Advice Please! - Wireless Lavalier System

[ddecker1979]

I've done a lot of homework, but the complexities of the wireless lavalier world aren't making complete sense to me yet. Any advice and/or education would be appreciated... I have a recorder/mixer, a shotgun mic with all the accessories, and a bag. This will mainly be used for indoor talking head film commercials, and the occasional indie film. 

Am I correct for everyone you want to wire up will require a Receiver, Bodypack Transmitter, and a Lavalier Microphone? The R & T are just tonally neutral communication devices, and the lav mic dictates the quality and character of the sound? Most of the use will be in San Francisco and occasionally in Philadelphia. It appears that both of those areas require Freq Block A-1? Are there any other components that are typically required that I didn't list? I can't afford the top end systems from Zaxcom or Lectrosonics right now, but I also don't want something that the industry would consider an amateur level. So Prosumer I guess. I really hope there's a system from Sweetwater that someone could recommend and vouch for so I could buy it through their financing program. https://www.sweetwater.com/c994--Lavalier_Wireless_Systems/high2low 

Thanks! David

[chrismedr]

Hi David,

no offence, but these are really basic questions that have been answered here and all over the internet a gazillion times, so my advice is to do some google searches, or if you don't fancy that go to a professional dealer and have them recommend something to you, or if you don't fancy that then just buy a Sennheiser G3 set and be done with it.

chris

[Rick Reineke]

You would be better off asking basic (audio101) questions over on the DVXuser or DVinfo video forums audio section, which is frequented by some pros from here as well, but will be more responsive to newbies and non-audio folks.

FWIW, I concur with Chris, the G3 is highly regarded, in terms of low cost. Though for non-experienced folks, one of the WiFi frequency (GHz) systems (from usual suspect manufacturers) may be more foolproof, since frequency selection is done automatically.

[daniel]

Hire some user friendly pro gear and get your ears and workflow practice used to something decent. Even if you can't afford to buy the pro gear you hire, it'll help you decide from the options you can afford.

[chrismedr]

14 hours ago, Rick Reineke said:

FWIW, I concur with Chris, the G3 is highly regarded, in terms of low cost. Though for non-experienced folks, one of the WiFi frequency (GHz) systems (from usual suspect manufacturers) may be more foolproof, since frequency selection is done automatically.

true, I forgot about those..
so better advice is probably "buy an AVX and be done with it" (ME2 if your low on money and MKE2 is you want bit better sound quality).

[Mobilemike]

In an ideal world, the transmitter and receiver would be just "tonally neutral communication devices," but in the real world that's not the case. They do influence the sound considerably. 

The microphone does determine a lot of the sound but the sound is only as good as the weakest link in the signal chain. The transmitter and receiver also include the microphone preamp, A/D converter, and transmitter that sends all of that data through the air. All of these components do have a large influence on the sound. 

-Mike

[Philip Perkins]

After doing a good deal of research on your own, reading forums and doing some comparisons, you might consider asking the sales folks at a place like Trew or Location Sound about what they think the diffs are in wireless at various prices ranges.  The general truth in wireless is that you get what you pay for, and that reliability and good sound require both good gear and a well-thought out deployment of that gear.  There are a lot of very cheap "PA-quality" wirelesses around now, but you will also notice that any available used gear from the pro manufacturers sells very quickly.....