Lavalier Mic Please Help

wow. im sorry but im so confused as to which MHz frequency to get. I did a frequency search at sennheiser.com but it had different ranges of MHz for tones of different areas which i understood, but what if i get a certain MHZ based on the area im living in right now but go shoot in a different city or state? will my mic still work even if it is a different frequency for that area? as Jordan stated there are 3 different MHz that sennheiser sell in the G3:

Band 'A': 518 - 550 MHz
Band 'B': 630 - 662 MHz
and
Band 'G': 566 - 608 MHz

b 526-668
a 516-558
g 566-608

I just need to know which to get and Ill push the order button. Is there a universal MHz out of these choices to go with when in doubt? lol
 
Without doing your research on the city its a blind call. That being said each one of those bands is tunable to 1440 (I believe) freqs. Thats 1400 chances of getting a good signal in each of those bands. One is as good as the next I would guess. I personally havent had interference problems very often and dont have to retune much if at all usually. I have several bands always in my bag just in case I need to jump to a different band. Always good practice to have a backup.
 
Thanks. Like I said I understood which band it said for my area. I just needed to know what would happen if I took my mic to a different area that had a different frequency. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

Johnny
 
Last question and I should be good to go. What is the difference between a Cardioid Lavalier and a Omni Lavalier? I see that the sennheisers come with either of those two types of lavaliers. Thanks again.
 
fyi, i just got a set of the G3 on ebay for $450 with the bing cash back from evs. and you want the omni pattern
 
Wireless mics are a gamble no matter how you slice it. Not benefit (like having no wires) comes without disadvantages (higher price and lower reliability).

You can reduce the odds by getting some expert LOCAL advice from a rental house in your city. Else the rest of use are too far away to offer any more than generic advice that may or may not be helpful in your particular case. You can eliminate the odds by using a small inexpensive voice recorder in the pocket with a clip-on mic. You could get three or four of them for the cost of a single low-end wireless kit.

A cardioid microphone is directional, i.e. it picks up sound to the front better than sound from the sides or the back. An omnidirectional microphone is, as the name implies, equally sensitive in all directions. A directional microphone is preferred where one needs to reduce ambient noise to prefer the voice of the person to whom it is attached. OTOH, in situations where you are depending on a single microphone to pick up more than just the wearer, an omni may be a better choice.

In the same situation I would NOT be so fixated on thinking that I needed a wireless microphone at all.
 
Johnny Bueno said:
Thanks. Like I said I understood which band it said for my area. I just needed to know what would happen if I took my mic to a different area that had a different frequency. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

Johnny
Click to expand...

The mic will work wherever you are. The problem is that mics aren't the only things operating in those frequencies - there are broadcast links, public safety dispatchers, taxis, TV stations, all sorts of other users of the radio specturm as well. All of those other users run transmitters that are far more powerful than your radio mic transmitter - if one happens to be close by, it will interfere and you won't hear you own unit. Have you ever been listening to the radio in your car while you drive by another station's transmitter tower and hear them instead of the station you want? Or drive under power lines and hear nothing but a buzz for a few seconds? That sort of thing happens with wireless too. The number of licenses that have been issued for these other services and the frequencies they're assigned to is different when you go to various parts of the country, so the idea is that you buy a wireless that operates in a part of the specturm that is relatively vacant in the area where you use it most often, operating in a band of frequencies where there are not a lot of other users that might interfere. When you take it to another part of the country, there may, or may not, be a lot of other users in that same frequency band whose signals you'll have to work around. When you set up your unit the day of the shoot, you have to find a frequency within the band to set it on that is not in use by any one else. In Orlando there might be a lot of users assigned between 518 and 550 and not so many between 566 and 608. In Seattle it might be just the reverse. (Just using that as an example, don't know if that's really the case or not.) You want a unit that tunes within the range where there are fewer other users so that you'll have a better chance of finding a setting on your transmitter that is "in the clear" of other signals.
 
