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The perfect Lav Placement technique? Does it exist?


jgbsound

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I believe that this technique may be very unaffordable on a real set. I did this years ago in some low budget indie film. In our blocking, I noticed that the actress did not turn her head and remained on a one-sided silhouette for an entire shot. She was wearing a very crinkly dress. That being the case, I simply routed the cable in the open and hooked the lav around her ear to the side away from the camera. That was the most rustle free audio I ever heard from a lav. But of course my lav placement choice didn't come without some questioning from the director. Oh well! :)

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  • 1 month later...
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Cable conductance is usually solved by tying a knot in the mic cable close to the mic head.

Thanks a lot for that! I wasn't aware that might be a viable option, as I'm always concerned with keeping the mic and cable in as good condition as possible...

Thanks again,

BK

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I agree, vampire clips on children are a bad idea....

Having worked with children on "the Little Rascals" and big children on"the Hangover 2" I would suggest picking up a needle and thread and sewing the mics sideways to the collar, across the shoulder, and down the back of the arm to the side... You can add a trimmed undercover to it on both sides before sewing and be very careful how you stitch so it does not pull the fabric too much. I find sewing mics in to be very effective

I use the vampire clips but I attach them to transpore then put extra tape where the points are to protect any

skin contact then use the tape to adhere the mic. Works well for the tee shirt collar mount, or if under shirt

is worn under a tee shirt it can be taped to the undershirt. This is with a Tram style mic.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm hooked on vampire clips. (Usually this is literally true. My fingers are getting tougher) As Bernie says, there are ways to clip safely into moleskin or other material so that they don't come into play as far as talent is concerned. Sometimes I will Topstick the clips directly to a button-down between buttons, or to hairless skin/undershirt. This takes 20-30 seconds on average. I work a lot with non-actors, and something quick seems to help our relationship a good deal (not to mention my relation to production).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had one of the days (two days actually as I was stuck with same wardrobe).

A new host who is worried about how hairy his chest is goes off for some manscaping. Then he gets hot so takes off his t-shirt from under his new starchy tight body hugging short.

You see where I found myself. The chest hair stubble is so loud even poking the cos11 out a button hole barely cuts it. Oh, he has a habit of dropping his level way down on everything after the first take.

Love my work!

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Thanks Brian. I tried fake fur and all the rest of the usual options. What I needed to have done was get him to keep him t-shirt on under the tight starchy nightmare. Did that today and not so bad. The point I was trying to make was that no matter how much you think you know about hidden mic placement there will always be a situation that will test your professional skills. Problem is you only appreciate the challenge later that night after your first beer.

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Guest Taskin

OK so small "mic placement puzzle". I've have not yet managed to find the perfect solution.

Male in a suite, no tie, hairy chest.

Places I have tried so far are, on the chest, along the button line where the two sides of the shirt meet, with double sided tape, I get noise from the hairy chest even if i add extra tape from inside to minimize the rubbing of chest hair.

Inside the collar, only works if the man is wearing the jacket then I can run the cable from his back up into the collar, but still get noise from the stubble on the face/neck.

No chance to attach on skin because well, hair, sweat, and often the shirt really shows, the same with the mic-bra. A tie would really solve it, but its not an option unfortunately.

So what to do? :)

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Hide it in plain sight? Does he have a breast pocket? You could put a mic inside a pen for example. Or if you have a white Lav you can probably poke it out some, this is of course if the shirt is white also...

Often times with starch shirts and hairy chests, I find it easier to just clip the mic (I use DPA clips) so that the mic is hidden between the button side and the body side if you understand...

That way no shirt cloth ever touches the mic and the mic is firm. Has worked for me in sit down situations and some running too.

Hair on head?

Why don'tcha send a picture? ;)

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Guest Taskin

Hide it in plain sight? Does he have a breast pocket? You could put a mic inside a pen for example. Or if you have a white Lav you can probably poke it out some, this is of course if the shirt is white also...

