Plugging Sennheiser ME2 Lavalier into Zoom H1

V

vongspoth

Well-known member
Hi, everyone. I was recently shooting a wedding with the Sennheiser G2 EW100 system on the groom and officiant and was really disappointed to find that there was a ton of RF interference in the middle of the recording. As a precaution for the next wedding I was hoping to only use one of the G2s on either the groom or the officiant and then plug in another ME2 lavalier into a Zoom H1 that I could slip into someone's pocket.

I tried plugging the ME2 Lav into my H4N and it worked once I turned on Plug In Power in the menu. Audio sounded great too.

Any thoughts? Am I overlooking anything?
 
If you had two units in operation, are you sure the RF interference was due to having both two units operating at once? If you're operating them on two different frequencies chosen from the same frequency bank they shouldn't interfere. It could be RF coming from some other source - a lot of G2s were in the 700 MHz band that is now illegal for wireless mics and populated by other services. Perhaps it's one of the those 'other services' that is the source of the interfering RF. If so, you'll still potentially at risk for it on the remaining wireless even with your "plan B'" of one wireless plus a pocket recorder.
 
Steve House said:
If you had two units in operation, are you sure the RF interference was due to having both two units operating at once? If you're operating them on two different frequencies chosen from the same frequency bank they shouldn't interfere. It could be RF coming from some other source - a lot of G2s were in the 700 MHz band that is now illegal for wireless mics and populated by other services. Perhaps it's one of the those 'other services' that is the source of the interfering RF. If so, you'll still potentially at risk for it on the remaining wireless even with your "plan B'" of one wireless plus a pocket recorder.
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding, Steve. My G2s are in the 500s. The two transceivers were on 2 different banks and 2 different frequencies. After that last wedding, I read up on the topic and someone recommended 1 bank 2 frequencies. Could having 2 separate banks cause all the interference issues? I was also thinking about just picking 2 Zoom H1s and no longer dealing with wireless receivers/transceivers . Not being able to monitor wouldn't be an issue since I couldn't adjust anything once the ceremony starts anyway.
 
This needs a BUMP, I´m also thinking of just letting my mke2 run into a H1 and sync in post - does the H1 output enough power to run the mke2? Is there a way to record the same source at different levels on the two channels for some safety headroom? And don´t tell me to just rent a soundguy! ;o)
Thanks!
 
So I´ve been thinking: I guess I need to preamp the signal from a "normal" lavalier before feeding it to a recording device that doesn´t offer phantom power.
Right?
I will out myself as even more clueless about the electronic basics of microphone technologie by asking the folowing: Since for this setup (H1 + lav) I want to stay small and lav preamps seem to be in the size of the Sennheiser K6, I was thinking "could I use a reversed headphone amp for this?"
I´m thinking of this one: http://www.amazon.com/Fiio-E3-Headp...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1296565956&sr=8-1

So instead of your iPod feeding into the E3, you feed the lav and then output not to headphones, but to the Zoom H1...

I guess I´m just hoping that mics and phones aren´t that different in principle and that currents used to drive the membrans are somehow similar...

Ok, now grill me...
 
Phantom power and plug-in power are different things. With many lavs, you can run them on phantom power if they are wired for XLR use, or if you have an XLR adapter like on the Rode Lavs. The adapter converts 48v phantom down to 2-4v needed for the lav. But if your recorder (like the H1) has plug-in power you can plug straight in with no adapter. I wouldn't suggest putting a noisy headphone amp in the signal chain. Doesn't the H1 have a headphone output?
 
Sparticus - I just wanted to point out that this thread refers to the Sennheiser ME2 (which terminates in 1/8"), and you're talking about the Sennheiser MKE2 which can be purchased with different kinds of connectors or unterminated. I don't think anyone should re engineer a headphone amp to be a mic preamp - unless they're some kind of electronics guru who is doing it for fun.

Besides, do you really want to hide a mic that plugs into a box that plugs into another box on your talent? I mean, if you could pull this off with a $7 headphone amp it would be a cool DIY low budget victory hack of sorts. But I think that most people would be better off just buying a mic that works with the input on their recorder. Then you can keep the rig as small as possible, making easier to mic your subjects, and minimizing the amount of gear that can potentially fail.

I haven't plugged a Sennheiser ME2 into an H1, but I know someone who has, and they said it worked fine. I was curious about this, so I plugged a Pearstone OLM2 lav (which is nearly identical to the ME2 in every detail) into a Jammin HR-5 portable recorder (which isn't that great, but it was laying around nearby so I grabbed it), and that worked fine to. Perhaps this would be a better option for you too.
 
As said, just thinking/hoping out loud with my idea...
Which of course will be totally unnecessary if I can plug in my mke2 directly into the H1 with no need for a preamp;)

My mke2s are wired for my G2s, so it should fit connection wise. I´m also thinking of using both the H1 and a G2...

Maybe you guys could still answer my other question from my first post: "Is there a way to record the same source at different levels on the two channels for some safety headroom?"
 
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I plugged an ME2 into the 3.5mm mic. jack of my Olympus LS-10 and it powered it OK and worked fine - on one channel only, of course.
 
Yep, me too, tried it with the me2 and the mke2, ended up using the me2(!), because it needed less amp on the H1 and thus gave a cleaner signal. First time I used the me2, just keep it as a backup in case the mke2 gets torn or sth while shooting.
I was pleased with the results, but used it just to record an interview w/o filming, so no syncing in post and I actually had the zoom in my hand while asking the questions.
One big issue: the screwmount of the me/mke hinders the jack to fully snap into the port. A little tension on the cord and the plug snaps out!
I used a headphone splitter in between and it worked w/o problems, taping it down will yield the same effect (but I didn´t want glue residue on my stuff...)
One thing I will try is connecting the zooms headphone out with the G2 and then sending the sound to the camera.
But only if a true running and gunning gig came up, otherwise I`ll just use my Edirol R-44.
 
Spartacus said:
One big issue: the screwmount of the me/mke hinders the jack to fully snap into the port. A little tension on the cord and the plug snaps out!I used a headphone splitter in between and it worked w/o problems, taping it down will yield the same effect (but I didn´t want glue residue on my stuff...) One thing I will try is connecting the zooms headphone out with the G2 and then sending the sound to the camera.But only if a true running and gunning gig came up, otherwise I`ll just use my Edirol R-44.
Click to expand...
I'm having the same issue as Spartacus in this area: the connection between the ME2 and Zoom H1 isn't very secure. A light tension will yank it off the zoom h1. If using Rode Pin mic, the solution is to get a Micon-2 connector that is tailored for 3.5mm without any screw mount. But ME2...hmm? Anybody has a better idea?
 
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