and that mics in the $500.00 range only work some of the times and are still rife with RF hits, squelch and interference issues. My upcoming wireless review article will support all of this with carefully documented tests in real world situations. I would not consider any of these low cost systems to be “good”, hence my post.

Not trying to be snob, just a realist about what to expect when you uncrate it, hook it up and go on a real shoot in the real world of adverse conditions.

All my best,

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Dan Brockett]

Wayne:

So glad you found the review helpful and thanks for your kind words.

Yes, audio is definitely neglected, compromised often and is the result of making or breaking almost every project. I spent some time with some of the best sound mixers and editors in Hollywood for an upcoming article for HD Video Pro Magazine and the mantra I hear from them over and over is, “that if the audio is compromised on location, we can improve it in post, but it is expensive, inefficient and the end result is still never be as good as if it were recorded correctly”. And this is from people creating the soundtracks for the biggest features and the top ten television shows where we all think that they have huge budgets and the best talent and gear.

I heard another quote that I really liked on another board, to the effect of, “in post, we can improve the quality of audio around 3-5%, but most non-audio enlightened users think that audio can be improved by about 80% in post.” I totally agree with this assertion, I wish more people did.

All my best,

Dan

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[Jason Porthouse]

Dan et al,

Whilst I can totally see that a $4k radio system is going to whup a $1k setup, in my experience the Sennheiser produced perfectly acceptable results in a variety of adverse conditions, from shooting on a freezing glacier to the deserts of Australia. Ultimate range wasn’t great, but I found it a versatile addition to my shooting setup – with the caveat that every take was listened to carefully, as should be done. If you’re a one-man self shooter this should be a given anyway. Audio quality again was fine – an I don’t mean to damn with faint praise, but it was absolutely adequate for the broadcast programmes we were making. Yes, dynamic range wasn’t the best, but it’s a bit like hi-fi. There comes a poiunt in the cost/performance equation when to get appreciably better cost a whole lot more. So Brian, I’d stronly suggest trying the Sennheiser G2, and let your ears decide what’s good enough for you. I bet 90% of your customers wouldn’t know the difference.

HTH

Jason

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