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Hardwired Lavs


andstrumental

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Hello all. Hope everyone had a great holiday. I was wondering if anyone can reccomend a good sounding hardwired lav. I've been using the Ambient Eumel connector with my universal ta5 cos 11s and I'm getting a pretty loud hiss. Wondering if anyone else has a suggestion to fix this or if they have hardwired lavs they like the sound of....meaning mostly the noise floor is really low. I was considering the Oscar Sound Tech versions as I have a live gig coming up that I need 4 mics for and I don't get asked to do this very much. Any advice would be appreciated. 

 

Cheers, 

Andy 

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You will find that with hard wired lavs the dynamic range of people is harder to manage.

Using a decent RM system like the current Lectros the built in limiting helps a great deal

and the noise floor is not an issue.

Also the people you are recording with have freedom and not walk away ripping the cables!

mike

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I keep a couple of Sony ECM 77s for situations where I cannot use a wireless mic for whatever reason, I don't use them very often as like Mike says modern wireless  RM systems have a great many advantages over hardwire. However if the location you are working in prohibits you from using wireless mics then you have to work with alternatives. I did a shoot on a commercial airliner in flight and the airline was not about to clear me any frequencies to use. I couldn't get boom up in that situation either. Hard wired lavs were the only way to go.

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2 hours ago, Constantin said:

Instead then you worry about cables. Either the talent or someone else tripping over them. Interference from the lights or whatever else...

It's not like it's going to be the only cable on set.

Regarding interference - I've always used star quad cables and I've found that as long as nobody runs an ac cable or places a balist on you cable you should be fine.

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8 hours ago, Martin Kittappa said:

I keep a couple of Sony ECM 77s for situations where I cannot use a wireless mic for whatever reason, I don't use them very often as like Mike says modern wireless  RM systems have a great many advantages over hardwire. However if the location you are working in prohibits you from using wireless mics then you have to work with alternatives. I did a shoot on a commercial airliner in flight and the airline was not about to clear me any frequencies to use. I couldn't get boom up in that situation either. Hard wired lavs were the only way to go.

I was in this exact same situation in a plane last year. Not allowed to use wireless at all. 

I had 2 COS11 into Ambient Eumel and one of them started playing up. Frustratingly, I tested them the day before, then in the car park at the airport before the flight, then at the gate before getting on the plane. All was good. Take off, set up and 1 Eumel goes bad. Boom sounded like rubbish so I had to jiggle the Eumel and TA5 and get it to work. Then tape it to the armrest so it wouldn't move and stay working. Got through the shoot but was touch and go fur a while there!!

Had cables all over the place. 2 from the mics back to me, then headphone distribution to the producers, all cabled to me. Nightmare really. Then to make it worse, a behind the scenes crew was shooting me trying to get up running with the Eumel. It probably looked like I was setting up but I felt like telling them where to go!!

Anyway, not a great day. Planes and shoots on board are challenging to say the least. 

Maybe the the cabin pressure got to the Eumel, not sure what happened after thorough tests and checks. 

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I got myself the DPA smk-sc4060 set for a music documentary early this year, which inludes two 4060 lavs (with very long cables and a micro-dot connector)  + two dpa DAD 6001 phantom adapters. Those sound indeed different to (working) Eumels, I A/B tested them some years ago and I found the DPA adaptor more "transparent" and closer to the sound I was familiar from wireless DPA sets, whereas the eumel was noticeably colouring the sound.  

 The 2-set is a little cheaper than purchasing the parts separetely,  in Germany it comes down to around 355 Euros per mic including the adapter and some mounting accessories, vs 315 for the "naked" mic and 80 for the DAD 6001 adapter. http://www.thomann.de/gb/dpa_smk_4060_set.htm?ref=search_rslt_dpa+4060_113095_0, price includes  20% VAT there which you do not have to pay as an overseas customer. 

Sound quality is great, and those mics are tremendously versatile in their applications, from classic Lav application to recording instruments to stereo ambience to plant mics to car mounts...

I left those 4060s with the micro dot plugs and use them with DAD 3056 adaptors on the Lectros along with other DPA lavs directly wired for TA5.

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On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2015 at 4:14 PM, andstrumental said:

Hello all. Hope everyone had a great holiday. I was wondering if anyone can reccomend a good sounding hardwired lav. I've been using the Ambient Eumel connector with my universal ta5 cos 11s and I'm getting a pretty loud hiss. Wondering if anyone else has a suggestion to fix this or if they have hardwired lavs they like the sound of....meaning mostly the noise floor is really low. I was considering the Oscar Sound Tech versions as I have a live gig coming up that I need 4 mics for and I don't get asked to do this very much. Any advice would be appreciated. 

 

Cheers, 

Andy 

What are you pluging the wired lavs in?

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/30/2015 at 7:05 PM, Jack Norflus said:

It's not like it's going to be the only cable on set.

True. But then lighting fixtures and video monitors don't forget they're tethered and then get up and go to the bathroom without telling anyone.

Had that happen to me once, in spite of my multiple admonitions to the interviewee.

Would it be bad form to sand bag the talent?

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Hardwired is too fussy for my interview clients anymore.  They want the talent to be able to get up and move around, reposition etc.  Heed the words of Mr Westgate also--a great TX is very helpful with a little dynamic range management.  And in rigs like Mr. Stefanov's, allows all-digital inputs on your recorder.

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