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Lavaliers and Cell Phone Interference ???


Byron

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I've successfully use my F8-ZOOM and Sennheiser G3/G4 lavaliers on several outdoor assignments resulting in very clean audio capture.  I recently used the same F8-ZOOM and G3/G4 lavalier setup in a indoor setup where there was a panel of professional people at a table discussing their specialty topics.  I took every professional precaution that a good audio person should take, including "Scan New Frequencies" on location prior to video rolling.

 

Even though there was quiet on the set after the call of "ACTION", because of the shear boredom of the panel discussion, several crew members were STREAMING their choice of entertainment (football, music, Tv shows, etc.,) with their CELL PHONES and headphones.

 

COULD THE USE OF THESE CELL PHONES during my audio capture, cause intermittent, random, unwanted, cracking, hissing, static noice during my audio capture ???

 

LivingAUDIO,

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How many channels were you using? Did you calculate for intermod?

 

I’ve had that with g3’s before. An actor got kept his phone in his pocket and whenever he got a text I got a hit. I was able to replicate it later with my phone, but it was intermittent. I imagine that it has to do with the RF filters in the units not being as effective as they need to be and letting the RF from the phone in.

 

i have had all sorts of odd things happen with G3’s and the day I sold them for lectros I got a lot happier. i know a lot of people have success with the G3’s but I have always found them to be unreliable and unpredictable. IMO that is one of the worst qualities you can have in production equipment.

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Unless the crew phones were right next to your transmitters or your receivers, like really close, it's unlikely their phones were the source of all your problems.  However, if one of your talent folks had their phone hot during your shots and it was very near their transmitter, you could definitely have hits etc from it.  Otherwise--the usual suspects: some other transmitter working close by, some sort of electronic device working in the space (like installed lighting control), close-by walkie talkies, etc etc.  Since all these (and other) sources of interference take time on the set to sort out, I feel your pain.  I hope you got it all figured out.

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On 2/7/2019 at 7:12 PM, Byron said:

I've successfully use my F8-ZOOM and Sennheiser G3/G4 lavaliers on several outdoor assignments resulting in very clean audio capture.  I recently used the same F8-ZOOM and G3/G4 lavalier setup in a indoor setup where there was a panel of professional people at a table discussing their specialty topics.  I took every professional precaution that a good audio person should take, including "Scan New Frequencies" on location prior to video rolling.

 

Even though there was quiet on the set after the call of "ACTION", because of the shear boredom of the panel discussion, several crew members were STREAMING their choice of entertainment (football, music, Tv shows, etc.,) with their CELL PHONES and headphones.

 

COULD THE USE OF THESE CELL PHONES during my audio capture, cause intermittent, random, unwanted, cracking, hissing, static noice during my audio capture ???

 

LivingAUDIO,



ooh...i thought at least ALL PHONES OF ON SET.  but  lately equipment tends to have less of a problem with it, depending on how the stuff is shielded etc. also it depends on where you are. If a Phone/cellular tower/antenna is not nearby, the phone will use a higher power setting on you phone to transmit , to achieve its goal. and you will be more likely to get interference.. i always put my phone on OFF, not silent... but off.  even if the frequencies is not even close to where you transmitters are. you can get a sort of suckout(dont know how you call it in English) if something is transmitting near your receiver.  since audio transmitters have such low power. in mw range 25-75mW . it might be masked by phones that just put out a nice  500+ mW with 3G.   I had back in the day a neighbor a street further that really could not receive shit if i used my transmitter :(  he even had relays click and clack in his stereo when i Upped the power :) must add quite a bit more power then this, but at the same time the distance was much bigger to. if someone is so nice to stand next to you browsing the internet on his phone....with 500mW  you might perceive signal withdrawal literally translated from dutch haha. does not mean you wont receive anything. but less then you should without having a transmitter nearby. if then something happens it is more likely to cause interference. 

still... it might be something completely different. so many variables. cables or other sources that might have degraded the signal to begin with etc. 

just my 2 cents :)



 

 

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Here in TechTown there is kind of no point in asking anyone except the on-camera talent (maybe) to shut off their phone.  The best I can hope for is "airplane mode", but anymore people want to keep right on texting etc so all I get is "ringer off" and the volume down (some).  Thus I am surrounded by working phones while using wireless gear for talent mics and for camera hops.  Since nearly all the phones in use are at least several feet away from me, the talent and the camera (usually) I've been doing ok in this regard.  (Lectro+SD, but using the G2/3s for hops).

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I used to hear interference on wireless, mics, and speakers, from cell phones 10+ years ago when presumably they operated on a different frequency? But I did encounter some odd sounds from a transmitter when I was to discover that it was in the same pocket as the talents phone. I guess people naturally stick the transmitter in a different pocket from their phone because I’d never heard anything like that before. But that was the only time in many years that I’ve experienced cell interference. 

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