Portable digital recorder VS wireless HF system

Lenaic

Lenaic

Member
I'm about to go wireless about audio (weddings) and i was wondering if going for a "simple" portable voice recorder like this one and a lavalier microphone could make a good alternative to the more expensive wireless HF system such as the classic Sennheiser ones ? Is there any advantages/cons ?

Also while i'm at here, i'm considering about discretely places a tripod with a shotgun mic on the wireless system or the digital recorder instead of placing a lavalier mic on the groom to record the vows for example. If anyone have any experiences / thoughts about this ? Thanks
 
Cheap wireless almost always equals problems, whether it's general audio quality or drop outs and RF hits. The minimum entry point for wireless are the Sennheiser G2's or G3's. Lectrosonics is preferable.

Phil
 
I think you'll have a tough time finding a "discrete" place to put a shotgun mic in a wedding while also being close enough to get good audio.
 
Gohanto said:
I think you'll have a tough time finding a "discrete" place to put a shotgun mic in a wedding while also being close enough to get good audio.
Click to expand...

Oh, come on... I think this would be rather stylish, and perhaps require the care of a professional to properly place it on the bride... The groom could just stick it in his pocket... because who cares what he has to say anyway... bettter get use to it now...


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Yes. You could buy three of those for less than a minimum-quality wireless mic kit.

"Is that a portable digital recorder in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?" :)
 
j1clark, now thats funny stuff :P


Not being able to monitor your audio = shooting video with your eyes closed

Its worth the $$$, you never get a 2nd chance in a wedding... and audio is just as important as the pretty pictures.
 
Lots of LOL in this thread, but to the original poster: The Sennheisers are often seen as a very low- to mid-end solution, sadly. A Lectrosonics wireless receiver and transmitter are about $2K at the low end. That's the bad news, along with the fact that wireless is always way harder to deal with when it's misbehaving.

At the same time, what you're describing is almost some weird remote-wired lavaliere system, where a lav is running directly into a recorder on the "talent." That isn't that bad of an idea, at a high level: Wired lav is less hassle than wireless lav much of the time, often sounds better! But remember that you won't have any way to ride the gain or adjust levels based on loudness. This could trigger heavy limiter/ACG action or, at worse, digital clipping. It'll be hard to dial in your levels properly at such a critical, quite literally "once in a lifetime" moment.

The best wireless experiences I've had are where there are rehearsals in the actual space. Unrepeatable events with tons of variables and not a lot of time for testing or troubleshooting usually leave me running away from wireless and towards cables, or running away from the lower end and towards more higher-end wireless that's less likely to be finicky (Lectrosonics, Zaxcom).

If you want vows, consider with a cardioid mic planted beforehand. Shotguns aren't usually (there are exceptions) great in indoor, reverberant spaces, and you won't fit both bride and groom into one shotgun pattern unless you're very skilled.
 
Thanks a lot everyone ! Very helpful. I'm aware audio is at least as important as the image, especially when it comes to the vows in a wedding. I will just rent a wireless kit and then if i'm convinced and can justify the purchase, buy it.
 
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