Last edited:
Go to http://www.sennheiserusa.com/FindFrequency/ and type in your zip code. Once you've done that, set the "range" box to EW G3, and then click "highlight off." What you should see then is three frequency ranges highlighted in blue, corresponding to the three available frequency ranges of the Sennheiser G3 systems. Whichever of these has the most channels listed as "vacant" is probably going to be the best choice for you.
 
Thanks Pierce. I will. Once the Mic arrives Ill start testing and playing with it asap. On the sennheiser link above that you gave pierce what is the "Start" option and " End" or the "Att" box that asks about db? I did a search for frequencies in my zip code but I didn't change info on the other boxes as I dont know what they mean. So I have a bit of doubt whether I got the right list of frequencies. Thanks again.

Johnny
 
"Start" and "End" allow you to specify a starting and ending TV channel to narrow the list down. I never bother with it. "Att" allows you to set a level of attenuation; for example, if you were sure this mic was only going to be used inside (something permanently installed into a church or training room or something), you could set the "Att" to the "40db (Indoors)" setting rather than the default "30db (Mixed)". But if you're getting this for weddings, there's a chance you could wind up using it outdoors, so in your situation I think you're best off to leave it at 30db.

(edit: Richard's advice to talk to somebody local, a rental house or Sennheiser dealer, is certainly worth following up on. :) )
 
Last edited:
Thanks Pierce. Thats exactly what I needed to know. After I did a frequency search for both Orlando and Tampa areas, they both within their areas, range from 500-600MHz. Does that mean that any of these sennheiser choices will work fine for me?:

A-516-558
G-566-608
B-626-668

Seeing as I wont know the exact location of my next wedding within tampa, or orlando areas? Or, since both orlando and tampa areas generally range from 500-600MHz does that mean I should just get the mic that goes into both 500-600 MHZ? Mic option G?
 
Last edited:
RF interference isn't anywhere near being as predictable as you seem to think it is. I would NOT buy a wireless mic kit in a big city like Orlando without checking with the LOCAL EXPERTS to see what frequency bands they find most usable IN YOUR CITY. The Sennheiser website can only tell you what MIGHT interfere based on frequency, power and distance. But there are many more factors influencing RF interference. It is one of the reasons that wireless mics (even those which cost $5000 each) are NEVER a sure thing in EVERY situation.
 
Thanks for the continuous advice richard. I went into Full Sail Film School that is right next door to where I live and talk to the guys in the audio department. They told me to go with B-626 to 668MHz. That's the MHz range they use with ease. So unless anyone else has any other input or advice then I will put in the order today. Thanks again everyone for all the help. Much Appreciated.

Johnny
 
Thanks for the continuous advice richard. I went into Full Sail Film School that is right next door to where I live and talk to the guys in the audio department. They told me to go with B-626 to 668MHz. That's the MHz range they use with ease. So unless anyone else has any other input or advice then I will put in the order today. Thanks again everyone for all the help. Much Appreciated.

Johnny
 
Richard Crowley said:
Remember:
1) DO NOT buy anything that transmits between 695 and 805 MHz (The "700MHz band") because it is no longer legal to use wireless mics there.
2) You need the variety with a small battery operated portable receiver. Not the kind with the larger metal box receiver which requires mains power.
EW112PG3-A-medium.jpg
Click to expand...

For "private" wedding stuff... don't worry about the "695 - 805".... The more some people will have to sell there wirells systems...So I would get one of those..
You can't officilay use it no...but you can't steel a candy neither, but everyone has done it once.... I don't think the american army would do an invasion for that...

Now, another thing "it doesn't has to sound as movie sound"... Well, in my opinion, sound has to sound good....
 
Would you, back in the VHF days, have suggested somebody who lives in a town where TV channel 7 was in use buy a wireless rig that operated on TV channel 7? Because that's basically what you're doing. I will assume that you're not advocating using the part of the 700MHz band that will be in use by emergency services; but whoever bought the rest of the band is, in all likelihood, going to be broadcasting at a power level that will drown out a body pack.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top