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Lavalier mics with low ambient noise


RogerBansemer

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",,,you have come to a professional production sound forum,  most of us here make our livings in this business  while we tend to like what we do, we do it for our livelihood.  We have given you plenty of excellent advice for your, apparent, hobby (doing a television program)..."

 

Hon. Senator Mike,

 

Inasmuch as Fury did not note, nor did Fury seek the "professional" nature of this forum, (in excess of many other fora), as it would relate to limitation of an hierarchical membership and attendant privileges, this forum may be, primarily,  a congress of persons, whose vocation and/or livelihood connote "professional."   It would seem that there is neither a "professional" appellation herein, however, nor any apparent effort by the ownership to preclude or algorithmically excise members, based exclusively on a set of "professional" qualifications.  In fact, even legal, current names are not required (occasionally valuable as well...).  Quindi, JWSound's arms are outstretched and not akimbo... no?

 

Notwithstanding the above, the membership herein shares world class, in field experience, occasionally with altruistically palpable dominion, whilst the tenor can, and perhaps intentionally does, on occasion, dissuade novitiates, from participation.  Deal envy and job insecurity have apparently contributed to the latter behavior, whilst social grace, intellectual invulnerability and/or the milk of human kindness, have alternately, allowed civil discourse and usual and customary nettiquite, to foster the former.  A new, inexperienced, sound production member should not be perceived as a gonof, right otta'da box.

 

Thank you very much

 

Fury.

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this seems like a good time and place to note that we have been having a spate of threads from brand new sign-ups to jwsoundgroup.net who don't seem to be sound professionals, asking us to reveal our ultra top secret magic bullet methods for solving the simple basic problems of production sound acquisition.

 

It is good to see us all staying tough and together on this...

remember, our magic secret solutions are just like the secrets regular magicians  are all pledged to keep out of the hands of "civilians"....

Even more important than keep our rates up, we must protect these secrets at all costs!

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<br />remember, our magic secret solutions are just like the secrets regular magicians are all pledged to keep out of the hands of "civilians"....<br />Even more important than keep our rates up, we must protect these secrets at all costs!

Senator, I don't know if you are being facetious or not, but if you aren't: are you aware that this is a public forum on the internet? Here no secrets are kept. And... I didn't think I'd ever say this, and I'm not even sure it's really true, because I may not have understood everything correctly, but i think I may just agree with Fury. At least partly. Jan McL just wrote a beautiful paragraph in the 'this is good place' thread and you should really read it. We all should
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remember, our magic secret solutions are just like the secrets regular magicians are all pledged to keep out of the hands of "civilians"....

Even more important than keep our rates up, we must protect these secrets at all costs!Senator, I don't know if you are being facetious or not, but if you aren't: are you aware that this is a public forum on the internet? Here no secrets are kept. And... I didn't think I'd ever say this, and I'm not even sure it's really true, because I may not have understood everything correctly, but i think I may just agree with Fury. At least partly. Jan McL just wrote a beautiful paragraph in the 'this is good place' thread and you should really read it. We all should

Yes Its a public forum but why should we entertain every self shooting producer and give them years of our collective expertise when they should just hire a professional.

"If your good at something never do it for free" The Joker

Regards

Chris

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

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Constantin,

 

Never take Senator Mike too seriously.  He knows full well it's more about experience and skill rather than "secrets."  The post was his way of amusing himself.  To either his credit or detriment, he has little concern for how such comments may appear to others.

 

In some posts, he presents sage wisdom garnered from years of valuable experience.  However, just as regularly, if you had Senator Mike and a nickel, you still wouldn't get a nickel's worth of good advice.

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Yes Its a public forum but why should we entertain every self shooting producer and give them years of our collective expertise when they should just hire a professional.

"If your good at something never do it for free" The Joker

Regards

Chris

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

These are two different issues, 1 is about giving it away for free (is there a pun here?),2 is about how to treat these self-shooting producers. To 1 I'd say that ship has sailed. The 'secrets' are all here for everyone to read, so they are not secrets anymore. I'd agree with tge sebator though that most newcomers here don't make enough use of the search function, however wonky it may be.

To 2 I think we are just going to have to accept the fact that there are films being made without a sound person. There may be several good reasons for this and there may not be.

We should be secure enough to help anyway.

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Constantin,

Never take Senator Mike too seriously. He knows full well it's more about experience and skill rather than "secrets." The post was his way of amusing himself. To either his credit or detriment, he has little concern for how such comments may appear to others.

In some posts, he presents sage wisdom garnered from years of valuable experience. However, just as regularly, if you had Senator Mike and a nickel, you still wouldn't get a nickel's worth of good advice.

Thanks John. I tend to actually enjoy the Senator's comments in many cases, and agree with him a lot, but often his replies get as old and tedious as the questions, which is a shame, because he does have many useful things to say, so why waste time with useless things?

"If you don't have anything nice to say, it may be better not to say anything at all". Don't know where that quote's from

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Thanks John. I tend to actually enjoy the Senator's comments in many cases, and agree with him a lot, but often his replies get as old and tedious as the questions, which is a shame, because he does have many useful things to say, so why waste time with useless things?

"If you don't have anything nice to say, it may be better not to say anything at all". Don't know where that quote's from

 

"Bambi" (1942)

 

Mrs. Rabbit: What did your father tell you this morning?

Thumper: [clears throat] If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all.

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"Bambi" (1942)

 

Mrs. Rabbit: What did your father tell you this morning?

Thumper: [clears throat] If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all.

Johnny, Johnny,Johnny...seek ur own counsel.

