Sit down wireless

graywolf

graywolf

Well-known member
I have wondered, how do you guys wire your talent when they are sitting down in a lounge chair?

When I have tried that with myself, I wind up with the transmitter clipped to the side of my belt and do not even try to hide anything. Now, I don't think that is likely to work too well for you pros. So what do you do in that case?
 
Never use wireless unless you have to. Never. All wireless, even a $4,000.00 Lectrosonics or Zaxcom suck in comparison to a $20.00 XLR cable. Anything sit down, pros use a wired lav, I use my Countryman B6, Sanken COS11 or one of my old Tram TR50s. I usually will tape or clip the power supply wherever it is convenient and not visible for the shot although you must tell the talent, "Don't stand up or walk away when the shot is over because I have you 'leashed' to the mic". I had talent rip the head off of a Tram many years ago, they walked away while still wired and the power supply caught on something so it can happen. I will sometimea affix the power supply to the talent, usually on their belt but not if it will be uncomfortable for them, depending on how they are positioned.
 
puredrifting said:
Never use wireless unless you have to. Never. All wireless, even a $4,000.00 Lectrosonics or Zaxcom suck in comparison to a $20.00 XLR cable. Anything sit down, pros use a wired lav...
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This. If the talent isn't moving, wired is a no-brainer. Wired sounds better, is way cheaper, and is way more reliable. Why risk dropouts and RFI when you don't have to?
 
It depends on your framing. If it's above the knees obviously you have to hide the pack. I usually clip it behind them and ask them not to lean back. If it's waist up I usually just put the transmitter on the seat next to them...
 
puredrifting said:
Never use wireless unless you have to. Never. All wireless, even a $4,000.00 Lectrosonics or Zaxcom suck in comparison to a $20.00 XLR cable. Anything sit down, pros use a wired lav...
Click to expand...

Absolutely.

I'm actually more likely to lock in a boomed mic for sit-down interviews whenever possible. It sounds better (more natural) anyway, and it's easier to get the talent in and out of the chair.

Of course, it all depends on framing, but rarely have I been in a situation with a seated interview that there was too much headroom for a boomed mic.
 
Alex H. said:
Absolutely.

I'm actually more likely to lock in a boomed mic for sit-down interviews whenever possible. It sounds better (more natural) anyway, and it's easier to get the talent in and out of the chair.

Of course, it all depends on framing, but rarely have I been in a situation with a seated interview that there was too much headroom for a boomed mic.
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You don't double mic Alex? I always double mic when it's possible to do so. I use the boom about 85% of the time when I edit but there have been several occasions over the past few years where the wired lav saved me because of off camera noise pollution through the boom, like someone walking by and talking down a hotel hallway, a siren in Manhattan, etc. during a crucial, emotional, not easily repeatable soundbite.
 
puredrifting said:
You don't double mic Alex?
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Not always. It really depends on the situation, as do most things (these are very complex questions that have no simple answers). If I'm in a venue where we have complete control, I tend to skip the lav. If there's a good reason that we're using a lav, wired or wireless, then I will boom over that if possible.

I should add that I'll always heed client production requirements if I'm out freelancing in sound, and will always adapt to the situation. But then, I was on a one-man-band project the other day that was a string of interviews with tight turnarounds. Just the boom, and it all went well.

We shot for 9 days this summer for a visiting cable network daytime talk show based in LA. A boom kit was in the production requirements. It stayed on my cart and I used it for one wide shot and one demo the entire shoot, and then once had it rigged to the lead car on a roller coaster. Everything else was wireless, but we were never locked down and constantly moving around a theme park.
 
I think saying all wireless sucks compared to an XLR cable is a pretty strong statement. The high end wireless systems do actually sound very good. Sure, they are only really to be used unless you have to, but I wouldn't say they suck compared to a hardline.
 
I'll quote myself from another thread:

My feeling is that with lavs, the big limiting factor is the lav mic itself. Sometimes I'll run a hardwire from lav to recorder. But often I'll use radio mics; for me that means Lectrosonics though I've used Zaxcom too. End result is pretty much sonically the same as a hard wire. And no awkward standing up from chair with wire on them stuff. But you know, for lots of situations, I'll just boom...like with politicians when you have VERY limited time with them (and factor in that I can wire someone quickly), when you have control of the environment and want ultra-fab sound. It all just depends on the situation. But I'm double-mic'ing less these days. Note, though, that if I was OMBing more and had to track way too many things in addition to audio, I'd be likely to double mic for reasons discussed above.
 
davefisk said:
I think saying all wireless sucks compared to an XLR cable is a pretty strong statement. The high end wireless systems do actually sound very good. Sure, they are only really to be used unless you have to, but I wouldn't say they suck compared to a hardline.
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Every wireless system will have some kind of artifacting from the compander. Granted, some systems are nearly transparent, but never completely transparent. Wired will always have a little (or a lot, depending on the system) more clean dynamic range.

