[Richard Crowley]

Yes, you are correct. The “X” indicates the 600 MHz version. So if your kit does not have an “X”, then, yes, it is not legal to use any more in North America) at least US and Canada). Many 700 MHz kits were sold to users in other parts of the planet where 700 MHz is still legal.

The pin NUMBERS shown on the XLR connectors are the determining factor. The pins LOCATION can actually be either way (left or right) depending on whether you are looking at the front or the back, and depending on whether you are looking at a male or a female connector. So you have the correct cable.

[Richard Crowley]

Hearing hiss in the absence of a signal is normal for all FM receivers. Most modern receivers have an internal circuit called “squelch” which mutes that hiss noise unless it is tuned to a transmitter. And many modern receivers have a user-adjustable squelch control. However, the ATW R100 does not appear to have a squelch adjustment available to the user.

NOTE CAREFULLY that using a “normally-wired” XLR to 3.5mm TRS plug cable will give you BIG PROBLEMS when you go to edit and distribute the video. It will record the microphone signal to both the LEFT and RIGHT channels, but the right channel will be OUT OF PHASE and when combined with the left channel it will CANCEL out almost all the audio. This has happened to many people and it seems quite likely to affect your use as well.

You need a cable that is specially wired for that kind of application. For example this Hosa cable/adapter made specifically for camcorders…

https://hosatech.com/product/xvm-100f/

NOTE ALSO that it is no longer legal to use 700 MHz wireless microphones in the United States. If your transmitter and receiver has an “X” at the end of the model number, then it is a 700 MHz version and is now illegal.

https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/wireless-microphones

[Richard Crowley]

https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-334757A1.pdf

WASHINGTON, August 6, 2015 – The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order that modernizes its Part 15 rules to accommodate growing demand for and encourage innovation in unlicensed use. The new rules adopted today will permit unlicensed fixed and personal/portable white space devices and unlicensed wireless microphones to use channels in the 600 MHz and television broadcast bands while continuing to protect television and other licensed services from harmful interference.
….
Specifically the rules…Permit sharing of spectrum between white space devices and unlicensed microphones in the 600 MHz band;

[Richard Crowley]

The reason professionals use “walla” is because recording REAL crowds in REAL-time is very difficult and resource-consuming to get it to sound “perfect”. Good luck.

[Richard Crowley]

Are you asking about recording REAL crowd sounds on location in real-time?
Or are you asking about creating “walla” for sound editing?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walla
https://www.filmsound.org/terminology/walla.htm

[Richard Crowley]

What does “not readily available” mean? Does that mean that for ordinary week-to-week operation, they just let it run unattended? It would seem to me that the 90th anniversary is an extraordinary event that should be an exception to the “ordinary” rule.

The three main things to consider with your scheme are:

1) Getting the microphone close enough to the speaker so that you essentially eliminate the ambient reverberation.
2) Keeping the levels “safe” because the sound level coming out of a speaker is typically much louder than what you encounter in “normal” microphone use.
3) Coordinating wireless frequencies. If they already have several wireless mics, it could be tricky adding yet another one while avoiding interference.

I would certainly want to experiment with all three factors BEFORE the event. Take any opportunity to do a “dry-run” or use a real event as a “rehearsal” for the documentation of the 90th anniversary.

[Richard Crowley]

Just because the levels at YOUR gadget were OK doesn’t mean that they weren’t “pre-clipped” up-stream somewhere at a previous link in the audio chain. It is not uncommon to set levels during rehearsal only to discover that the actual live performance significantly exceeds what you though were safe levels.

[Richard Crowley]

We have no idea what your broken “go-to” microphone was? Wired? Wireless? If it was less expensive than your cheap wireless kit, then why not simply replace it?

As Mr. Watson said, a $3000 wireless kit isn’t as good as a $30 cable. What is your motivation for using wireless instead of wired?

And as Mr. Ford said, most wireless mic kits (even expensive ones) come with cheap, inferior microphones. It is unusual to find a case where you can’t improve the performance of a wireless kit by replacing the microphone.

[Richard Crowley]

This question is asked almost weekly if you subscribe to many audio forums. And nobody has ever devised or discovered the solution that Mr. Neighbors is seeking. As Mr. Watson (and famously Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, engineer of the star-ship Enterprise) says: “You cannot change the laws of [acoustic] physics.

After going through dozens of variations on this theme, the solution that usually works best for me is to have the presenter repeat the question. That typically clarifies the question and gives the presenter time to assemble the response. If necessary, put someone on the front row whose job it is to remind the presenter to repeat the question if they forget.

There was an era where you could find “teleconference rooms” where they had a jungle of hanging microphones to attempt to pick up speech from around the room. But that proved to be more trouble than it was worth. And now teleconference systems typically use table-top “barrier microphones”. But, of course, that won’t work unless the audience is sitting around a big table.

[Richard Crowley]

I was assuming that you already knew that what you are describing is an “audio dosimeter” and they are available commercially. Here is an example…

https://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-ER200-Personal-Dosimeter/dp/B00P9X7ZII