Sennheiser EW100-ENG-G2 system

L

lawrenceingram

Active member
Ok,

I've never really delt with external audio systems before, and I need my videos to be more professional. I've had much trouble in the past with machinary and wind noise (I work on drilling rigs and do educational videos here). I was looking over other posts for audio systems and wondered what you guys thought about a system like this for use with my new (not yet received) HVX200? 

This is what I was looking at:

http://www.zgc.com/zgc.nsf/product/19212E33894B67E485256B4D000EB21B


Any advice?

Thanks,

Lawrence
 
the g2 systems are fantastic for the price. You'll find this is the lowest quality wireless kit you can get away with. They work great, but they arent lectro's either. My only suggestion would be to replace the stock lav with something from the countryman/sanken/other quality lav family. Countryman EMW is going to be your least expensive option. Dont get me wrong - the stock mic works fine, its just all muddy and lacking the clean dynamic sound a better lav will give you.

As for wind noise I dont know - there are a million ways to block the wind with a lav from a little furry jammer on the lav, to hiding it in clothing very carefully, and plenty of other tricks the more experienced people here could tell you I'm sure. If it were me I would boom the audio with a shotgun that will give you some good isolation (416 always gets mentioned for its laser like pickup, although I've never used one) and when used with a zeppelin you'll get some pretty good wind isolation. I *think* its the tutorials for the sennheiser zep on dvestore.com show some pretty good examples of what a good zep can do on a cruise ship (ocean wind and what not). Option 3 is to hire a sound guy. He'll come with all of these things and either pick the right one or use them all. They're handy like that.
 
Jeff,

Thanks so much for the information! I know I'll have the feeling I'm in over my head for a long time. I've actually only been an amateur for the past 3 or 4 years and over the past year have started to work with Final Cut Pro (and love it). I work offshore and just felt I could fill a need with some educational stuff. So I upgraded my camera and have been studying every chance I get to try to educate myself. So I'm really grateful that you took the time to give me that advice. I will definitely look into the tutorials for the sennheiser zep. I must admit that I'm TOTALLY clueless about sound as I've only used the stock mic with my HDV camcorder in the past. But I have thrown away entire DAYS worth of shooting on the rig because of bad audio. So I know I'm going to have to work it out. I doubt very much I'll have the option of hiring a sound guy for now, so I've got to look for a fairly affordable option that I can learn myself.

I've saved a good bit of money and have budgeted around $12,000 to $15,000 for my startup. I've already got my computer and software, but the camera and other supplies will have to come out of that budget. I've ordered the camera, tripod and a firestore. Audio is obviously my next target.

Anyway, thanks again for your help.

PS, I'll look into adding my signature. Thanks!

Lawrence
 
Glad it helped dont worry about the sig thing - that is my sig :) I've always been bad about signing my name at the end of a post and someone gave me a "BTW..." one day so I copied it into my sig as to spread the good word.
 
I use the G2's also. Would love to have Lectro's instead but the budget just can't handle it. I'm happy with the results I get with the Sennheiser's.
 
Hmmm - Thats a lectro transmitter, you just need a new lav mic. Lectros dont come with terrible mics per se, but I wouldnt go out and buy one either. You need something like this - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._Countryman_EMW_Omnidirectional_Lavalier.html

Do some research on the emw's first though - several freq responses to choose from. You'll have to decide what works best for your application. And they come in lots of colors. Anyways when you are ready to buy, Northern Light and Sound has the emw for 145 wired for the g2. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks again Jeff,

I realize I know very little at this stage, but it's going to pain me more to re-buy, and I want my first major project to look and sound good. I feel like I've saved enough to get a lot of good equipment, but it's clear I can easily blow it with a few stupid decisions. Hence the lots of thanks for your advice.

And hopefully my sig is a bit better now! :)
 
Ha nice sig! Nice bike too! We all gotta start somewhere so ask away on whatever your having trouble with. You've probably seen them, but the stickies in the audio forum also have a wealth of info if you have the time read all of them I would. Jay Rose also has two amazing books - one for actual production and one for post production on sound. And its easy to blow all your money even with some smart decisions so budget well and dont be afraid to ask the "is this setup appropriate for this situation" or "how exactly does it work" type of thing. Lots of the basics are in the stickies and previous posts though - I usually start there and tend to find what I need to know. Never a bad idea to ask about a purchase before you blow your money though. Have fun!
 
Yeah,

The bike is just a reminder of what I had to give up to get into this as a business! :)

I'm definitely going to get the book by Jay Rose. While I'm not real good at just reading a manual, I find that people with experiences and examples that I can try out keep my attention. It's how I learned to use the FCS suite.

Thanks for the video review. I'll have to check that out when I get home. I'm still offshore and my internet is REALLY slow out here.

Once again, I appreciate all the help and advice. You guys are great!

Lawrence
 
I have used EW G2 series mics with my HVX for some time. I used to own some Lectro 190's which were nice mounted to the back of a betacam or SDX 900 but much too bulky for doc shooting with the HVX. If you are clever you can put together 2 plastic mounts that come with the G2's and mount 2 mics on the camera. I find this preferable to wearing a fanny sack containing receivers cable to the camera.

In comparison to the lectro 190's the sennheisers have exactly the same range and if you spend he bucks for good microphones- Sanken, Countryman B6 or B3- you won't be disappointed.

Another aspect to the Sennheisers is that from an environmental perspective they will run for 8 to 10 hours on a set of hi capacity NiMH rechargeable double A batteries, which means that you don't have to leave a behind a trail of battery garbage where ever you work.
 
Hmmm. . .

Seems like really good advice. I'll have to wait until I get home to try it. I'm going to have my hands full figuring all this out. I'll let you know how I do!

Thanks again,
 
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