Type of mic for one on one interviews?

[Richard Crowley]

The Shure PG88 Dual Wireless Receiver runs on “12-18V DC”. That means you can operate it from battery power. No power mains AC required. Dunno why you would want to fool around with inferior substitutes when you have a perfectly good pair of wireless clip-on lavs? Doesn’t make any sense to me. Unless there is some other factor not disclosed here?

[Ingo Weigold]

Hmm, is there a link to a battery to be used with this receiver?

[Richard Crowley]

We don’t know what other equipment you are using? Are you using other professional equipment that operates on external 12V battery? You can get/make a simple cable to go from your 12V source to the receiver.

If you don’t already have a 12V source, you could use anything that provides 12-15V. Like a car or motorcycle battery, or a couple of battery holders from Radio Shack or a pair of “lantern batteries”. We don’t know enough about your situation to make any more specific recommendations. Where are you shooting that has a couch and a coffee table but not power?

[Ingo Weigold]

Hi Richard,

Sorry I need to be more specific, this would be the full set up

Two mics
One Interviewer
One Interviewee
One Zoom H4N for audio recording

The setting could be couches but also places like an MMA gym or training facility. The reason I don’t want to rely on “plug-in” power is for ease of use. Nothing worse than going somewhere on a shoot or interview to find out you need power when there is none available.

Hope this makes sense, and again, thank you for your input.

[Richard Crowley]

The preferred solution would be to use “ENG style” wireless receivers which are typically around the size of the belt-pack transmitters. But if you want to use that Shure dual receiver for portable use, here is what I would do:

Get two of these battery clips from Radio Shack:
https://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062253
each holds four AA cells (each adds up to 6V).

I would get a power connector also from Radio Shack that fits your receiver. You will have to use their sample plugs to select the correct one for your gear.

I would wire the battery packs in series (to produce 12V) and connect that plug so it powers the receiver.

Note that you can get a cable that plugs into the power plug if you don’t want to solder directly to the power plug. https://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3807941

I would use self-stick velcro strips to fasten the battery packs onto the receiver. That makes it into a portable unit (although a bit of a kludge).

[Ingo Weigold]

Thank you, this sounds just about DIY enough for me to give it a shot 🙂