Doc Justice Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 I wanted to pass along a fun micing situation that I came across recently. For one particular segment on a challenge heavy reality show, I was faced with a crazy task. The contestants were going to run an obstacle course where they would get wet, and needed to stay mic'ed up. For a previous season of this, I ended up making my own version of the mic bra, so that I could get a little bit of extra protection for the lav. This season, I stepped it up a bit. Introducing the Mic Manzier. I cut up a neoprene body strap and made it so that the pouch would house the lav in the front of the body. A little bit of extra padding, an RM11, and some lens tissue in between the windball and element was all the protection I needed here. When the contestants were totally submerged in the water, we could hear the water all around the mic. When they emerged, the lavs were unscathed. On the back of the body strap, I had another pouch sewn in for an upside down transmitter. The reason I did this was to keep the transmitter high up on the body, where it had the lowest chance to also be submerged. One condom over the SMQV before slipping it into the pouch did the trick. No L&D on this one. For the female contestants, I had a couple of pouches sewn into one of their existing sports bras. I expect the women were a little more comfortable than the men, whose straps were made out of huge zip ties. Either way, I got every bit of dialogue I needed from the challenge, and walked away pretty happy with it all. Check out the pics I took for you guys, and fill us in on any wacky micing stories you might have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 It's the "Manzier" (or the "Bro"), from Seinfeld! I wouldn't put a COS-11 in an underwater situation, but I'd have no problem with a Countryman B6 or EMW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattinSTL Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 Doc... you just did two things... 1) made me incredibly happy I found this place... and 2) made me realize that MY OWN mic'ing challenges have been nothing but a walk in the park. I'm a big fan of what appears to be the show I think it is... and I always wondered how much sound gear was lost in action... it's a surprise to think it's not all that much in reality. (I assumed there were bins of lavs getting wasted daily.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego Sanchez Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 I just shoot a doco where the main character was going to swim in the ocean for the first time in his life. As he is blind we wanted to hear all his reactions. The dp loved his wide shots so boom was out of the question. Luckily he was wearing a tshirt, I used this http://store.aquapac.net/explore-product-range/miscellaneous-electronics-cases/radio-microphone-case-158b.html and made a pouch similar to yours for the mic, a countryman B6. I used the strap as a bra as well and worked fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 Those big zip ties didn't cut into the shoulders of the wearers? philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berniebeaudry Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 I once miked up four construction hard hats for use on a safety training video. I taped the transmitter to the inside of the hat above the support webbing. I ran the mic out to the bill and covered it with white fleece double stuck to the bill. It gave some wind protection and hid the Sonotrim mics. I did this so we wouldn't have to fuss with clothing as we randomly miked up actual workers. All we had to do was give them a different hard hat. It wasn't an ideal sound but I was covering with boom as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Justice Posted October 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 Those giant zips weren't tightened at all. They were just a fail safe against the body strap sliding down. As for the COS-11 instead of a B6, I totally agree that the B6 could handle the water better. But I would never outfit a show like with B6s, since the wires themselves aren't very durable at all. It was definitely a case of using what I had in the moment. Thanks to my very creative of mixers and A2s, we were able to keep L&D to a minimum on the show. Plant Mics, lav necklaces, mic bras/bros...this show had it all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker Brown Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Here's an earlier thread about mic'ing a gasmask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Not super creative, but while shooting on a US Navy submarine, I kept a CUB-1 (with a really long cable) in the front pouch of my bag for quick deployment. I would often find myself in places where I couldn't swing the boom (tight spaces to say the least) and we were not permitted to use any wireless mics on the subjects. I could reach around a corner and set the CUB on a flat surface near the subject to grab the sound bite. The mic made it into the shot a few times, but it blended with all the other submarine stuff and it sounded "good enough" to "great", depending on the ambience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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