Lavs on Survivor Australia

[Rasmus Wedin]

Hi

 

Does anyone have any insight how they are rigging the lavs during competition on Survivor Australia? I get that they have both the Tx and the mic hidden in the buffs around the necks, but how are they waterproofing and wind proofing them? I mean, they are taking such a beating, including lots of full submerging in water, and still sounding pretty good.

 

Thanks / Rasmus

[Olle Sjostrom]

Maybe you can find some tips and tricks here! 
 

 

 

 

[Alien]

Can't talk to Survivor Australia, but on the US show we do a lot of prep work to the systems that will get wet. The Countryman B3 works well and the end is now treated with a water phobic covering and mount it in a Ursa foam mount that has been treated with a hydrophobic treatment, then , as Kiff mentions above, place it upside down on the talent with some small safety clips. The TX is usually a SMQV that is then wrapped in a sugical glove with the plug up one finger and the antenna up the other. This then is taped closed with electrical tape with the cable coming out of the wrist opening. This provides good enough water resistance for most dunking in water up to a couple of feet. To neating things up a bit then sometimes the gloved TX is placed in an un-lubed condom just to tighten things up a bit so that they'll fit into a regular TX holder on a belt. This has worked for many years with very few expensive accidents

[Rasmus Wedin]

19 hours ago, Alien said:

the end is now treated with a water phobic covering and mount it in a Ursa foam mount that has been treated with a hydrophobic treatment, 

 

Thank you for the insight. I recognise most of the stuff but Im a bit curious about these bits, what, more specifically, is a "hydrophobic treatment" that would not muffle the sound on the lav?

 

I'm just thinking whatever is stopping the wind, once wet, is no longer stopping wind but rather stopping the sound instead. But I guess that's what the "water phobic" covering is for?

 

And yes, I've seen that interview with Kiff, definitly one of the best Ursa-episodes!

 

 

[TVPostSound]

Hence the reason the B3s are upside down. TO drain off.

 

I had a show where they were not, and you can tell (hear) water pooled in the capsule area.

[JamesDemer]

On 8/23/2022 at 6:00 PM, Alien said:

Can't talk to Survivor Australia, but on the US show we do a lot of prep work to the systems that will get wet. The Countryman B3 works well and the end is now treated with a water phobic covering and mount it in a Ursa foam mount that has been treated with a hydrophobic treatment, then , as Kiff mentions above, place it upside down on the talent with some small safety clips. The TX is usually a SMQV that is then wrapped in a sugical glove with the plug up one finger and the antenna up the other. This then is taped closed with electrical tape with the cable coming out of the wrist opening. This provides good enough water resistance for most dunking in water up to a couple of feet. To neating things up a bit then sometimes the gloved TX is placed in an un-lubed condom just to tighten things up a bit so that they'll fit into a regular TX holder on a belt. This has worked for many years with very few expensive accidents

On the reality side of Survivor USA there are no lavs. Everything is boomed with an MKH70 on a long pole. This gives us the ability to capture dialogue and never have to interact with the contestants. It's physically demanding but works well. Everything you see that is at a Tribe Camp is boom only.

[TVPostSound]

9 hours ago, JamesDemer said:

On the reality side of Survivor USA there are no lavs. Everything is boomed with an MKH70 on a long pole. This gives us the ability to capture dialogue and never have to interact with the contestants. It's physically demanding but works well. Everything you see that is at a Tribe Camp is boom only.

 

Well, that probably answers my question about "Naked and Afraid" !!

[Rasmus Wedin]

21 hours ago, JamesDemer said:

On the reality side of Survivor USA there are no lavs. Everything is boomed with an MKH70 on a long pole. This gives us the ability to capture dialogue and never have to interact with the contestants. It's physically demanding but works well. Everything you see that is at a Tribe Camp is boom only.

 

Thank you. Yes, I'm aware of that setup. My question was very much focused on the competitions, where the lavs are submerged in water. Especially the Australian version since they have that special rigg in the buffs around their necks.

 

12 hours ago, TVPostSound said:

 

Well, that probably answers my question about "Naked and Afraid" !!

 

I think naked and afraid have lavs in the shoulder straps of their bags, but probably a bunch of booming aswell. But I have not worked on it so others here may know more about that.

[John Dombroski]

Not sure what they're using out there on Survivor, but it's recommended to clean DPA's with (distilled) water. As shown below, they apparently work OK after complete submersion. Lectro also has WM transmitters that are water-resistant (I have not tested any full submersion with either setup but would be bagging mine or using some ol' latex protectors before anything gets wet).