using wireless mics on a short or feature
- Thread starter 908media
- Start date
jaredgiese
Active member
Use LAVs in all situations if possible in addition to a shotgun, it will compliment your overall audio experience. Outdoors it can be a little more difficult though with wind.
Do this only if you have the discreet channels/tracks to record all mics separately.
Otherwise, lavs come in handy for long shots where framing is so wide that a boom cannot get in close enough. Likewise, if shooting in tight spots where the boom cannot get in without hearing or being seen by the camera, lavs can be you friends.
unclebob6958
Well-known member
Lavs present a whole unique spectrum of problems. Not that they're bad, they just require a different way of thinking.
First, you should use quality lavs like the Countryman B3 ($200) or B6 ($325). Cheap lavs sound - well - cheap. Hiding them properly takes some skill; the placement is key. If the talent moves their head a lot the voice can come off mic very easily. They have to be secured so that there is minimal clothing noise.
Hiding the wireless transmitter takes skill as well. If the talents body is seen from all angles it can be a challenge.
Then there are the transmitter/receiver systems. Cheap wireless systems are very prone to RF (Radio Frequency) interference as well as having a relatively high self noise floor.
There's lots more, but you get the idea. Lavs are not easier or better, they are just another tool and another audio skill to be added to your arsenal.
As C2V mentioned, there should be a separate audio track for each lav, and most of the time the should be used in addition to the boom mic.
BTW, 95+% of the time when I have the choice between the lav and the boom mic I choose the boom mic.
First, you should use quality lavs like the Countryman B3 ($200) or B6 ($325). Cheap lavs sound - well - cheap. Hiding them properly takes some skill; the placement is key. If the talent moves their head a lot the voice can come off mic very easily. They have to be secured so that there is minimal clothing noise.
Hiding the wireless transmitter takes skill as well. If the talents body is seen from all angles it can be a challenge.
Then there are the transmitter/receiver systems. Cheap wireless systems are very prone to RF (Radio Frequency) interference as well as having a relatively high self noise floor.
There's lots more, but you get the idea. Lavs are not easier or better, they are just another tool and another audio skill to be added to your arsenal.
As C2V mentioned, there should be a separate audio track for each lav, and most of the time the should be used in addition to the boom mic.
BTW, 95+% of the time when I have the choice between the lav and the boom mic I choose the boom mic.
Lavs don't necessarily have to be used with long shots...
If in a frame a person is standing far away, it can sound "from further". But take care it doesn't sound from to far... So listing is always needed.
Talk with the director, most of the times they use just 4 seconds of that shot in the final editing to introduce a scene, the rest is taken from close ups.
Or you can use the sound from the close ups in the longshots.
Lav's can be although very helpful with low sealing problems, shadow problems, to many people talking at same time.
If in a frame a person is standing far away, it can sound "from further". But take care it doesn't sound from to far... So listing is always needed.
Talk with the director, most of the times they use just 4 seconds of that shot in the final editing to introduce a scene, the rest is taken from close ups.
Or you can use the sound from the close ups in the longshots.
Lav's can be although very helpful with low sealing problems, shadow problems, to many people talking at same time.
Willis Chung
DVXuser Sponsor
is it ever a practice to lay down the lav & boom audio tracks together for the same dialogue?
Depends on what you mean by "lay down the... audio tracks together." If you mean having both a lav on the actor and a boom over the actor at the same time, yes, assuming they are recorded individually. That's pretty common practice. You need to be able to pick and choose between the two in post.
If you mean recorded mixed together, absolutely not. There's no point. What if the lav is on a wireless system and the wireless fails? Then you have no backup.
Rippie
Veteran
Personally I mix lav's and booms together on the same tracks all the time.
(I don't recommend it for the newer sound mixers out there)
When I have to commit to a lav, I put plant mic's up, or a boom to create a bit of "air"
around the lav and make it sound a little less constricted.
I have no issues committing even if I don't have iso's to play with either.
I listen, I adjust, I make a call. If I am doing this its around a 85% lav/15% boom ratio.
Every situation is different of course, but I wanted to just mention it because there is no "hard" rule.
(I don't recommend it for the newer sound mixers out there)
When I have to commit to a lav, I put plant mic's up, or a boom to create a bit of "air"
around the lav and make it sound a little less constricted.
I have no issues committing even if I don't have iso's to play with either.
I listen, I adjust, I make a call. If I am doing this its around a 85% lav/15% boom ratio.
Every situation is different of course, but I wanted to just mention it because there is no "hard" rule.
Steve House
Veteran
As Rippie said, and in certain circumstances only, you can mix them if you REALLY know what you're doing and LISTEN continuously as you record. But you have to be very, very careful and you can only rarely get away with it. Sound travels about 1 foot per millisecond. If the lav is on the talent's chest and the boom mic is 3 feet away, a cycle of sound waveform from the talent's mouth hits the boom 3 milliseconds after it hits the lav. Mixing them together in the recording process to put them on one track is the perfect storm recipe for comb filtering effects and flanging distortion that will make the track unusable. Rippie's 85/15 ratio means he's recording mainly from the lav and there's just a nearly inaudible amount of boom mixed in to add some fullness to the lav's timbre via the short delay reverb. You really got to know what you're doing to pull it off.
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Chamber005
Carbonite Member
And don't forget that you can hide lavs other places besides on the talents' chest. Lots of creative solutions there (and I love the B6s)
unclebob6958
Well-known member
It's not unusual to hide a B6 in the talents hair, in their collar, tie, etc. I know guys who have put it into a pen in the talents pocket or a piece of jewelry.
One thing to keep in mind is that on "Hollywood" productions there is also a wardrobe person who can undo the inside seam of a jacket, shirt, dress, etc.; the sound crew will put the mic through a tiny hole in the garment, then the seamstress will secure the cable and sew the seam back up.
One thing to keep in mind is that on "Hollywood" productions there is also a wardrobe person who can undo the inside seam of a jacket, shirt, dress, etc.; the sound crew will put the mic through a tiny hole in the garment, then the seamstress will secure the cable and sew the seam back up.