Need help with ENG gear

DigitalBard

DigitalBard

Well-known member
I work at a radio station and we're starting to do a LOT more video for our web site.

Our "roving reporter" has an iPad Air which is set up on a tripod to shoot video. Connected is a cardioid interview mic.

First problem, if the reporter pulls back the mic to ask a question and record the audio, inevitably someone else moves into his spot and the back/forth movement of the mic missed the beginning/end of sound. I want to stick a lav on the reporter and run both the lav and mic into a *very* small battery powered mixer. So I'm looking for a recommendation.

Second problem we ran into last night... We were doing election coverage live on the air (radio) and shooting video of the interview with the governor. The reporter had to hold both the mic and his iPhone in his hand to both be on the air (iPhone) and record audio for the video (microphone). So I'm looking for a way to run audio from the mic into both the iPad (shooting video) and the iPhone (live back to the station). To make it REAL interesting, I would like to allow the reporter to hear return audio from the station through bluetooh. Although, I'm not sure the iPhone can take mic audio from one device and playback audio through another device. I'll have to test that.

I'm curious about equipment and techniques used by others.
 
I don't quite follow why you are having the first issue. One microphone on a news reporter is the defacto method. But sure, a lav would be nice. Sorry, no recommendations.

We did something similar for the June election for television broadcast. Most candidates came to the studio. But we did a remote with an iPhone. Instead of doing it live, we recorded the interview and posted it to Vimeo and then had it available for broadcast in a couple of minutes. This saved us the costs of an uplink. Of course, the host could not interact with the candidate, but that was the reporter's job.

I'll be interested to see what solutions are posted.
 
You may more people who are doing something similar at Transom.org. They are really a radio centric site but that is kind of what you are doing.
 
As an experiment, I took one of the friction arms off my personal camera rig (it has a clamp on it) and clamped it to the tripod that the iPad is on. I put my Tascam DR-60D on the arm and ran both the XLR microphone and the lav into the Tascam. Then ran a splitter from the line-out on the Tascam into both the iPad and iPhone. After some adjustments, it worked, but was a little bulky.

It gives me a better idea of what I need for a more permanent solution.

Our reporter edits the video on-site using the iPad then uses the iPhone as a hot-spot to upload the video to our YouTube account for our web site and social media. Unless a TV station is doing a live remote, we beat everyone with video on our web site and on Facebook.
 
DigitalBard said:
First problem, if the reporter pulls back the mic to ask a question and record the audio, inevitably someone else moves into his spot and the back/forth movement of the mic missed the beginning/end of sound. I want to stick a lav on the reporter and run both the lav and mic into a *very* small battery powered mixer. So I'm looking for a recommendation.
Click to expand...

This is just bad mic. technique.

The professional way is to hold the microphone still about haff way between the interviewer and interviewee.

I was taught this very clearly by expert BBC engineers when I started in radio in teh 1970's (unfortunately training seems non-existant nowadays).

Waving the mic. around is unprofessional and agressive and, as you say, misses the end of the question and the beginning of the reply.
 
We're using "Audio-Technica ATR2100" mics for the iPads. We use "Shure ULX2/58" mics in the audio kits, but they won't work with an iPad or iPhone.

And I talked to the news director, he agreed that this reporter's mic technique was poor. He's going to work with the reporter.

And our sister TV station uses the "Sennheiser MD 42" or "Shure ULX2/58" situationally. I talked to their engineer. So I'm going to borrow one from them and see if it works with an iPad/iPhone.
 
The Shure 58 mic head is primarily designed for live stage vocal scenarios, it's a great mic fo' sure, but not for news reporting.. it needs to be within very close proximity of the sound source for decent performance/sound.
The AT2100 is of the same cardioid design (purpose) as the (legendary) SM58.
With the proper mic and some mic technique training for the reporter, sound should get a lot better
 
As others have said an omni mic is std for this type of application and there are numerous models out there from the AT8004 to the EV RE50 N/DB, Beyer M58 and shure and senheiser models are also worth a look at but as John rightly says the presenter should be able to hold the mic between the subject and keep it virtually static with only a minimal 10-15 degree bias for question and answers.

As for a mixer I personally use some old ASC minix mixers for ENG as they also have IFB cue capabilities but a sound devices Mix Pre-D would be a good choice for such a set-up.
 
Last edited:
The Sennheiser MD 42 does not work with the iPhone/iPad directly. But it does work with the DR-60D. I'm thinking of picking up a couple of H4n's to use with the Sennheiser.

We covered an event Friday night and I borrowed a Sennheiser wirelesss kit from the TV station. I plugged the handheld mic into the transmitter and put the receiver on the iPad and that worked to give the reporter a bit more freedom.

The only problem I see with the Omni Mic is that it picks up a LOT more noise. One of our reporters used the Audio Technica Mic at an accident scene and you could hear him quite clearly, the noise was minimal. The TV reporter was using the Sennheiser Mic and his voice was overwhelmed by the sounds from the scene. So I think the reporter will have to take both mics, be smart and choose the right one for the situation. With an H4n or other audio recorder, she or he can record a test and listen to it.

Things are starting to come together... I really appreciate everyone's advice so far.
 
Last edited:
DigitalBard said:
The Sennheiser MD 42 does not work with the iPhone/iPad directly. But it does work with the DR-60D. I'm thinking of picking up a couple of H4n's to use with the Sennheiser.

We covered an event Friday night and I borrowed a Sennheiser wirelesss kit from the TV station. I plugged the handheld mic into the transmitter and put the receiver on the iPad and that worked to give the reporter a bit more freedom.

The only problem I see with the Omni Mic is that it picks up a LOT more noise. One of our reporters used the Audio Technica Mic at an accident scene and you could hear him quite clearly, the noise was minimal. The TV reporter was using the Sennheiser Mic and his voice was overwhelmed by the sounds from the scene. So I think the reporter will have to take both mics, be smart and choose the right one for the situation. With an H4n or other audio recorder, she or he can record a test and listen to it.

Things are starting to come together... I really appreciate everyone's advice so far.
Click to expand...

You need to be aware of the inverse-square law and the fact that an omni does not suffer from proximity effect.

It's all down to the skill of the reporter.

Halve the distance between the mic. and the source and you will get 4-times the sound level at the mic. - so you can reduce the recording level to reduce external noise.

Also - an omni at 1 meter distance is the equivalent of a cardioid at 1.7 metres - you can get an omni much closer - with a directional mic. the bass increases as you get closer, with an omni there is no change.

If you *have* to wave the mic. around because you are in a high noise area, an omni will miss less of the end of the question and the strat of the reply (and vice versa) compared to a directional mic.

There are so many advantages of an omni over a directional mic., which is why the omni is the standard in professional broadcasting (certainly the BBC).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top