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Shure UR1M with Countryman B3 not really working for me…


Subiros

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I've recently purchased a Shure UHF-R portable system (UR1M transmitter and UR5 receiver) and I'm using it with a brand new Countryman B3 lav (regular sensibility). RF works fine, but I'm experiencing a noticeable hiss in the audio reception. I've tried with all kinds of gain-sensibility-output level combination, and also tried with various frequencies in non congested environments, but the problem doesn't go away. Any suggestions?

 

By the way, I'm a newcomer to jwsound and I find it to be an immense treasure of sound knowledge!

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to begin: you are not supplying nearly enough information for "us" (at least for me) to do more than guess wildly at your issue; and since we don't know you, we have no idea of your experience or capabilities;  Shure wireless mic's are extremely popular, and hugely successful all over the world, though relatively uncommon for our sort of production sound (for pictures) use.

 

you could easily have any one (or more) of a large number of potential problems including wiring, gain-staging, broken, operator error, etc. etc.

Now I'm guessing your troubleshooting skills are not strong, so, perhaps, get an experienced working professional to assist you.

 

with a little reading and searching on this site (or even other sites) you will find my frequent suggestion: contact the manufacturer...
 

Edited by studiomprd
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I did have the equipment checked by a professional technician and also consulted with the vendor. The conclusion was that the wireless system was working correctly, and that the hiss could be due to using the B3 with relatively high gain levels (which I’m forced to do since I’m now working in a production where actors are mostly whispering all the time)

 

I’ve been sporadically working on film and tv sound production since 2006. I use a couple of Lectrosonics systems and a Sound Devices 788, and I’m quite sure to be using correct gain settings along the signal path. I’m not experiencing problems with the Lectros, and not either with a Evolution 500G2 I have to use occasionally (all of them with Tram TR50s). 

 

Do you think a higher sensitivity mic, such as a DPA 4060, would help me to capture my whispering actors better than the Countryman B3? Following the opinion of the vendor, this would probably reduce the hiss. The problem is that I don't have one 4060 at hand to check it out before buying it, that's why I was curious about other people's opinion about this system

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After buying zaxcom wireless i experienced a similar situation. Someoned clued me in to being used to lectrosonics - possibly you have also been used to smart nr (noise reduction) engaged which seams to be default. If you have the ability to test your shure along side a lectrosonics, and turn smart nr off, chances are you might find the answer you are looking for.

Ken

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Are you using grey-band (normal) or Red band (-5 low sensitivity) versions? The lower-sensitivity versions are intended for stage use where people are speaking very loudly, and those give you better overload protection at the expense of noise.

 

The alternate is to use a much more sensitive mic that will have a lower S/N ratio, but will be overloaded in the event of shouting or screaming. 

 

My advice would be to try a different wireless system and see how it sounds. In the case of the Lectosonics wireless transmitters I've used, it's been extremely rare I've been in a room so quiet I even noticed the mic preamp hiss. Usually the background ambient noise was high enough that it masked any hiss that may have been there. I generally have kept the NR on "normal," and that may account for me not being aware of the hiss.

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Do you think a higher sensitivity mic, such as a DPA 4060, would help me to capture my whispering actors better than the Countryman B3? Following the opinion of the vendor, this would probably reduce the hiss. The problem is that I don't have one 4060 at hand to check it out before buying it, that's why I was curious about other people's opinion about this system

 

I only use DPA 4060 and 4061 with my Shure UR1/UR1M/UR5 systems. Never had a problem with the noise floor. As you probably know, lav mics have small capsules which means a higher noise floor compared to normal condenser microphones. But the DPA 4060 UR1/UR5 combo works really well and the DPA 4060 sounds great (for a lav mic) and it's pretty easy to hide in clothing etc.

 

Comparing the spec of DPA 4060 and Countryman B3 on paper they roughly have the same noise floor, but at the same time DPA 4060 has a sensitivity of 20mV/Pa whereas the B3 has 12mV/Pa. Usually higher sensitivity indicates that the lav mic has a lower noise floor, usually...

 

Anyway, that's just numbers. In real life the DPA 4060 is one of the best lav mics available and a great companion to the Shure system.

 

Buy with confidence. :-)

 

 

Good luck

Fred

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