Suggest me a good cordless microphone

K

ksduded

Active member
I will soon be investing in some audio equipment and wanted to know the details on some cordless (wireless) mics.

I plan to shoot a tv series which will have a lot of indoor and outdoor scenes. Now normally i shoot handheld and I would like to have the least amount of crew, when I am shooting outdoors. Thus the cordless microphones will be very useful. Just plug it in the actors and start shooting....

so please suggest me some good mics, thanks
 
First, what is your intended budget?

Do you already have a wireless system, but need a better lavaliear mic?
Or do you need an entire wireless system kit?
 
Type "wireless" in search feature. You can include things like "cheap" if that is your priority.

Or look 5 threads from this one right now.

Cheers
 
Alan H. Chang said:
First, what is your intended budget?

Do you already have a wireless system, but need a better lavaliear mic?
Or do you need an entire wireless system kit?
Click to expand...

well i don't have any system, so i have to get everything. But as I mentioned I don't want multiple people to be on the set, specially during outdoor shootings... i just want to have as less people as possible. I can do audio leveling on the post...

my budget is around $1,500 /-
 
ok, so you dont want a lot of people on set, you refer to a wireless lavalier mic as a "cordless" mic, you want to do "audio leveling" yourself in post and not worry about set, and your other current thread is entitled "how to do audio leveling".

i cant help but think you're missing the fundamental basics that would allow you to make an informed decision on this.

the wireless lavalier is without a doubt the LAST resort professional sound people turn to. it is EXTREMELY high maintainence for a one person crew for several reasons:

1) you need more than one 99% of the time.
2) they require special rigging if you dont want them outside the clothes
3) they require constant touch ups and battery monitoring/changes
4) in the consumer/prosumer field, they have far worse quality than comparable wired systems. actually, in ANY field.

"Audio levelling" is actually called mixing. It is a technical and artistic job that cannot be picked up overnight. But more importantly, it is not a miracle cure. You may have heard the term "garbage in, garbage out". You set the benchmark for sound quality ON SET, and this is why professional sound people exist. to simply say "i'll do everything myself, I dont need help" when you have no experience and done little research is a naive way to jump into a purchasing decision. If your audio is distorted or too low from set, there is NOTHING you can do to make it work in post. Its that simple.

My suggestion?

1) Hire a sound man a couple times and see what he uses. Also, see if you can do the same level of job yourself.
2) RENT before you buy to see what you're getting into and whether your idea actually works in the real world.

If you do these two things, and still think you have a viable idea going for yourself, then great - buy some gear. I just dont think right now you should be dropping 1500 on wireless mics you know nothing about or how to use.

Tim
 
timapter said:
ok, so you dont want a lot of people on set, you refer to a wireless lavalier mic as a "cordless" mic, you want to do "audio leveling" yourself in post and not worry about set, and your other current thread is entitled "how to do audio leveling".

i cant help but think you're missing the fundamental basics that would allow you to make an informed decision on this.

the wireless lavalier is without a doubt the LAST resort professional sound people turn to. it is EXTREMELY high maintainence for a one person crew for several reasons:

1) you need more than one 99% of the time.
2) they require special rigging if you dont want them outside the clothes
3) they require constant touch ups and battery monitoring/changes
4) in the consumer/prosumer field, they have far worse quality than comparable wired systems. actually, in ANY field.

"Audio levelling" is actually called mixing. It is a technical and artistic job that cannot be picked up overnight. But more importantly, it is not a miracle cure. You may have heard the term "garbage in, garbage out". You set the benchmark for sound quality ON SET, and this is why professional sound people exist. to simply say "i'll do everything myself, I dont need help" when you have no experience and done little research is a naive way to jump into a purchasing decision. If your audio is distorted or too low from set, there is NOTHING you can do to make it work in post. Its that simple.

My suggestion?

1) Hire a sound man a couple times and see what he uses. Also, see if you can do the same level of job yourself.
2) RENT before you buy to see what you're getting into and whether your idea actually works in the real world.

If you do these two things, and still think you have a viable idea going for yourself, then great - buy some gear. I just dont think right now you should be dropping 1500 on wireless mics you know nothing about or how to use.

Tim
Click to expand...

i have had experience with making films as u can view from this thread...
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?p=681265#post681265

i have used cordless mics before, and it was hit and miss really. in some situation they worked perfectly, while in other, there were problems....

what i gathered was that probably the audio guy didn't had much experience in the field and he wasn't relying on his skills, rather than just dumb luck....

but ya from my skill set, knowing the technical aspects of audio is probably the weakest... so i just want to sharpen those.... I would love to go with a boom mike, but outdoor shooting won't be very feasible for me with it... thus i was looking at some good wireless options
 
wasnt trying to undermine your filmmaking skills, i was referring only to audio.

WHY cant you use a boom? Sound people all over the world use them every day on outdoor shoots. Is it something specific to your show?

Maybe you need to give some more information. Have you read the stickies and done a search yet? Thats the fastest way to hone your audio skills - its a much better route than asking questions that dont get you very far in terms of actual knowledge.
 
1 cordless wouldn't be enouth other then make hamlet outside

monologue - one person talking to him self
dialogue - 2 persons talking to them self
 
Okay, my normal answer would be very simple - check the archives, we've covered this topic hundreds of times.

But, I'm feeling charitable today - so here's your answer:

Buy at least two Sennheiser G2's. They are the minimum acceptable wireless microphones out there today. They are sturdy and robust, and the sound is okay. But, you will have to replace the mics that come with them. My preference is the Countryman B6, others like the COS-11. Either way, you will need to learn how to place and stick them to your actors - not an easy task.

BTW, your abililty to shoot a good movie has little to do with the ability to capture good to great sound. I can capture sound well, but if you asked to to be a DP, I would do a mediocre job at best. This is a very common misconception -

"Sound is easy. If I can pretty pictures, then how hard can it be to capture sound - besides, I can always fix it in post"

Sound is not easy. In many ways I would argue that it is far more complex than making pretty pictures. Especially when you have a director that thinks it's easy. ;-)

Phil
 
ptalsky said:
Okay, my normal answer would be very simple - check the archives, we've covered this topic hundreds of times.

But, I'm feeling charitable today - so here's your answer:

Buy at least two Sennheiser G2's. They are the minimum acceptable wireless microphones out there today. They are sturdy and robust, and the sound is okay. But, you will have to replace the mics that come with them. My preference is the Countryman B6, others like the COS-11. Either way, you will need to learn how to place and stick them to your actors - not an easy task.

BTW, your abililty to shoot a good movie has little to do with the ability to capture good to great sound. I can capture sound well, but if you asked to to be a DP, I would do a mediocre job at best. This is a very common misconception -

"Sound is easy. If I can pretty pictures, then how hard can it be to capture sound - besides, I can always fix it in post"

Sound is not easy. In many ways I would argue that it is far more complex than making pretty pictures. Especially when you have a director that thinks it's easy. ;-)

Phil
Click to expand...
you are quite right... sound has been the core issue with me. I can get most of the things right in my allotted budget, but i always falter behind in sound. And I feel sound is extremely important.

The thing is that I want the shootings to be very low key. That is why I want to go with wireless mics. If I have a couple of people running around with boom mics, it will get a lot of attention. Indoor i will probably be using boom mic, but i need wireless for outdoors....
 
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