Wedding videography wireless mic assistance please!

[Don Greening]

Get the MA300 mic adapter from Canon. It’s made for the accessory shoe. You’ll need to buy the XLR adapter from Sennheiser for the wireless and plug that into one of the XLR connections on the MA300. Use the other XLR on the adapter to plug in your directional mic. Make sure your MKE300 has a battery in it for power because the MA300 doesn’t have 48v phantom power. This will be your best case scenario for getting clean audio from the groom and for any speakers/readers during the ceremony if have only one camera.

Or you can get a BeachTek piece that accomplishes the same thing and is adjustable. This route might cost you a little more money, though.

https://www.beachtek.com/dxa4p.html

– Don

[Mark Suszko]

Lots of event guys swear by using a throw-down iriver as a backup device for these gigs, and editing the audio in post. You can find numerous variations on this digital audio recorder at Tigerdirect.com and other places. If you’re trying to avoid editing and want to get the best audio live, in-camera, then yes, you’re going to need another mic and perhaps a mixer, or fast hands swapping cables. If you can’t afford to get one of these recorders or a second wireless, perhaps you’re under-charging your clients. You could also look into renting a second wireless just for the gig, if you know in advance.That’s less money. A second wireless is a good idea anyway, you’d havea backup if the first one has frequency issues at the venue, or you can get the second unit with a stick-type mic and use it at podiums and to pass-around at receptions, etc.

Another thing to look into is, many churches now have wireless hearing assistance devices hardwired into the P.A. system, very clean feed. They may not advertise it very much, so ask. You just ask the usher for a reciever, typically they use a mono mini-plug for a cheap earpiece, its easy to use a 20-dollar radio shack cord/adapter to bring that into your camera. I’ve done this three times at different venues and it worked GREAT every time. I bring my own fresh battery for the church RX units, they are usually 9v alkalines.

[Mark Von lanken]

Did you buy the wireless system with the XLR plug transmitter, or just the lav transmitter? If you have the system with the XLR transmitter you can program it to be on the next channel up or down and then with the flip of a switch on the receiver, activate the podium mic, strings, sound board feed or whatever you have plugged into the XLR transmitter. This feature makes the one input receiver act more like a 1.5 input receiver. I do this all of the time.

As already suggested, you can buy an IRiver or Minidisc, but then you have to capture it and sync it. It’s not really that bad.

For a typical wedding I will have a Sennheiser wireless on the minister, groom and the XLR transmitter on the strings. If there will be readers at the podium I will use the minidisc or a 3rd Sennheiser wireless that feeds to the second camera. I also place a mini disc on the strings so I can have all of the pre-ceremony music and then I have options in post.

For best results, I would highly recommend using a mic on the key sound sources, groom (brides voice will be covered with his mic), minister, and podium or musicians. This will set you apart from those using just one wireless and an mic on the camera.

All My Best,
Mark Von Lanken
Picture This Productions, Inc.
http://www.TulsaWeddingFilms.com

[Velma]

I’m one of the videographers who swear by the “throw down” iriver. THey are super simple to use….super simple to capture the sound via usb….super simple to sync up…and the audio sounds great.

I also use my sennheiser shotgun for some of the audio. I use this adapter:

https://www.signvideo.com/xlr-pro_xlr_adapter-audio-mixer.htm

You can fit your quick release plate on it. Works great.

good luck,

velma

[Thebtrain]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Certainly given me something to think about!

Up until now I’ve gotten by just using the MKE300 directional mic, but it was definitely time to move up.

I think the MA-300 adaptor, in conjunction with the directional mic, will probably be the way to go in the long term, maybe with an iriver as a 3rd audio source?

At the moment though, as this next wedding is outdoors, I’ve thought of running the wireless mic through the XM2 input and hooking the directional mic up to the backup camera and synching up the audio in post. Although as I’m doing this solo, it does mean I will be looking after 2 cameras for a small period, but I think it should be OK.

The other alternative – without purchasing any more equipment, is to try and remove the wireless receiver from the accessory shoe and quickly change over to the directional mic. I’m not sure about how confident I would be about doing this in less than 5-10 seconds or so…

Any thoughts on this solution would be appreciated. Thanks for the responses thus far!

[Mark Suszko]

markertek sells a gadget that makes two shoes out of one, pretty cheap as I recall. But will probably mess up your nahd-held balance a little, adding wrist strain. might look into that though.