Sennheiser G2's on Survivor

P

ptalsky

Veteran
Hey all,

I was just watching a re-run of Survivor All Stars (the reunion show) and noticed that the cast members were wearing G2's. The primary cast members were double-mic'ed and double-G2'ed. Couldn't see what model of G2, but clearly G2's.

So, at the risk of starting a heated discussion, it appears that G2's are "acceptable" for big budget work. May still not be the best (i.e. Lectro or Zaxcom) but good enough for Mark Burnett. ;-)

Okay, I'm not in quite such a rush to replace my G2's. (Looked like the mics were COS11's with major wind protection on them, which was strange considering they were indoors...)

Phil

P.S. Yes, I know, I need a life. Okay, there, I said it.
 
Lately I've done some stuff with Lectro 190 and 195 and on both shoots I was surprised at the comparison to the g2... maybe they were out of tune or who knows... but it made me feel really good about the g2.
 
I know it sounds rediculous to any industry pros out there... but I'm telling you that I had two Lectro 187 sets AND a Lectro 100 set that I sold because the G2 was too good to justify keeping them.

Now I'm working with a local guy that's got all pretty high-end gear... we're talking varicam, betaSP, digibeta, hmi's, sachler pods, 442 mixer, cs3 mics, etc... and he's also got a few 190 and 195 Lectros... I don't want to piss him off and suggest using my G2 instead... but so far on almost every shoot with him the wireless performance has been surprisingly "average".

I love the 200 series Lectros and up... then of course the Micron... and the pinnacle of perfection is Zaxcom... but I'm telling you, don't sell the G2 short... the only thing they lack is CRED because they're cheap.
 
MattinSTL said:
Lately I've done some stuff with Lectro 190 and 195 and on both shoots I was surprised at the comparison to the g2... maybe they were out of tune or who knows... but it made me feel really good about the g2.
Click to expand...

What was wrong with it? Noisy signal, distortion, range? I have a set of the 190/195 and have used them along side a friends G2 and found them to be about equal but would give the edge slightly to Lectro for handling HF without distortion better. Since the Lectro is mine and the G2's belong to a friend I might have been a little bias in my judgement. :)

For the money and the frequency agile, the overall better bargin is the G2 though.

Cheers
 
The Lectro sets don't simply drop like the G2 does... they fizz out... like cooking bacon... and this is a point that used to be debated... what's better? No signal for brief periods or a fizzy signal where you can still make out words, for a longer period?

I say the less intrusion the better... either effect ruins the audio for that moment... the thing that was bugging me about the Lectro is that it will hold a signal with a weak fizzy spitty signal... sometimes for a while... and finally it may clear up... or else we pack the sets away. In contrast, in my experience so far... the G2 either gets a signal or it doesn't... I have had few times when it works with distortion... it may be fighting for a signal and drop a couple times... and if it does that right off the bat I figure we better not risk it... but usually if I can hear the G2 well at the beginning of the shoot I'll be able to hear it well at the end. I said usually. Now the Lectro may start out great and then distortion comes in like it's being pulled off frequecy by the invisible man. In these same cases I usually just hear blips of silence in the G2.

So whatever... losing dialog is always bad... but I used to think the G2 was just a cheap answer... and it actually is just a cheap answer... but it's surprising how well it compares with sets that were the industry standard 10 years ago.

I wouldn't panic and sell your Lectro sets... I mean really a 195 SHOULD smoke the G2... maybe I've just been unlucky with the 195 sets?

Going from Lectro 100 to G2 was a no-brainer though... the only way the Lectro 100 will be better is if you get the 100mW transmitter... and even then I'd have to be convinced personally. Flipping the G2 on and finding clear channels and then setting everything up so simply... after you do that a few times without too much trouble you develop some affection.

But hey who knows... the best radio in the world only picks up what it's tuned to... and a cheap radio on a clear frequency will sound better... do not rule out the possibility that we've just had some really bad luck lately.
 
I'd heard from a customer of ours that they were on shoot near a location where the Discovery channel was shooting when Discovory's wireless was on the fritz. Our customer loaned them their G2 stuff and Discovery actually said they liked it better than what they were using.

I think those Sennheiser G2's are many-a-production company's dirty little secret. Not once have I every heard of them dropping out or being problematic. It's a hard agrument to beat. The only major downside to them is they don't use a balanced +4db output. If I recall correctly, it's an 1/8" TS (unbalanced) -10db output, but they do supply you with the necessary 1/8" to XLR (M) cable as a band-aid fix.
 
my only issue with G2 is noise floor...

convenience wise, I cant think of anything to top them. Been using them a LOT in the last few days in a pretty high profile broadcast kids tv show here in SA.

Running 4 G2's in the same room, FROM THE TV BROADCAST CENTRE, only one hit of radio issues right at the beginning of the 6 day shoot (we on day 3 on Monday), I used the scan, cleared it up, and havent had a SINGLE issue the whole time.

Bar, of course, the hiss, which irritates me but in unavoidable at the cost point of the G2.

As for Survivor, I havent watched it in ages, and next time I'll check it out. I do know for a FACT that the sound op's on the reality segments dont use wireless, except a Lectro 201 for mono cam hop. But I also know that the reality crews and the challenge/immunity crews are very very different. I wouldnt be suprised to hear that they used G2.

Anyways, G2 on a remote island has got to be working in ideal conditions. :)
 
By the way Phil, you dont need a life. I do that stuff all the time too. I spend large portions of shows trying to catch a shot where they show the lavs in detail, or the Tx packs.

I often really wish there was some place where you could find out what gear was used on what show... I always find it really effective to hear good audio, then see who and what made it.

Tim
 
Thank you Tim.

BTW, the G2's I saw weren't on the island at all, they were in the studio (well, Madison Square Garden in this case) for the announcement of the winner. The two finalists (the only ones I saw from behind) were both wearing two G2 Tx's and were double mic'ed. So, my guess is, a little bit of lack of confidence in the G2's, but they went with them anyway.

While we're on the topic of reality types of shows, am I the only one (yes, again, I need a life) that thinks the mixer on American Idol really needs to be replaced? I have never seen a show with so many missed cues (i.e. not opening a mic in time when someone starts to speak). Yes it is reality, but the show runs a fairly set format. It really shouldn't be that hard. And, given the budget they have, I find it very surprising.

Phil
 
Ah. So probably completely different production crew. But thats actually MORE suprising to me...

American Idol is an awful show. I think its probably almost mandatory that everything about it be bad too. :)
 
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