Pablo Villegas

Thank you very much everyone for pitchin' in! It is quite reassuring to hear from all of you and realize that I was on the right track in my train of thought regarding this issue. Yes it is very annoying to not be able to pin down the exact source of the ticks, but I do have to understand the context in which I am recording and I am quite happy with the general results. So far we have only heard from post regarding content and storyline issues, so for them the sound quality is acceptable. BTW, the recording I put up is in the quietest location in the entire rig... which happens to be the location mostly affected by the ticking!) I did have some downtime a couple of nights ago, before I decided to post in the forum, and played around with the Tx moving them around the room (the drilling crew had a blast with that!) and managed to reproduce the problem but not as much as when the mics are placed and we are rolling... The guys wear coveralls and mostly fleece underneath. The Tx are 90% of the time placed in the front pocket of the coveralls and I am using Sanken lavs with the vampire clips to mount them, which has worked really well (it's quick and clean). One thing that has crossed my mind, and that I haven't heard from anybody is the possibility of Static Electricity potentially affecting the mics. We are in a very dry place, and static shocks are an everyday thing in this neck of the woods... Now, moving forward, I will definitely have my wireless looked at by my local RF genius to see if there might be something wrong with them and to do any maintenance needed as soon as I get back home. In a week from now, there will be another crew replacing us so I will speak to the other soundguy to see if he encounters the same issue. Thanks again everyone, if you have any other suggestions, I would be very happy to hear them. Pablo

Thank you Scott. I'm not just ready to drop 8 grand on new wireless, so I'm looking for more "cost effective" solutions. Do you think that using some kind of antennae distribution system would solve the problem? I have a friend that made one for his 788 kit and is very happy with the range results. When coming into the gig I was aware of the fact that shooting on 100% steel structures would be problematic, but what really has me scratching my head is that even when I am in line of sight with the caracters (who have the Rx on their front pocket) and only a couple of feet from them I still get the ticking when inside the Dog House. It doesn't happen consistenly; sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, but it is recurrent. The receivers don't show any abnormal antennae activity... I can see that the antennae switch from time to time, but nothing really crazy.

I could probably get another Tx/Rx set for my next trip. I haven't heard any ticking on the camera audio, but aside from the short spot checks that I do every once in a while, it's hard to say since the cameraman isn't even noticing the ticks that I'm getting from the talent mics. He will only really notice issues if one of my Tx batteries dies before I change it or if there is a very noticeable hit... I will definitely look closer at the cam audio to determine if it is suffering from the same issue. Thanks! Pablo

I have been paying close attention to the lcd screens, expecting them to be going crazy, but they actually don't even move, and the RF meter is usually all the way up. Perhaps the phase switching is happening so fast that the displays don't even have time to update?

Thanks David. I'm thinking of updating my wireless with perhaps 2 SRa systems on diferent blocks, but that will have to wait a bit. Besides, I don't think it is an intermodulation issue since I've been using this setup for a while now, and I've never run into this issue. I am using the frequency coordination chart from lectro to setup my operating frequencies. I figured that the ticks are not difficult to work around or "draw out", and that is why I haven't lost my mind. The way this show will be edited, it will most likely be a non issue since they are looking for quick sound bites cut with narration and a lot of music. Nevertheless, it would be nice to have a solid explanation and fix to the problem. I've uploaded a file that I recorded last night where the ticks where most noticeable for reference. http://snd.sc/fzGP3x

Hello everyone, Before starting with my query I would like to say that I've been a passive member for a while now, and I truly enjoy this forum. It is extremely informative, and some times just plain entertaining. I’m currently working on a documentary show that takes place in an oil-drilling rig and I’ve been running into some issues with my wireless systems and I would appreciate it if some of you guys could weigh in on the issue. This is my setup: 552 mixer with 3 Lectro 211 and 1 205d, all on block 22. I am using 3 UM200c and 1 UM 250B. As a camera hop I am using 2 LMa sending to an SR5p into a Sony camera on Block 25. The place where I am shooting most of the time and where my issue is most noticeable is called a Dog House, where the driller operates the drill and the rest of the crew is constantly coming in and out. This Dog House is completely made out of metal and sits on top of a huge metal structure. It is also quite small (10’ X 5’) and is outfitted with a complicated monitoring computer system that gives the driller all sorts of information such as bit depth and drilling speed. Although this information reaches the system via cable, it transmits information via RF to other places on the drilling site. I don’t know the exact frequency at which it transmits, but after doing a scan, I found that there is some RF activity around 583.6 MHz, which falls near the end of block 22. The 211’s read a little bit of activity on that frequency (one or to bars). Now what I am experiencing is a lot of “ticks” randomly creeping up on every wireless mic… It starts with one every other minute and starts getting faster, until at some point it is a fast series of ticks that goes for a couple of seconds, stops, and then starts. The problem accentuates when the characters lean on a metal desk that they have to write notes or just look out the window into the rig floor. I have read about and understand how very reflective surfaces can affect diversity reception on Lectro units, but this is getting out of control! Even when I am completey in front of the characters a couple of feet away from them, with nothing in between their Tx and my Rx, I still get this ticks. Unfortunately, I can very rarely use my boom in there, since most of the time it is just too loud and crowded. So most of the time I am left with hoping that they don’t say anything important while their mic is being hit… My question is, what could I do to alleviate this problem. It is very frustrating, specially when the AD tells you “well, last season we where shooting in pretty much the same environment and the sound guy never had an issue…” I am on the last week of the first shooting block, but I will be back next month for at least a couple of weeks, and I would like to solve the issue as soon as I can. I have thought of getting an antennae distro. so I could put two antennae on my shoulder and maybe that would make it better, but I am not sure if it is definitely a reception issue, or there may be something wrong with the way I have my system setup. Maybe all of my systems need to go in for some maintenance? So there you go, thanks in advance for any thoughts that you could offer to help me solve this one! Cheers, Pablo