ncsoundmixer Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Hi Folks I've been asked to work on a documentary following a soccer team through its season. The director wants to hidden body mic key players during practice and games. I have put mics on athletes before - even with "clean" hidden mounts I tend to hear the jersey flapping/bouncing on and off the chest, with both sternum mounts and when taping or vamping the mic on the uniform, especially as the jersey becomes soaked with sweat. Sternum mounts with tape tended not too last long before the sweat eliminated the stick from the tape and the mount comes off. I've use Tegaderm, Moleskin, toupée tape, etc., all with similar results. Vampire clips at the collar tend to keep the mic in place but the bouncing and flapping of the jersey was still an issue. Anyone have a magic bullet? I have also thought about getting a parabolic mic worked from the sideline as an alternative. TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Martin Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 I just had some experience with lav'ing up pro soccer players a few weeks ago. I do house sound for a pro soccer stadium in Philly and the in house production crew was testing out the Q5x wireless systems for capturing in game audio for some shorts they were producing. They had great results with their mounting approach and this is what they did; They mounted the mic semi permanently inside a tight, form fitting Under Armor shirt the player wore under his usual jersey. I believe they sewed a small pocket for a B6 head (heavily taped down with moleskin and then sewn shut i believe.) They sewed another channel in the shirt to run the cable through so there was no chance of it hanging loose, getting ripped out Etc. They ran the cable channel to a neoprene pocket sewn on to the shirt around the small of the back for the transmitter. This shirt kept the mic head nice and tight to the body for no flapping and since there was no exposed tape it didn't get dismounted by sweat. I monitored the audio for most of the game and surprisingly never really heard any clothing rustle or bouncing except for when players brushed against it hit the mic itself. This rig also made it incredibly easy to have an all in one, pre rigged shirt that they could just pass off to any player and they could be rigged and ready to go in about 10 seconds. I would also definitely look into renting or buying a q5x system for this type of job. A hard metal transmitter attached to an athlete during gameplay or even practice is a big liability. One bad fall or hit in the back could cause some serious physical injury. The Q5X transmitters are rubber, small, flexible and designed for sports. Just throwing that out there. http://www.q5x.com/wireless-audio-solutions/wireless-audio-for-sports/ Good luck and let us know how it goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Feeley Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 Well Matt sure provided an authoritative answer (thanks). Matt, did you ever get any complaints from the players about the underarmour shirt making them too hot? Brooks, if you have time to kill you might also want to check out this recent discussion about mic'ing Australian Rules Football players (actually, I thought it was a pretty good thread): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Martin Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 By the way, hey Brooks! I just put two and two together as to who I was responding to. Hope all is well! Well Matt sure provided an authoritative answer (thanks). Matt, did you ever get any complaints from the players about the underarmour shirt making them too hot? Not sure if there were any complaints about the warmth of the extra shirt. I wasn't really involved with the process after everything was setup and routed through my board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sounddguy Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 When you work cable don't forget there is a lot of "fabric testing" in soccer. Shirt grabs, pulls etc. ( Who me? No way ref.) Also check rules. I know for school, club and league games, they are very tight on no objects, jewelery etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncsoundmixer Posted September 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 Matt - Thanx for the info - and it's great to hear from you! I'll investigate the Under Armour base layer solution. Do you (or anyone else) have pix of the mic mount in the sewn-in pocket? I'd really like to see an actual image of the set up - I'm most interested in the mic mount aspect. Thanks again, hope we get to work together soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Tirrell Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 I have had good luck with tape or moleskin directly to the inside of the jersey. It will vary some depending on the material but I have found that for tennis and soccer players this works much better than going to skin as the sweat becomes an issue. Also this needs to be applied before they start sweating too much into the shirt for the same reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Feeley Posted September 1, 2013 Report Share Posted September 1, 2013 I've had good luck with Kinesio tape on the bodies of sweaty athletes. And these days, many athletes are used to having that stuff all over their bodies. There are a couple threads here on JWS with more sound-specific info, but to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_therapeutic_tape But Matt's vest idea is great if the athlete is OK wearing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted September 3, 2013 Report Share Posted September 3, 2013 " A hard metal transmitter attached to an athlete during gameplay or even practice is a big liability. " Safety starts with "S", but begins with you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwill Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 I too recently did a job for the WNBA and the NBA sound tech used the same Q5x system, worked like a charm on star player coach and lead referee...I monitored all game and heard no rustling issue at all, same technique, lots of moleskin with a b-6 in a cage sewn into the jersey and the TX sits in a sewn in neoprene pouch! JHW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Martin Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 I too recently did a job for the WNBA and the NBA sound tech used the same Q5x system, worked like a charm on star player coach and lead referee...I monitored all game and heard no rustling issue at all, same technique, lots of moleskin with a b-6 in a cage sewn into the jersey and the TX sits in a sewn in neoprene pouch! JHW I heard from a fellow mixer who does a lot of sports that all NBA jerseys come manufactured with channels specifically designed for running lav cables, that way they can wire any player without fiddling with special uniforms. Did you find it true with the WNBA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Ostroff Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 I too recently did a job for the WNBA and the NBA sound tech used the same Q5x system, worked like a charm on star player coach and lead referee...I monitored all game and heard no rustling issue at all, same technique, lots of moleskin with a b-6 in a cage sewn into the jersey and the TX sits in a sewn in neoprene pouch! JHW Wonder what the cage was made out of, looked like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atheisticmystic Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 Wonder what the cage was made out of, looked like? Me too . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Green Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Usually on refs and coaches we use a tie clip reg transmitters. On players we use the Q5 trans in a neoprene sleeve that fits in a pocket sewn in the underarm area of the Jersey. We use lots of moleskin to hold down the cable and a Countryman B6 (the mic and battery are built into the trans) are connected to the collar with a small coat hook (Black brass Dritz brand coat hooks and eyes) crimped on the head of the mic. All wrapped in moleskin. Jersey's are pre-rigged one for first half and one for second half. The only cage I guess would be the small coat hooks that hold the mic head in on the collar. The transmitters are very thin and light- when we have them rigged up it's hard to notice they're there. I worked wireless for NBAE at All Star week this last season in Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwill Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Allen Thats what Dan Donati used the other night for the WNBA...exact same setup...didn't take any photos... JHW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Green Posted September 10, 2013 Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 Yes Dan is at the top of the NBA call list, and a great guy! I last worked with him at the NBA finals he and I took care of recording the radio feeds and coaches/ ref mics on to two 744's. As well the usual ENG stuff pre and post game. The NBA has developed a system of doing it (attaching mics on jersey's) and they don't want you to stray far from the system- if it's not broke don't try to fix it. John next time you see him tell him I said "Hi" Allen Green/ Texas soundguy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atheisticmystic Posted September 10, 2013 Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 ...and a Countryman B6 (the mic and battery are built into the trans) are connected to the collar with a small coat hook (Black brass Dritz brand coat hooks and eyes) crimped on the head of the mic. All wrapped in moleskin... Found these...http://www.dritz.com/brands/dritz/products/dr97-1_l.jpg Would love to see a pic how this rig looks. best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.279748a58a2b862b7aa5f3b84126e232.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.