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Recording puppeteers


Nir

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Hello friends,

Next month I begin a short film, which based on puppet show with three puppeteers.

The entire set will take a place in a studio and the puppeteers will move in ״burrows" - therefore, I would use lavalieres. At the beginning, I thought to mic the puppeteers as usual - at the chest. But, probably they will look up for the puppets (as you can see at the reference that I attached) and it will affect the sound. so, now I'm thinking to mic them at the forehead, with a forehead sweat band - so no matter to where they will look, the mic always will
"follow" them.

I would like to hear your advice, from your experience.

p.s - I used in the past headset, but I didn't really liked it.


Thank you very much, Nir

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Yes,the best thing to use is a baseball cap.It gives you a little distance from the forehead and gives you a clear and present sound while still being "safe".

                                                                                                 J.D.

 

 

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I have also used headbands with good success on puppeteers, I did a season for a kids show on Sprout and it was the method that they preferred the most.  Often they would be under tables or laying on the floor trying to see a monitor so a hat wouldn't work for them. I have also worked a bunch with The Muppets and they also use this style of mounting although they tend to have two people work a single puppet.

 

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I've been using dpa4066 with good success. If it's a "puppet-only" show they are my goto mics. I found it difficult in a "mixed" show (human & puppets) to match boom/lavs of "real" actors with the closeup headset sound of the puppeteers. but post can put them in the same room again.

The puppeteers often have to hide in small, boxy sounding places, but with headsets you can get the best possible, dry sound. again post should be able to fix this.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi everyone,

I would like to thank you for the help and tips that you suggested. just finished the series and after several tests I found that the headband was the best solution for this project.


Here are some pictures:
You can see the headband with the pocket that I sewed in order to prevent some wind sound. Inside it I stick dpa lav with a concealer.

2.jpg

1.jpg

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