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Countryman B2D cardioid Lav Review


Ty Ford

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I've used the B2 many times in "problematic" areas prone to feedback, and another thing you have to be wary of with cardioid and supercardioid lavs is that they're very sensitive to wind noise, plus I find they seem to be more sensitive to clothing noise in general. The B2's do not lend themselves to being hidden -- at least not in my experience -- and you pretty much have to have them visible on camera in the mount provided by Countryman. 

 

Having said that, they do isolate and dropout about 40-50% of the room noise in high ambient situations. I once used them in a factory where there was 92dB of drilling and stamping noise, and damned if we didn't get perfectly usable interview sound out of them. 

 

Mike Countryman has done some nice demos of the B2's at NAB, and when they switch back and forth between the B6 and the B2, it's astonishing how much less background noise there is, even in a place as noisy as the Vegas Convention Center. [Can't find any video, or I'd post a link.]

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Speaking of the B6, one of them taped inside a pair of glasses made my day recently on a sequence where there was no place for a boom. While a mid-chest hidden DPA sounded better, there was activity in the scene, and the glasses rig avoided the clothing noise.

I have a couple of the DPA miniature cardioids for plant mics, but have never used them on talent. If I encounter a situation like Marc mentioned and the mic can be exposed , I'll probably try one there.

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  • 4 years later...

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