Lavalier clothing noise?

rawfa

rawfa

Veteran
Haya fellas,

I've been using lavaliers more and more with great results but I always end up with noise from the actor's clothes, which is a REAL pain. Is there some sort of cap I can use around the mic to avoid this? What can I do to resolve this?
 
My experience shooting more than a hundred interviews this last year comes down to this. As long as a lavalier doesn't need to be concealed there's very little clothing noise. This is with Sennheiser MKE-2 and MKE-40. Concealed lavaliers are another story and in short it's difficult and takes experience for it to work.

Key with visible lavaliers is to avoid cable noise and to avoid contact between microphone and clothes. With that said I find the MKE-2 to work pretty well even when close to clothing. It just takes experience to know what placement works and what doesn't work.
 
Thanks, Osslund.
In my case it's fiction, so the lavs are concealed. My work usually consists in 2 actors so I use 2 lavs...which would mean an us$800 investment that at the moment I cannot make. A LOT of people shoot with lavs...there's got to be some tricks out there.
BTW, at the moment I use 2 Audio-Technica AT831c.
 
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There are many tricks but I also believe it takes experience. Sometimes it works great hiding a mic under the collar. Sometimes it can be stuck under clothes with a wind fur attached, sometimes the clothing material (synthetic) makes it near impossible. There are so many variables to take into consideration. Generally one want to avoid cloth-to-cloth noise also as this can be picked up even if the mic itself doesn't pick up direct cloth rustle.
 
You can use a paper clip, undo its original shape, and fashion it into a cage around the lav to keep clothes from rubbing against it. it helps to also use rubberbands as a vibration buffer between paperclip cage and the part of the mic you are connecting the cage to.

Boa sorte!
 
Abreu? Either brazilian or portuguese, right? :) We thrive in improvising fixes hehe.
Next week I'm going to do some testing with different solutions. I've been told a guy used one of these "metal tea nets" (I really have no idea how do you call it, but it's the thing you put the tea leaves inside and then place it into a hot water cup).
 
For mounting the capsule, Moleskin and medical tape will be your best friends. BUT...

There are other sources of "rub" besides having the capsule secured. The most important second step is to tape a relief loop in the cable. If the lav is adhered to a shirt, tape the loop to the shirt. If the lav is adhered to skin, tape the loop to the skin. What is often not realized is that the "rub" may not be from the capsule at all but from fabric rubbing on the cable further down.

Avoid synthetic or starchy fabrics, and if the atmosphere is right for the risk of static electricity, keep a travel spray can of Static Guard in your kit and spray the shirt.
 
Second the mole skin. I don't have much experience in audio, but stick the lav also to the thing that makes the rustling. Something I used: I had medical tape to work with (check for allergies), I taped the lav to the talent's chest, Then made a loop with the tape, sticky side out, and that became the buffer between the lav and the talent's shirt. Also tension loops are always a good idea. Sometimes you may have to get crafty hiding lavs in the set if wardrobe isn't permitting. Table centerpieces are good for this sometimes. Best of luck!
 
Alex H. said:
For mounting the capsule, Moleskin and medical tape will be your best friends. BUT...

There are other sources of "rub" besides having the capsule secured. The most important second step is to tape a relief loop in the cable. If the lav is adhered to a shirt, tape the loop to the shirt. If the lav is adhered to skin, tape the loop to the skin. What is often not realized is that the "rub" may not be from the capsule at all but from fabric rubbing on the cable further down.

Avoid synthetic or starchy fabrics, and if the atmosphere is right for the risk of static electricity, keep a travel spray can of Static Guard in your kit and spray the shirt.
Click to expand...

Alex, didn't see this until after I posted and the page refreshed!
 
This is a good place to start: http://jwsoundgroup.net/index.php?/...ss-that-does-not-make-a-noise/#comment-108852

I've found that hush lavs and rycote overcoats can be your best friend. Overcoats don't make any noise when skin or fabric rubs over them which can solve some problems. Moleskin transmits quite a bit of noise when it rubs. Hush lavs both don't create any noise and also separate layers of fabric to keep them from rubbing against each other and from rubbing against the mic.
 
I am self trained and my technique with moleskin was pretty poor. It took me awhile to realize that moleskin made quite a bit of noise when anything rubbed against it. Based on how much everybody swears by moleskin, I had to learn that wrapping the mic in moleskin works as general protection for the mic when placed up against skin or fabric, but moleskin creates it's own problem if anything rubs against it. it's definitely not the definitive solution. Rycote undercovers are worse for transmitting noise, but it does help a bit with wind. Rycote overcovers don't seem to create noise when materials slide across them, which is why I suggest having some of those on hand for bad situations.

The hush lav in the collar is one of my first go to methods.

Most of my work is in corporate with men with starched shirts and polyester coats and stubble. And everybody wants to hide the lav. I appreciate any client that takes my advice and allows me to just skip the lav and rely on the boom.
 
Something like that would be perfect, but I think these only work for the smartlav mics, which are vert small and light.
 
Other things to look into are Undercovers and Overcovers, Vampire Clips and gaffer tape in place of moleskin. I have all the above in my sound kit. Not that expensive and it gives you options depending on the nature of the gig and most of all the amount of time you can devote to this in setup.

The basic trick is to separate the lav capsule from the clothing and isolate the cable to prevent cable rubbing. Some use a loop in the cable and tape down the cable after the loop, others just tape the cable down a few inches/centimeters from the capsule.
 
When you have some money to invest I have had very good results with the Countryman B6 mini lavs in white and black. They are so small that they don't need to be concealed under the clothing. They can be stuck through a button hole and in a 2 shot they are pretty much invisible. I also use a pointy tool like an ice pic to "worry" a small hole in the back of a shirt or jacket pocket and thread the mic through and secure in the corner of the pocket facing upward. The pocket fabric doesn't move around much and the placement is great. The only issue with all lavs on talent is that the volume tends to be dramatically different depending on the direction the actors head is turned. If you are shooting narratives, the lavs are great for the wide shots and the boom best for the coverage (close-ups). The difference in sound quality is usually accepted by the viewer as a fact of the difference in distance.
 
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