 

Ur "...converse...," comment gets partial credit, though the malignancy and misguided and antagonistic import, bely what Constantin and others gleaned above and innately possess.  U have apparently been rereading Fury's posts on simpleton logic.  Keep at it. 

 

Hi Geordi et some, as regards pecuniary consideration, for everything,

 

Most likely, this is decidedly NOT the quid pro quo of much of social interaction.  Witness the benefit that you, your progenitors and progeny, (for that matter most all of you) have benefitted from, in the training of physicians, for example, where, "See one, Do one, Teach one," is the mantra, without financial consideration, save the expense of the instructor.  Not that sound production is an ignoble profession, but, in the case of physician training, the greater good trumps even the animus that can exist between colleagues.  Perhaps, as Constantin opines, there is hope for mankind...

 

At any rate, Fury was going to ask a question, regarding the best method to attenuate sibilance in Post, but if the Hon. Sen. Mike, gave Fury the answer, based on the the Senator's comment, "...Even more important than keep our rates up, we must protect these secrets at all costs!," the Senator would have to...

 

Thank you very much

 

Fury

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If you believe, understand, or agree that the most terrifyingly powerful character (in a strictly Lacanian sense) in all of cinematic history is the Pied Piper from the final Shrek film, you will understand that there are some entities that must NOT be engaged under any circumstance because the risk is just too great.

 

There is an entity like that here with us now. Take my word, leave the thread quietly, or ignore it... it's our only chance.

 

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I think I stumbled into a testosterone swamp. In my humble experience, I have found that an elderly ECM50 is somewhat less sensitive to high ambient environments than the cos11 or a tram. Boiler Rooms, Server Rooms, Nasty Street Corners and the like, dialogthat would be barely audible with a cos11 is "salvageable" with an ECM50.  Theories nothwithstanding, my practical experience,  the largish & foul sounding ECM50, circa 1979, will deliver an acceptable track considering the environment. Dunno why..... Just is.  I keep 3 nearby.   Cheers to all

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I think I stumbled into a testosterone swamp. In my humble experience, I have found that an elderly ECM50 is somewhat less sensitive to high ambient environments than the cos11 or a tram. Boiler Rooms, Server Rooms, Nasty Street Corners and the like, dialogthat would be barely audible with a cos11 is "salvageable" with an ECM50.  Theories nothwithstanding, my practical experience,  the largish & foul sounding ECM50, circa 1979, will deliver an acceptable track considering the environment. Dunno why..... Just is.  I keep 3 nearby.   Cheers to all

 

Finally, we're back to some substance in the thread -- thanks for that.  Interesting tip.  I have some 50s languishing on the shelves, abandoned and feeling forgotten.  I'll pull one out and give it a go as a high-noise-area mic.

 

Understandable dialog recorded with a mediocre mic is definitely preferable to indistinguishable dialog recorded with a great mic.

 

Thanks for the tip. 

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DPA 4066 feels very secure on the head. They also have one-eared models:

DPA_4066-F.jpg

Jan, when I first saw his while skimming, before I realized you were talking about headworn mics, I thought this was some new stylized graphic / signature... and that it was a bunny.

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Verbal masturbation doesn't impress me. I feel confident I'm not alone in that regard.

Thank you. Your reply was much more elegant than my (thought better of) version. I would have quoted that post and replaced much of the text with "wibble yammer engfeh garble pfetzer valve wankel engfeh" because that would have been equally comprehensible.

Geordi also thinks referring to himself in the third person is a silly and pretentious thing to do... And anyone that does this is a silly muppet.

And now for something completely different.

The Sennheiser mics that come with a wireless set (really ANY "free" mic from anyone) are probably not the best choice for a given application. They work in an emergency or as a backup... But they are worth what you paid for them.

That said, for your application, I might also suggest a low-cost Shure WL-93 mic, mounted just below where a tie might knot - you do not want it in the shadow of your chin, that will hurt intelligibility in the sound. Another option would be the cardioid WL-185, but that is a larger unit, about the size of a AAA battery and half the length.

I have used the WL93 in noisy environments, and the sound is pretty good, considering. Definitely lose the auto mixer, that is hurting you as has been explained previously. Set your gain on the transmitter so that when you are talking normally, you are getting an AVERAGE of -20 at the camera, with the camera gain near the mid point. Then adjust at the camera only if needed. Chances are, it will be a decent level that you can work with in Izotope.

Obviously you would get much better results working with a scalpel (professional sound mixer)... But if your budget only affords a hammer... This might help you nail it down a little.

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Hi Atheistic mystic, 

 

"...There is an entity like that here with us now."  

 

A bit of odd rhetoric from someone with your handle, No?...There is Love....

 

Hi CW,

 

Fury has never used a thesaurus or similar... appliance, since 10th grade (U.S.).   Proper word usage does not a thesaurical" equivalent" make...

 

Hi John/Jack,

 

"Verbal masturbation doesn't impress me.  I feel confident I'm not alone in that regard."    WAAAY TMI.  Your masturbatory tastes and distastes, within your self cited circle, should not jerk around the honest and straightforward members.  

 

Look above-YOU sophomorishly-again-attacked a ...member, whom you could not bully.  That is not proper decorum, in civil discourse, let alone proper nettiquite.  If you continue to choose to be offensive towards your fellow members, you shall reap just responses.  Your personal and the greater good is served, if you adhere to the axiom you quoted above.  If the rabbit foot fits wear it..or something like that.  Stay on topic and, Jack...Off this behavior.  You'll feel better..

 

Thank you very much

 

Fury



A de-esser -- either hardware or a plugin, depending upon your setup.

 

Thank you very much

 

Fury

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