[Richard Crowley]

The Sound Devices 744T has several outputs that could be used for this purpose. But all of them are line-level or headphone-level (which is very similar to line-level).

The Sony ECM-W1M Wireless Microphone has a microphone input jack on the top (the one with red band). You would need a special attenuating cable to take the line-level out of the 744T and create a mic-level signal suitable to input into the ECM-W1M. I don’t know that a suitable cable is available to purchase ready-made. You would need to make a custom cable for this application. It is not a complex or difficult thing, but not available commercially that I am aware of.

Note that the BlueTooth system introduces some transmission delay which may prevent PluralEyes from properly synchronizing the sound and picture. Is the camera so far away from the sound source that using the camera’s internal mic (or external camera-mounted mic) is unable to get a track that PluralEyes can use? Can you help it by using a slate/clap stick (or even a hand-clap) to establish a clear sync point?

[Richard Crowley]

I always suspect that big-budget productions use ADR. There is no magic wand.

I have seen historic reports of using big slabs of “hogs-hair” to protect things from the SOUND of rain falling. For example placed on top of a metal roof almost completely silences the sound of the falling drops, etc. And used also for “wind-screen” (“rain-screen”?) to protect microphones. Of course it doesn’t protect from the HUMIDITY so RF condenser mics would be used.

Hogs hair is still used for air filter material and available in rolls. Even from Amazon.

Here is an interesting reference: https://jwsoundgroup.net/index.php?/topic/6064-hogs-hair/

[Richard Crowley]

Is this scripted? Or is it “reality”? Is this just a quick “three-hour cruise” or a 3-week shooting schedule? Is this at the dock or in the bay or out on the high seas? Are you expected to record in heavy weather? How many speaking parts? Do you have wireless mic coverage for all the speaking parts? Are the subjects wearing heavy rain-gear or bikinis? (or naked?) There are so many variables here which were not revealed in your question, it is hard to know how to answer it.

Have you researched how they did sound for the TV series “The Deadliest Catch”? Reports are that they had wireless mics on all the principle subjects, and used on-camera shotgun mics to collect opportunistic sound. They used a variety of protection for the microphones, but typically most of the microphones didn’t even last for one season before they had to be replaced.

[Richard Crowley]

Some sleuthing reveals that your location is Huntsville, AL
The nearest major rental house is probably Trew Audio in Nashville
They have several wired lavs and other types of mics available for rental.

Many people use lavs or boundary mics on visors or on the ceiling.
Depending on what you are doing maybe one or two lavs or boundary mics would cover all 4 subjects???

[Richard Crowley]

“I didn’t find a way to change the receiver between LINE and MIC. Does anyone know how?”

On page 5, the manual says…
“OUTPUT LEVEL ADJUST Convenient front panel controls allow adjusting the audio output in 1dB steps from -50 to +9 dBu.”

https://www.lectrosonics.com/US/phocadownload/ucr201man.pdf page 5

[Richard Crowley]

It seems possible that when you switched to AB power, it also switched from line-level input sensitivity, to MIC-LEVEL input sensitivity. That would appear to indicate that you have the wireless receiver set for mic-level output. I would investigate setting the wireless receiver for line-level output.

[Richard Crowley]

Yes, if you are using a TS extention cable between the TRS mic and the (presumed) TRS input jack, I can see a scenario where that will significantly attenuate the audio signal. What does it sound like if you plug the mic directly into the camera? At least for the purposes of diagnosing the audio problem, not necessarily as a practical solution.

[Richard Crowley]

The Sony ECM-PS1 is the “lowest-common denominator” default mic that is included with Sony’s ENG cameras. It is a monaural “shotgun” mic but it is wired to send the audio to both tip (left) and ring (right) of the 3.5mm stereo mic input jack. News organizations who use those cameras for serious work likely keep the ECM-PS1 in the kit bag as a an emergency, backup spare, but most likely put a “proper” mic on the camera if they want to get above-average audio performance.

1) The Sony ECM-PS1 is not noted for above-average performance. And the “average” for these default mics is rather low. I suspect that those new range of little plastic mics from Rode probably beat it handily.

2) We don’t know how the DJI Osmo mic jack is wired, given that the camera is only recording monaural. But I have a 70-80% confidence that they are paralleling the tip and ring (left & right) together, or just taking the tip (left) and ignoring the ring (right). So I don’t think the problem is there.

3) It seems most likely that the DJI Osmo camera has a very rudimentary mic preamp circuit, and combined with the low-sensitivity microphone, you are just seeing the expected performance from the minor-league farm team.

[Richard Crowley]

I admire Denecke that their name-recognition permits them to sell products like their PS-1A for such a premium price. But there are products that do the same job for around 20-30% of the price of that PS-1A There are at least half a dozen alternatives even on Amazon.

[Richard Crowley]

There are wireless “plug-on” transmitters that DO provide phantom power. That is typically what people use to implement wireless boom poles.

There are also external phantom power gadgets which can be used between your NTG3 and an existing (non-phantom) body-pack transmitter.