Sennheiser EW112P G4 + zoom h5 best settings

A

Aquilasfx

Member
Hello, at the end I bought a set of wireless lav mic G4 EW112P (with the included lav ME2-ii) and I am very happy.
Can you suggest best settings to use when pairing with ZOOM H5?
I set on the transmitter and receiver of sennheiser 0db.
What about on the zoom line 1 XLR input?
Do I havet to set to -20db the line? As I usually do when I paired with wired rode smartlav+?

Thanks for all the support that you can give to me.
 
0dB sensitivity on the transmitter? That’s probably going to be distorted beyond repair.

There’s no magic set of numbers here. You need to learn proper gain staging and how to adjust it each time you are in a new situation. Every point along the signal chain that offers a place to adjust the levels is a gain stage, or a stage where gain can be controlled. The goal is to set proper levels for a strong, clean signal at each point. Once the sound has been distorted at any one gain stage, it will be distorted all the way down the signal chain from that point on.

The first gain stage is the transmitter’s sensitivity setting. You need to set that for the mic and for the person wearing the mic. Ideally, you want the level meter on the transmitter’s display (home screen) to average around 2/3 - 3/4 full, occasionally tickling the AF/Peak LED to the right of the screen.

The second gan stage is the receiver’s AF Out setting. 0dB means it is passing the signal through unaffected, so it is not being boosted and it is not being reduced. This is the tricky part because you can’t really listen to find out what’s going on at this gain stage, so you have to adjust it in tandem with your H5’s input gain. Also, make sure that phantom power from the H5 is OFF.

Listening from your H5’s headphone output, slowly bring up the input level until your H5’s meters are averaging around -12dB. If you have to add too much input gain and thus end up adding noise from the H5’s pre-amps, boost the receiver’s AF Out setting to +6dB or +12dB as necessary. If you’re barely adding any gain on the H5’s input and the sound is distorting in the H5, lower the AF Out level on the receiver as needed. The goal is to strike a balance that gives you strong record levels without adding noise.

Most lavs I’ve used with G3 and G4 systems end up needing sensitivity between -20dB and -30dB. Again, these are not magic numbers and it really depends on the specific lav you’re using and the strength of the person’s voice. Just remember that you want to start at the source (the mic, or in this case the transmitter) and work your way down the signal chain toward the recorder, with the recorder’s input levels being the last gain stage adjusted. If you end up with distortion or digital clipping in the signal, you’ll need to identify which gain stage is the cause of the issue and fix it there.

The G4 ew112 receiver does not put out a strong enough signal to drive a true line-level input on any mixer or recorder, so it’s best to use it with a mic-level input.

And remember: above all else, your ears are your most important tools. The meters only tell a small part of the story.
 
A sensitivity setting of 0dB would defiantly be clipping the Tx. I recall using a sensitivity setting of around -12 or -18 on an SK100 bodypack (transmitter (Tx) with an original ME2, but it depends on the source SPL. The EK100 portable receiver (Rx) output at the max level is 'around' -10dB (nominal). Some recorders have ample line level gain for -10dB, some do not (Sound Devices for instance). If that is the case, set the recorder's input to mic level, and the gain/trim and fader volume to unity. Then adjust the Rx AF output for a average meter reading.
 
I found the 0dB setting fine for speech - rarely maxes out the preamp, and then I use the other setting when the speaker talks up - like addressing a meeting, and the lowest gain when the person might be Brian Blessed loud. For a piece to camera at a normal speaking voice, I've never found clipping an issue - with a headset mic of course, it's first pad or second, but clipped on, I've had few issues.
 
Thanks, I recently modded my units with sma antenna as I told you. In this moment I did some tests with the included mic ME2-ii and with the RODE smartlav+ (with proper cable trrs-trs) attached. And I found that the Sennheiser ME2-ii is returning a lot of system noise? What I'm doing wrong? It means that the RODE mic is better then the Senny one? That I did a wrong sma mod? (this I think could affect only the signal), because trying attaching the RODE mic there is less noise.

These the settings that I put:
TX -15db
RX 0db
Zoom H5 level 5 (on the wheel of input 1). I put LO CUT (OFF), COMP/LIMITER (OFF), PHANTOM In1(OFF),PLUGIN POWER(ON),In1/2 PAD (OFF)
 
“Noise” can mean different things. If you can post a sample - maybe upload to Soundcloud and post the link here - we can hear what you hear. Just giving us your settings also won’t tell us much, because we cannot see the level meters on your transmitter, receiver, or recorder.

Plug-in power should not affect anything because that’s a low-voltage power supply sent from the 3.5mm mic input, unless that’s how you’re connecting your Sennheiser receiver.

I will say, though, that the ME2-ii is not the quietest or highest-quality mic out there. In fact, it’s pretty lousy. Always worth getting a better lav to go with a G4 ew112 system. (The MKE-2 that comes with the ew512 is actually a pretty good lav, but you get what you pay for.)
 
Many folks like the (made in USA) Oscar Sound Tech (OST) 801 or 802, which is very similar (an understatement) to the renowned Tram TR-50, at a much lower cost. (under $150 in the USA) Search this forum for opinions and such.
 
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