Transmitter and Receivers for use with Mixer and HDV camera

[Peter Perry]

Hey Rich,
Doing it this way, you will need a minimum of two transmitters and six receivers…afaik, there is no “set” that will do what you are trying to do.
Questions. Is this is a bar or nightclub? If so, you need to be concerned about interence with all the wireless communications that could be present; cell phones, blackberries, walkie talkies, etc.
How are you shooting? Do you really need wireless to all 3 cameras? Could you hard wire to one camera and leave the other 2 on camera mic for sync?
What about recording into a laptop? Or a DAT machine?
There have to be a half-dozen better (and cheaper) alternatives to achieve what you want, which is to free up the cameras from being attached to cables, correct?
Give us some more detail, maybe we can give some more concrete alternatives.
Peter

[Rsk3527]

This would be in a small club setting or a private venue setting. I wouldn’t necessarily need to go to all three cameras, just one maybe two for safety. I ran into a situation where our marantz recorder ended up recording much too low a resolution so I want to be able to go to the cameras for back up. I am totally unfamiliar with transmitters and receivers so I just wanted to know some models that other professionals have used successfully in a field setting.

Thanks again,
Rich

[Andrew Commiskey]

I agree, There is always the zaxxon (sp) stereolink but they cost as much as the camera. For ease I would shoot time of day or “free run” (they can be locked together with the remote) and record the primary audio on a Stand alone recorder with the time code set to “Time of Day” (Sound devices 700 series?). For editing ease get a sennheiser evolution G2 transmitter with 3 receivers one on each camera for a temp guide track and also run a “camera mic” shotgun on the 2nd channel, or if one of the cameras can have wires run to it then use it as a primary recorder instead of the stand alone recorder. The Senn wireless are inexpensive, small, freQ agile and work pretty well but I would not trust them for failsafe audio. Hdv compresses audio so I prefer a stand alone recorder (don’t get me wrong the sound works but a stand alone recorder seems to have more definition and balls). The camera mic gives you an alternative (pespective) audio track and when you input hdv into a edit system it comes in as a separate file for each take so the TC breaks are no big deal. This is the system I wished for on a documentary trip to Africa where we only had 2 hdv cameras. It would have been nice to not to be tethered (and safer) and lock up would have been much easier.
Hope this didn’t add too much confusion,
Drew

Chaos is the beginning of everything.

[Peter Perry]

I would pick a camera and hard wire it, if I were you. Even top of the line Sennheiser or Lectrosonics wireless are subject to dropouts. But if it is just a backup…..?
That new Zaxcom stereo link looks interesting, though. I hadn’t seen that one yet. But it’s very expensive for a backup system. Whatever wireless you get, though, make sure it is frequency agile so you have options in case you get into RF hell.

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

If you want it to WORK, use a WIRE.

[Rsk3527]

Hey,

Thanks for everyone’s help, this has given me a lot to think about. Can anyone recommend a stand alone recorder that could be easily used in a final cut pro work flow. Right now our FCP machine does not have any additional video or audio cards so we have an apple tower with intel chips that is out of the box. So the only inputs on the machine are firewire, usb and the little mini mic input. Are there any DAT machines that have a firewire or USB output?

Thanks again,
Rich

[Will Salley]

One option is to get something like a Fostex MR-8HD 4-track hard-disk recorder. It will allow you to record 1 to 4 tracks simultaneosly to the internal HD at 16/44.1. You can record linear timecode to a track (ahead of time or in real time) and then display that on a timecode reader.

https://www.horita.com/smpteLED.htm

The record the Mackie output or live mics/FOH mix on the other three channels. At the begining of each tape, each camera can roll on the TC display for sync purposes, and then be free to move about until either the end of the tape or until tape is stopped.

[Ty Ford]

The new Audio Technica receiver is a two channel receiver that fits on the camera. I don’t have a lot of details about it yet.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. Find out more at https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com
Download Ty Ford’s “Existential Boogie” from iTunes now.

[Ty Ford]

You don’t want DAT. DAT is dead.

Here’s a new idea. Boom Recorder software running on a Mac. You’ll need an audio interface, but with Boom recorder you can route different mics to different channels, up to 64, maybe more.

When you record, you can make a “poly wav” file. That’s one file with all the tracks. Using FCP I was able to import an 18 track poly wav file directly into FCP with one move. The audio appeared on 18 tracks below the video timeline. Can’t get any easier than that.

Here’s the link: https://www.vosgames.nl/products/BoomRecorder/

I use boom recorder now in addition to using a Sound Devices 744T HD/CF recorder.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. Find out more at https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com
Download Ty Ford’s “Existential Boogie” from iTunes now.