What Lav mic for singing/music?

A

andrew00

Well-known member
Hey,

So I sold my Senn G2's earlier in the year as I needed some cash but miss them. I've been checking out the Zoom H1 as it seems a decent alternative that isn't going to break the bank.

I shoot music acoustically, on the streets etc, a lot where I want to put the singer on a lav mic to get the vocals clear. I have some AudioTechnica ATR35s cheapo lav mics lying about and am thinking I'll get an H1 and put that combo on the singer.

However I know they're not great mics so I'm thinking of picking up alternative, but I'd like one that's good for singing and/or acoustic instruments (i.e. if it's a singer songwriter).

Can anyone recommend a mic for that? Budget wise I don't want to break the bank. I'm looking at the giant squid stereo mics (omni or card?), the rode lav mic etc.

Merci!
A
 
Get the new Rode Lav... it sounds great and can adapt to H1 with minimal fuzz, and a very reasonable price for a pro level mic.

GG
 
Does it absolutely have to be a lav? Coming from a live sound background, I'd almost never go with a lav to mic a singer-songwriter. I've had not-terrible results from Countryman B6 lavs used as hair mics for stage musicals, but generally something with a bigger diaphragm / element is going to sound better.
 
I think the used the Sanken COS11D on that show "Music in High Places" where they had someone like KJill Scott, or the Goo Goo Dolls set up on a mountain top playing acoustic, or Ryan Adams in Jamaca. I too would love to know exactly how they placed the mics, but I think I read they went wired, and ran the cables dwn their pant legs. With the Lavs they could get really wide shots to show the mountains. Anyway, I think I busted out the guitar and sang in one of my Lav shootouts. The Sanken is cool, and cuts through clothes too, but it's 400.00. I recently tested out the Rode Lav (and made a shootout video) and found it to be a nice balanced mic. I will be doing a video about their new PinMic as well as attempting to record a little song with only the lav and PinMic, but I just got the flu so no production this weekend. I'd love it of you came back and posted some results of people singing wit lavs.

COS11D / ME-2 shootout with singing:

Lav Shootout! Featuring the Rode Lav
 
Hey thanks for the replies!

It seems to me that the Rode mic is pretty good value for the money and would be a good place to start.

Though I did read one criticism of it about it's frequency response. I don't know much about the tech side I must admit, but would this be detrimental to the use I want - singing and music?

a
 
The range of the Rode Lav is: 60Hz - 18kHz

The range of the COS11D is: 50Hz - 20kHz

There is not much going on with the human voice below 80Hz.
 
I don't really understand the tech side I must admit - does that mean the frequency of the human voice is fine for both, as in it won't get affected b/c it's within both mic's ranges?
 
For all practical purposes, yes. Granted, the response curve for any microphone will color, to some extend, the sound it is capturing, but given the scenario you described, both the Sanken and Rode will fit the bill.

Personally, for the street musician thing you described, I would probably put a hyper, or even a cardioid on a boom and position it while monitoring to get a good mix of voice, instrument(s), and street sounds. Granted, off-axis sounds will be effected somewhat due to the polar pattern of the mic not being linear across the audio spectrum, but given what you are trying to do, a mic with some directivity will provide more control. Trying to put a lav on a street musician in order to get a proper blend of instrument and voice will require trial and error with mic placement where with a boom, you're not having to interfere with the musician's performance.

andrew00 said:
I don't really understand the tech side I must admit - does that mean the frequency of the human voice is fine for both, as in it won't get affected b/c it's within both mic's ranges?
Click to expand...
 
Yeah I know it's not perfect, in the past I've used a Zoom H4 and fed a Rode NT4 (the dual capsule one) into that. This gives a high quality blend but often the vocals end up too quiet. Here's an example - http://vimeo.com/4441258 - it works pretty well on that video, which was in a controlled environment (a tiny laundry room heh). But as soon as you go outside or there's movement, basically anything random, the vocals can get lost.

What I plan to do therefore is plug the lav into a Zoom H1, put it on the singer and let them go. Then if there's more people in the band, or if I have help etc, I'll plug the NT-4 into my newly bought Zoom H4N, and also record via that, maybe in 2 channel mode, maybe in 4 channel I'm not sure (In 4-ch you can only record 16 bit). Then I can blend them together to get the best sound.
 
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