Dual lavalier + H4N + NTG3?

rawfa

rawfa

Veteran
Hi guys,

I´ve bought a Zoom H4N (which I think allows individual control of each XLR input) and a Rode NTG3 for my projects (narrative, doc, music videos, etc). I´ve been reading a lot of articles about sound and have heard a lot of great advice here that led me to believe that using the NTG3 AND a lavalier would be the best way to try to get the best sound for my dialogs. I was wondering what workflow to use though.

One of the next projects I´m going to do has like 8 scenes and each scene has a dialog between 2 people (there is only one scene where there are 3 people for a VERY brief period of time).
Sound wise I´m thinking about going with one of the following workflows. Please let me know what do you think?
1 - Shoot all the actor 1's shots/frames (who will have the wireless lavalier on him) keeping the NTG3 as near as possible to his mouth and then do the same to actor 2?
2 - Shoot all the actor 1's shots/frames and keep the NTG3 coming and going between him and actor 2 as they speak (also place some sort of dual wireless lavalier system on both) and then do the same to actor 2?

Here´s another doubt, I´ve never used wireless lavalier mics before. From what I can see there is a device to send the signal and another to receive, right. I´d like to know if there is such a thing: you plug the received into the H4N's XLR input and it receives from BOTH lavalier mics at the same time on the same channel (since the other XLR is being used by the NTG3)...like 2 "senders" with one receiver.

Anyway, sorry for too many doubts and the sort of confusing post. I hope you guys can help.
 
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Each mic will have a seperate "out". Without a mixer, you will have the choice of 1 lav and NTG, or 2 lavs. Dont try to set both transmitters to the same channel. You will have tons of problems.

You might be able to jury rig something by feeding the NTG into the rear ext. mic jack, but I doubt it will work the way you need. But then you now have both XLR's for the lavs. Put it into MTR mode.

I have not tried that route myself, so this is just supposition.
 
So, I´m guessing it would be better to use the NTG3 and ONE wireless lav on each XLR inputs. I guess this kind of narrows down the workflow: shoot all actor#1's shots with the NTG3 on his face and the lav mic attached to him, then move all the gear towards actor#2, attach the lav onto him and repeat the process.
 
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I would do the opposite. Lav the on camera talent and boom the other. switch it for the turn-around. It gives you options. A well boomed talent can sound quite nice. And if the boomed actor is off camera, the mic can be placed in the perfect position.

Or lav both talent for the shots, and then hook in the boom afterwards for room tone. You have to figure out what sounds the best to your ears.
 
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Doc Bernard said:
I would do the opposite. Lav the on camera talent and boom the other. switch it for the turn-around. It gives you options. A well boomed talent can sound quite nice. And if the boomed actor is off camera, the mic can be placed in the perfect position.
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D'oh! That is absolutely logical. Thanks.
 
First read the #1
sticky.gif
Sticky: The $500 Wireless Question, or, "What cheap system should I get?"
 
That was a great great read!
I think I´m going to just give good use to my new NTG3 and down ahead the road I´ll invest the appropriate amount of money on an accepetable wireless lav.
 
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Tip: it's a wireless lav, not a WiFi lav, LOL. They don't get internet, though they sometimes pick up the carrier frequency of smart phones.
 
Use a wired lav wherever you can. You'll get better results and not have to deal with interference. Use wireless as a last resort.
 
DNN said:
Use a wired lav wherever you can. You'll get better results and not have to deal with interference. Use wireless as a last resort.
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Sorry, that's incorrect. Interference can happen with wired equipment too. I get it all the time when somebody forget to "airplane mode" their smartphone. Even when just running a wired boom.
 
Doc Bernard said:
Tip: it's a wireless lav, not a WiFi lav, LOL. They don't get internet, though they sometimes pick up the carrier frequency of smart phones.
Click to expand...

Hahaha....you´re right....I just had 2 wisdom teeth pulled out and I think they´ve got some of my brain with it ;)
 
rawfa said:
...

Here´s another doubt, I´ve never used wireless lavalier mics before. From what I can see there is a device to send the signal and another to receive, right. I´d like to know if there is such a thing: you plug the received into the H4N's XLR input and it receives from BOTH lavalier mics at the same time on the same channel (since the other XLR is being used by the NTG3)...like 2 "senders" with one receiver.
...
Click to expand...

Absolutely not! Two transmitters ("senders") on the same frequency will severely interfere with each other, rendering both of their signals unusable. You can recieve one transmitter on two receivers but you cannot receive two transmitters on one receiver.
 
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