Often times with starch shirts and hairy chests, I find it easier to just clip the mic (I use DPA clips) so that the mic is hidden between the button side and the body side if you understand...

That way no shirt cloth ever touches the mic and the mic is firm. Has worked for me in sit down situations and some running too.

Hair on head?

Why don'tcha send a picture? ;)

Hi and thank you Olle!

The breast pocket might be another solution I am definitely going to try when he wears a jacket, but otherwise there is no way to run the cable there without pissing off the costume department :lol:

The shirt is usually white, so the black clips that come with the COS-11's might not work, also they are not very flexible and have a fixed angle, very annoying!

I will try and take a picture today. It is a TV series and also one of the main characters, so I have to find a perfect solution that will work every time since we will be working together every day for many many days :)

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Taskin

Hairy chest can be top of the problem list, AND men with hairy chests often have beard stubble that will rub on the tie knot reducing the effectiveness of placing the mic there.

I had some success with my man-scaped host taping the cos11 to the skin when he was wearing a t-shirt. With his usual starchy button up shirt probably not so good.

Best solution with chest hair noise is to get the mic into clear air, thru a button hole or similar. And tactfully ask that they talk up.

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Guest Taskin

Pissing wardrobe off, or pissing the dialog editors off. Not a tough choice IMO. A little hole will hardly ruin a garment. Ask politely and explain your situation.

Good point!

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All the professional wardrobe artists I have worked with are very understanding of the sound department's needs. They often give me a heads up on days that wardrobe is tricky. I always have them present if I have to poke a tiny hole for a lav, many times they offer to do it for me.

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Guest Taskin

Hi and thank you Olle! The breast pocket might be another solution I am definitely going to try when he wears a jacket, but otherwise there is no way to run the cable there without pissing off the costume department :lol: The shirt is usually white, so the black clips that come with the COS-11's might not work, also they are not very flexible and have a fixed angle, very annoying! I will try and take a picture today. It is a TV series and also one of the main characters, so I have to find a perfect solution that will work every time since we will be working together every day for many many days :)

OK so I take that back.

The clips that come with the COS-11 do work very well actually with the hairy chest guy, but the only down side is that they take up too much space and can only be used with loose clothing, which is a shame really because they worked very well and can be used a lot more often then I thought, if only they were not so large. Someone should re-make them so that they are much smaller and the angle could be changed.

But thanks for that! ;)

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Guest Taskin

Hi and thank you Olle!

The breast pocket might be another solution I am definitely going to try when he wears a jacket, but otherwise there is no way to run the cable there without pissing off the costume department :lol:

The shirt is usually white, so the black clips that come with the COS-11's might not work, also they are not very flexible and have a fixed angle, very annoying!

I will try and take a picture today. It is a TV series and also one of the main characters, so I have to find a perfect solution that will work every time since we will be working together every day for many many days :)

OK so I take that back.

The clips that come with the COS-11 do work very well actually with the hairy chest guy, but the only down side is that they take up too much space and can only be used with loose clothing, which is a shame really because they worked very well and can be used a lot more often then I thought, if only they were not so large. Someone should re-make them so that they are much smaller and the angle could be changed, I would definitely buy a couple.

So thanks for that! ;)

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  • 2 years later...

Every time I discover a new miraculous technique, I immediately encounter a situation where it doesn't work.

 

Absolutely! I'll have myself made a t-shirt with these words ...

 

Did anyone try hiding Sennheiser MKE-1? I made good experiences with them - they are small and have a very thin cable with nearly no cable noise.

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OK so I take that back.

The clips that come with the COS-11 do work very well actually with the hairy chest guy, but the only down side is that they take up too much space and can only be used with loose clothing, which is a shame really because they worked very well and can be used a lot more often then I thought, if only they were not so large. Someone should re-make them so that they are much smaller and the angle could be changed, I would definitely buy a couple.

So thanks for that! http://jwsoundgroup.net/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/wink.png

Use a safety pin and small heat shrink tubing.
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