Provide Your Own Mic for Wedding Toasts

adamr316

adamr316

Well-known member
I don't know why it never dawned on me before. We mic the groom and/or officiant up during the ceremony. We also stick our own mic on the podium for the speakers (if any). Or maybe get a feed from the church. But why not get a second wireless receiver for the DJ?

I've got a Sennheiser G2 lav/transmitter and butt-plug transmitter. I use the butt plug and a handheld mic for guest testimonials (messages to the bride and groom). So why not use that same mic for the toasts so I get a clean feed? Well...I don't own an extra receiver!

I just want to double-check with anyone who has already done it before. Because I figure you can have a hundred receivers (or a million bajillion) on the same channel as the transmitter, like listening to a car radio, right? And they shouldn't cause an interference problem, right? At the moment I've rigged my lav transmitter to get a direct feed off the DJ's mixer and that's saved me $200-300 or whatever it'd cost me for an extra receiver but I figure I'd get a bit better audio quality if I got a direct wireless signal. Plus I'd have better control over quality.
 
Multiple receivers can be used with a single transmitter; the only thing that can get tricky with Sennheisers is the "pilot tone" feature, which (IIRC) has to be turned off to enable this.

The only other thing that might trip you up would be a DJ that didn't have another mic input available for your receiver. In my experience (which is trying to patch an audio feed from a DVD player into the system, for audio from the now-seemingly obligatory "cute baby pictures of the bride and groom" video that I was providing the DVD player and video projector for), DJ mixers tend not to have a lot of "unnecessary" inputs...
 
This whole post is confusing. It is my understanding that you can not use multiple receivers from the same transmitter. However, why does it matter? How many times are you recording testimonials during the speeches and toasts? I never do testimonials and I advertise as much. I do however tap into the DJ/Bands equipment to get a good audio feed especially for toasts, introductions and important songs. They key is to have enough adapters to handle RCA, 1/8", 1/4" and XLR. If the DJ or band refuses to let me tap in, then I drape my wireless LAV over their speaker centered over the horn/tweeter not the woofer. Then I mix the highs I get from that channel with the lows I get from the mic on my camera. The major issue with getting a feed from the board is some DJ/MC's like to shout into the mic during intro's and toast givers are almost always holding the mic at their waist and talking slightly above a whisper. If you can not get to transmitter and adjust the levels you must pick ahead of time which one is more important as one will sound bad.
 
One transmitter to multiple receivers on the same frequency is fine. (That's how "broadcasting" works.)

Multiple transmitters on the same frequency with the hope of picking them up on a single receiver and they will somehow mix themselves doesn't work. The only scenario where this is possible (but still not a good idea) is if you intend to switch different transmitters on and off at different times, guaranteeing that only one is on at any instant in time. That's way too confusing and fraught with opportunities for disaster for me to try it.

- Greg
 
OK cool guys I guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. Which is a direct tap with my adaptor contraption or Shure SM57 miked to the speaker/PA system if the DJ doesn't have an extra output available or is mean ;-).

And yeah, a loud DJ vs. quiet toasts are a lot of fun to mix! I gave a toast one time, mic was up near my mouth, I talked loud (shouted, even) and the DJ mixed me low. Or something was wrong with the microphone either way lame!
 
Most DJ's these days are using active speaker rigs...IE, the amps are built in to the speakers (jbl eons, Mackie 450s, et al). All of these active speakers have xlr in/out for daisy chaining together an almost limitless amount of speakers...either subs or tops (mid/tweet). The key is that wireless bitt plug you were talking about. Plug it in to one of the DJ's "full range" outs on their speakers and take that feed. It's direct, clean, and an easy way to achieve exactly what you're looking for

J
 
Since the DJ usually provides the sound for the receptions. Why not just use field recorder (H4N) and run it out of the DJ Board or mixer. We do this almost all the time and the audio is direct for the toast. No need for wiring the toaster or toasters. Make sure you discuss this with the DJ before hand. We have worked with almost all the DJ's in our area so they are cool. Of course this requires syncing in post, but the audio is clean and a sure shot without hassle.
Just a thought
 
I've found that just putting my H4N on a stand in front of the DJ speaker gets me great audio all night. Less that can go wrong that way. If audio is coming out of the speakers, I've got it.
 
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