[Richard Crowley]

My first thought was that it may be static electricity discharge. Does the pastor wear a clerical gown (or other garb) that might be static inducing? Or a silk tie, etc? I don’t think that it sounds like a result of RF “hits” from interference, but that is just a guess.

When the pop happens, does the microphone audio come back instantly, or does it take a fraction of a second to return after the pop? What do you see in the RF and audio displays on the receiver?

There are several experiments you can do to make a differential diagnosis of the situation (as they say in the medical biz.) You can pick the same hour on some other day (Saturday, Monday, etc.) and just leave the transmitter sitting on the lecturn or wherever the pastor normally stands. See if it makes the same noises. Or have someone else wear it for a few hours (perhaps office staff or janitor, etc.

Do you get the same pops from the receiver when the transmitter is turned off?

[Richard Crowley]

Todd, you caught me! I think I am asking both questions 1 and 2. I’m not that up on lighting but I generally know different kinds of instruments (Fresnel vs. elipsoidal, etc.) And I am trying to get the best value for the budget. I think that Fresnel seems like the best combination of functionality, flexibility an value. And it seem like 8 inch (500W – 2K) is the right range for my anticipated throws, light levels and power available, etc. I am looking for some advice on whether this is the right path. And I am also looking for help in finding some good values on used equipment.

Do you have a source of parts to make HMI conversions? I am as much a hardware hacker as a producer and that sounds like a terrific DIY project.

(I already knew the capital of N.Dakota 🙂

[Richard Crowley]

So then the problem isn’t the max level, because that is trivial to “adjust”. The problem seems to be that you used an unusually wide dynamic range, apparently something inappropriate for standard broadcast use. Maybe something to avoid in the future.

I would have to agree with those who say that there isn’t a simple solution to this one. Just knock the level down and deliver the first one, and take your lumps. And learn for the future.

[Richard Crowley]

Stay FAR away from cheap wireless mic systems. Anything less than $500 is a throw-away, fiddly, unreliable plastic toy and a total waste of $$$. I can’t say that I would recommend that little plastic Azden “mixer” to anyone, either. Adzen earned its poor reputation the hard way.

Unless your interviews and panel discussions are with marathon runners out on the road, not clear why you need wireless systems on such a low budget? You gotta walk before you can run (pun was not intentional.)

Probably the absolute lowest-price lav that is worth fooling with is the Audio Technica ATR-3350 (~$20 each). The ATR3550 comes with 3.5mm mini-phone plug that would actually work directly into your camcorder mic input jack, but one mic/one channel only, of course. If you wanted absolutely bare-bones, you could get an adapter that would let you plug two of these into your stereo mic input: Audiogear ADPT2MMFMSM https://www.audiogear.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?key=ADPT2MMFMSM&preadd=action Note that running unbalanced 3.5mm mic cables for very far is fraught with potential problems. If it works, you’ve gotten away with saving some significant $$$. But if not, it may have been the wiser choice to go with higher-end equipment. Note that some people (myself included) put XLR connectors on these cheap mics almost as “disposable” spares, etc.

A more conventional low(er)-cost lav mic selection would be something like the Audio-Technica AT831R (more like $200 each) which comes with a conventional XLR output connector.

I make my own XLR to 3.5mm mic adapters (https://www.rcrowley.com/CamAdapt.htm) but if you aren’t handy with a soldering iron, at the very least get something like this: https://www.signvideo.com/xlr-pro_xlr_adapter-audio-mixer.htm to allow plugging two separate standard XLR mics (or other audio sources) into your camcorder stereo mini-phone mic input. This would handle any standard professional microphone or audio source that uses the industry-standard XLR connectors.

Note that the audio recording capabilities of a small consumer camcorder are no prize. The mic preamps aren’t all that quiet. But worse, you are usually having to put up with the pumping “auto-level” feature. That is why many people would rather spend $200 and buy a separate little sound recorder (with real XLR inputs, etc.) than have to deal with camcorder (or DSLR) “audio”.

[Richard Crowley]

Swissonic appears to be out of business.

[Richard Crowley]

“Do I need a product that contains a ground loop eliminator?”

That is a completely independent, separate question. Simply put, you need a ground loop eliminator IF you have a ground loop problem.

Perhaps you are looking for one of the audio interface boxes made by BeachTek, Juiced Link, Sign Video, and other companies. They accept line or mic level and have other various features depending on exactly what you need.

[Richard Crowley]

Are you saying you want to record your 12 sources independently to separate tracks, or are you saying that you have up to 12 sources, but are mixing in real-time and need only 2-4 tracks of recording? If the former, then the LR16 seems like a reasonable solution (assuming it is within your budget). Else there are many smaller digital recorders available that can record the output of any mixer. Several smaller recorders also have the advantage of placement across/around a large sports venue that would be impractical or more expensive with hard-wired or wireless solutions.

No there are no fundamental properties of most audio equipment that makes them more suitable for music applications. Basically, audio is audio.

[Richard Crowley]

Remember that the computer screen resolution is probably much higher than the resolution of the video. Some amount of artifacting is to be expected.

[Richard Crowley]

Both MP3 and WAV audio file formats support an unlimited number of internal tags. The beginning time-code is likely encoded into one of these internal tags. There are standalone utilities to read these tags. Also some applications will display the contents of these tags, and even allow editing the values.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tag_editors

[Richard Crowley]

“Training session for new court judges, the panel is at a long table with mics set for both the house PA and feeding my cameras. One of the judges taps on the mics near him, hears that only one of them is coming thru the speakers, and decides my direct-to-camera mic is unnecessary, so he puts it under the table.”

Perhaps because I’m old enough that I can get away with it (or I just don’t care what they think of me), I have yelled out from the camera position: “PLEASE DON’T MOVE THE MICROPHONES!” I don’t care if they are the king of the world, it isn’t THEIR job description to position the equipment.