And no matter how good your system is, wireless will fail at some point, even momentarily. A cable won't drop out. That's why I will use a wired, boomed mic as a backup to wireless if I can, but I don't use wireless as a backup to a boom if we aren't moving around.
 
Speaking of dynamic range, I find good modern transmitters (again, Lectro in my case) to have helpful limiting that actually helps me manage dynamic range a bit better than a hardwire. Again, I'm talking for basic interviews.

Also, a lot of times, we (or my clients) want the interviewee to be able to jump to a walk-and-talk or something pretty quickly.

Going hardwired is fine; but I'm doing it less and less often. But I'm just not bumping into many problems with my wireless.

(btw- Dave's a smart and experienced guy. Sure, we can (and occasionally should :2vrolijk_08:) disagree with him. But he knows what end of a boompole to hold...)
 
Jim Feeley said:
Also, a lot of times, we (or my clients) want the interviewee to be able to jump to a walk-and-talk or something pretty quickly.

Going hardwired is fine; but I'm doing it less and less often. But I'm just not bumping into many problems with my wireless.
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And that's why there's no one-size-fits-all answer here. I've been on plenty of shoots in the same vein, and it's wireless all the way. Often without a boom to backup.
 
davefisk said:
I think saying all wireless sucks compared to an XLR cable is a pretty strong statement. The high end wireless systems do actually sound very good. Sure, they are only really to be used unless you have to, but I wouldn't say they suck compared to a hardline.
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I'm a writer, I love the hyperbole of strong statements. Let me qualify that, I agree with you that the $4k wireless mics can sound very good. But "suck" includes operational reliability. All wireless have been known to have dropouts, RF hits, compander/expander noise, and other assorted audio weirdness, usually at the worst possible time. The only XLR cable problems I have had in twenty years were when a cable connection literally broke or the cable was accidentally sheared in two. If you had a sit down interview with someone big like the Pope or a President, one shot, no delays, no repeats, get it right or you will be blackballed as a sound mixer for life, would you use a wireless or a cable? That is part of the "suck". Of course, probably 70% of everything we ever hear on TV that is reality/doc based is probably Lectros or Zaxcoms and they can sound very transparent. But I hear hits and tiny dropouts on every tv show I work on. Usually my sound mixer will get a tap the show's production sound mixer so I listen to the wireless all day long when I am operating. I work on several action oriented shows where the talent are in a lot of situations where it is wireless all of the way and I hear stuff. Not good stuff. A lot. So would I stake my rep and career on wireless? Only when absolutely necessary.
 
scorsesefan said:
It depends on your framing. If it's above the knees obviously you have to hide the pack. I usually clip it behind them and ask them not to lean back. If it's waist up I usually just put the transmitter on the seat next to them...
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Interestingly, scorsesefan is the only one who actually answered my question at all. Everyone else got into another issue altogether.

Some ideas of my own:

1. If subjects are wearing a suit, put xmitter in inside coat pocket.

2. Tape xmitter to back of chair and run wire up to back of collar, and around under the collar from there.

3. With a loose top, put xmitter in front and make sure the top is bloused out enough so it does not show.

4. For you wired only guys, run wire up pant leg, under shirt to mic.

So far, everything I have done has been OMB in public places. Having a crew and studio, or at least semi private space, has to make everything easier. Even just filming myself in my apartment the radio mic works better than a boom mic if I am moving around. In public having wires laying about without someone to keep people from tripping over them is pretty much a lawsuit looking to happen.

And already my pet peeve: Why is it that when someone sees you filming, they just have to walk between you and the subject?
 
Depending on the interview and what you are trying to do a decent shotgun on the camera could work. If you are interviewing people outside some street noise would be acceptable or it might sound false.
I normally use the shotgun as backup and have another reporter mic or lavaliere (wired) on the subject. Wireless mice are the last resort.

Sound wise for anyone other than a medium high end pro the sound from a radio mic will be OK. Especially for interviews. However as @Richard Crowley says the weak link is the radio part and you are susceptible to all sorts of problems that simply don't affect an XLR cable. The problem with RF is that you may not actually see the problem until editing. That intermittent spike caused by a car/ aircon/ radar/ microwave oven etc etc


Re "Why is it that when someone sees you filming, they just have to walk between you and the subject?" It's not a "proper" shoot unless some one does that at least 5 times an hour. :-) I am thinking of doing a show real of several dozen people walking though the shot. including one man with family walked 25 yards up a cordoned off area up the lens to the camera and then ask was the camera on and then say I could not film him!! I told him it was too late as it was streaming directly to the internet.... (It wasn't )
 
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