Alternative Lav mounting

timapter

timapter

Veteran
hey,

so Im on this kids tv show at the moment where it's all wireless (multi presenter links), and have been wondering about lavalier mounting.

The issue is this:

How do you guys handle mounting lavs on T-shirts with VERY high necklines? Its really not the ultimate position for a lav to sit, and most of the guys on the show wear em. Problem is, next to a girl with a lower neckline shirt, the guys sound really boxy.

Also, when they sit down, the shirt bunches up around the neck, and I get microphone rubbing on the t-shirt with an exposed lav! bummer. this one im sure the solution is "fix your shirt" which is what ive been saying, but what options are there for this?

Also, what is the general opinion on lav mic facing up, or down? (working with shitty G2 supplied lavs - low budget show)
 
Are these white T-shirts that have to have the lav hid in the hem? If it is a pure white T-shirt I would have them change to a different shirt. A pure white T-shirt looks like crap on DV anyways.

With most T-shirts the male cleavage spot will often work well with the B6 as long as there is not a strong wind pressing the shirt to his chest. Of course, the wind presents all sorts of other lav issues. Alternatively there is hiding it in the hair.

For the sitting down, I would suggest Top Stick to keep the shirt anchored around the mic.

Omni lavs can face up/down, front/back. It's all good.

Cheers
 
booming not an option, production have specifically asked for radio mics: some of the cam ops are trainees (might get boom in shot, they're slow as it is), schedules are pretty tight so time for blocking a boom might be a little tricky, some setups require up to 6 presenters (bit tough for one man boom), and the medium doesnt really even require such great quality anyway (music is overlayed etc etc). So I'm not too fussed about the boom on this one, and the results I've had are pretty good anyway.

Wabbit, the lavs are visible lavs, outside the shirts on clips. All colours, and styles.

And regarding the omni's, Ive noticed a distinctly different feel when placing lavs facing up or down. They might SAY omni, but there's no way that (at least THESE lavs) are giving a true omni pickup.
 
wabbit said:
Are these white T-shirts that have to have the lav hid in the hem? If it is a pure white T-shirt I would have them change to a different shirt. A pure white T-shirt looks like crap on DV anyways.

With most T-shirts the male cleavage spot will often work well with the B6 as long as there is not a strong wind pressing the shirt to his chest. Of course, the wind presents all sorts of other lav issues. Alternatively there is hiding it in the hair.

For the sitting down, I would suggest Top Stick to keep the shirt anchored around the mic.

Omni lavs can face up/down, front/back. It's all good.

Cheers
Click to expand...

for man you can put a elastic injury band around the chest and stuck the mic in between 2 layers , that way the cable can go under the band to the side without be seen ( especially good for young and old gorillas or as we called them walking rugs :-))
 
sticky triangles work really well on young kids, by virtue of them being hairless. or surgical tape or rycote undercovers. the sound passes easily though tee-shirt material safely, and the wire would be hidden, not dangling for them to trip over etc.

If the mic points downwards it helps a bit to stop them popping wind into it when they look down etc.

I take it these lavs don't come with tram style paraphinalia, like button hole mounts and vampire clips?

you could just clip it onto the collar, and have the actual cap just above the tee-shirt material, but best sound would be farther down.
 
ExileOnTheMainStreet said:
( especially good for young and old gorillas or as we called them walking rugs :-))
Click to expand...

We call them bears in the US...but that term has been co-oped by a certain fetish crowd so some people take offense to it now. :)


I tell you Tim, I can't recall ever mounting a visable lav on a T-shirt. Could you not just drop the lav down to mid chest, use a vampire clip, and not mount it on the collar? Put some moleskin on the inside of the shirt so you don't stab them. That would be my approach.

Good luck
 
Tim,

Another thing - if you're using the stock G2 microphones, there are two versions, omni and cartioid. One is the ME2, the other is the ME4. Not sure which is which, or if there is any way to tell one from the other just by looking (markings, etc.)

So that may be why you are hearing different results when facing the mic down.

Phil
 
hmmmm, yeah im pretty sure its the omni. i just feel like sometimes you get a bit more chest resonance when facing the mic down on mid placements, and its sometimes boxy when faced up on high placements (like the t-shirt problem), facing it down seems to alleviate this a touch. maybe im going crazy..


wabbit, problem is, then where does thw cable go? :)

im trying to convince them to buy some pin mics.. that would be perfect for this kind of show.

tim
 
while we're talking about this - A guy at a local sound hire shop said that its possible that a mic placed in the centre of the chest could act like a boundary mic, and create a bit of sibalance or high end sensitivity from the talent. anyone heard of this? I maybe have, but my trams are a bit sharp at the best of times.
 
I heard something like that today... no sibilance the whole day, then one placement sounded like S-ville. Of course, that could be the actress, but I was noticing higher levels of mechanical noise from the clothing, too. Not rubbing against the cap, just generally more HF.

But again, I dunno.

Managed to come right today, used a magnetic clip on the T-shirts, and just dealt with a touch of extra cable coming down (wasnt visible on camera anyway).

Working with these mics extensively the last week has really given me a yearning for some B6's. Its also given me great belief in the G2 system - today I had an actress forget she was wearing the mic, walk out the sound stage, close the door, go down the hall to makeup, get a touch up, walk AROUND the outside of the stage and out into the broadcast centre canteen and come back - not one dropout.

In fact, Ive only had one other dropout the whole week, and it wasnt even on the channel in use so who cares. Good system.
 
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