Wireless Lav for live podium speaker?

[Dave]

Hi All,

 

Hoping to use my Sennheiser G3 bodypack for live PA use - a public speaker/presenter standing at a podium giving a corporate Powerpoint presentation. Medium sized meeting rooms/halls with stand mounted PA system.

 

I just have the standard G3 lav that came with kit - not good, I know - feedback prone too.

 

Any suggestions for stage use lav under these conditions? Cardioid versus Omni, brand, models, etc.

 

Thanks very much.

 

Best regards,

 

Dave

 

 

[Matt Martin]

I would recommend looking into the countryman E6 or E2 earset mics ( or similar)

http://www.countryman.com/products?cat=7

Getting the mic as close to the mouth is a lifesaver when it comes to live sound. The closer the mic is to the source, the less gain needed, and therefore less prone to feedback. It is also great for following head turns and gives a more even pickup.

The E6 is omni and has a long arm that puts the mic right next to the mouth. The E2 is shorter and is further back on the cheek but is cardioid which helps reduce feedback.

No matter what you'll still need to be very careful with speaker placement (make sure the speakers are in front of and as far away from the presenter/podium as possible.) If high volume reinforcement is needed it still may be a juggling act between careful EQ and riding the faders to fight feedback.

[RPSharman]

If you're going to be doing these sorts of jobs, some kind of automatic feedback eliminator would be useful to have in the kit.

[Rick Reineke]

If recording also, it's very helpful to have the mic(s) split or in a integrated set-up w/ separate sends.. so increasing the level for the recording does not affect to 'house'. (PA)

I would concur w/ Matt, a headset mic would be my choice for avoiding feedback and maintaining good sound.

[Marc Wielage]

Any suggestions for stage use lav under these conditions? Cardioid versus Omni, brand, models, etc.

 

Lavs are not ideal for PA use, but it can be done -- and clearly it's done every day, as you can see on the many awards shows and talent American network shows that are on every week. A lot of it boils down to controlling where the host stands and controlling the directionality and level of the speaker, plus using feedback elimination devices (like those made by dbx and Sabine). 

 

Shure has some good basic booklets on PA in general that I think are useful:

 

http://www.shure.com/americas/support/downloads/publications

 

I also think the Countryman ear-mount mics are extremely useful and are widely used on thousands of Broadway and Vegas shows under conditions like these.

[John Steigerwald]

A good 1/3 octave EQ would be a big help.

[micke]

Quite often corporate performers wants to be laved, thinking headsets looks awkward;) Despite the slim design of DPA's D:fin ,for an example. But a headset always sound better in my opinion. In critical apllications a cardioid is easier to prevent feedback, but they are quite sensitive to wind, pops bad placement etc. A added windshield can also make the headsets look bulky. To get the sound pressure on the stage area low an help quite a lot. Good placement on speakers and using a delay line even the venue is small can help a lot. But the far easiest route in my opinion is to use small line array speakers, like the K-array, Hk-audios http://hkaudio.com/elements/konfigurator.php

[studiomprd]

" Any suggestions for stage use lav under these conditions? "

say your prayers...

[Dave]

Thanks everyone for the very good advice - should a fun challenge, hopefully without feedback :-)

 

Best regards,

 

Dave

[petersont]

How did it work out? Curious what you ended up using & how it went, the good and the bad…

 

Thanks

 

Pete

[jack coghill]

I was in a similar situation yesterday and just about pulled it off….

 

It was quite a small corporate presentation, with the CEO of a big company, sharing words of wisdom with about 45 employees. The space was about 10 metres by 10 metres, the CEO to be lav'd and the audience shared two shure handhelds.

 

It was also being filmed on multi TC jammed cameras.

 

Unfortunately due to the space and the CEO's proximity to the audience, there was no choice but to place the PA (a small d&b D6 Amp driving 2XE6 speakers) speakers behind him. 

 

The only lavs I had were TRAM TR50's, the CEO would not agree to wear a ear mount mic or the like anyway.

 

All the wireless channels were sent to my 664, which was then feeding a camera and the PA on separate sends. 

 

The set up was utterly prone to feedback from the lav mic. Luckily the I didn't need to drive the PA much as the room was quite small. 

 

I just had to ride the fader on his lav and monitor and cross my fingers.

 

In the end it went fine, though I would definitely look into some of the previous posters suggestions for next time.

 

cheers