Subiros Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jozzafunk Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Wired wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 welcome, and wired wrong, maybe even broken ? Shure even sells some Countryman products under its own SKU's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subiros Posted November 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Wiring follows Contryman's specifications for UR1M… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subiros Posted November 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 The tone of actor's voices is well captured, but I find the hiss to be a bit excessive for a professional level equipment. Is anyone experiencing some hiss using this wireless system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 (edited) 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 November 23, 2014 by studiomprd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subiros Posted November 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osa Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 S: " Do you think a higher sensitivity mic, ... would help me to capture my whispering actors better than the Countryman B3? " quite probably... as I noted, the Shure wireless systems are not so typical in our niche of production sound with images... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjafreddan Posted December 2, 2014 Report Share Posted December 2, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Vancil Media Posted April 11, 2020 Report Share Posted April 11, 2020 I just bought the B3 lavs, and have the exact same issue. I am using with a Sony UTX system. The Sony lavs sound fine...no noise. The Countryman B3 is very noisy, but I love the overall sound. It was wired to the Sony specs. I'm not sure what the problem could be at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Reineke Posted April 12, 2020 Report Share Posted April 12, 2020 Most of the Countryman mics require specific value resistors in the plug for different TXs. There is a chart on the Countryman website as to what values are recommended for mic/Tx combo. btw, this thread started a long time ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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