What would cause a lapel mic to sound like this? Can you help please?

Well actually, I did find a plugin that made it sound better (excluding the drop outs of course). But it's only a demo. That is why I wanted to know if there is any other plugin. =T
 
Just because "the cable fits" doesn't necessarily mean that the mic is wired properly to work with your system. If the system at church was a Samson, then it probably shouldn't be a problem... but if it's from any other manufacturer, this could be causing part of your problem.

With regards to 700 MHz compliance, which only applies if you're in the United States... from the Micro 32 manual, it looks like Samson made this in three bands: "low" (778 - 782 MHz), "medium" (801 - 805 MHz), and "high" (856 - 859 MHz). Low and medium both fall within the now-forbidden 700 MHz band, so they would be illegal to use in the US. High is outside the band, but I don't know that I've ever seen a wireless system sold in the US in that frequency range.

Finally, IF the Samson is legal where you are, and IF circumstances prohibit you from upgrading to something better (the Sennheiser G2/G3 is generally considered to be the least expensive "professional" wireless kit out there), I would suggest you download the manual I linked above and go through the setup instructions starting on page 14. This should at least allow you to get the best possible results from this hardware.
 
LuckyProducer said:
I,,. However, I don't know what to use to turn down the volume because I don't have those small screwdrivers to turn down the small little knob inside the receivers and such. ...
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A set of those screwdrivers costs less than 10 bucks at Radio Shack or your local hardware store
 
Any bit of Samson wireless gear I've ever run across doing live work frequently gets hits / drops that sound just like your recording.

If you've got access to the gear at this church, use a decent wired mic, even something as simple as an old SM58 will do the job infinitely better than cheap wireless gear.
 
Very good advice from the very patient and knowledgeable group. I have a few questions for you Luckyproducer. Why do you struggle so much with sound and do you do this for a living or as a hobby? If you're striving to do this as a living delivering mediocre or bad audio will do nothing for you to help build a viable business. So far you've getting by but I suspect your audio is generally mediocre and at times down right bad. Many one man operations focus more on picture than they do on sound and that's why pros like myself might get frustrated with answering questions that over time repeat themselves over and over. There is so much good info on this board and many others (read the stickies) plus excellent books on the subject. Learn as much as you can and you will find that you can ask better questions and in turn the answers will be more useful for you. Also, when you get in a jam you might just be able to troubleshoot it yourself. You need to know what you don't know and go on from there. Audio is complex but it isn't rocket science. It does require that you take care with it and if you don't/can't then you might lose business as a result.
Happy New Year!
Bernie
 
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Thank you guys for all of your help.

Berniebeaudry, I do it as a hobby and also film wedding videos. The reason why I asked about this is because if I can avoid getting a new lapel system, why not? Why would I buy a new one when I can fix this one or figure out the problem? You're saying you suspect my audio is generally mediocre...um no. You can scratch that. My lapel sucks. For the equipment I have, I get really good sound generally. I record music have been doing it for a while. I know how audio works but I am not familiar with lapel systems. I can show you music I recorded and you can tell me if it is mediocre or not. I don't wanna come hard on you but you came hard on me so I am just defending myself. Hope you had a happy new year.

Tim
 
LuckyProducer said:
.... You can scratch that. My lapel sucks. For the equipment I have, I get really good sound generally. ...
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Lookout for the discalimers such as for "for the equipment you have" as they can lead you down a slippery slope. The audience, your clients, doesn't know or care about the equipment limitations. They watch network broadcast for hours out of every day and expect ALL video to sound like what they're used to hearing there. If your equipment can't deliver it, they don't care. All they know is they're not hearing quality that meets their subconscious standards of what it ought to sound like and sooner or later they'll look elsewhere. When you're just doing it for a hobby it doesn't matter except in your own pleasure but as soon as you charge money for it, as you do when you shoot weddings, you've moved into the big leagues' ball park and have to play by their rules and meet their standards.
 
LuckyProducer said:
Thank you guys for all of your help.

Berniebeaudry, I do it as a hobby and also film wedding videos. The reason why I asked about this is because if I can avoid getting a new lapel system, why not? Why would I buy a new one when I can fix this one or figure out the problem? You're saying you suspect my audio is generally mediocre...um no. You can scratch that. My lapel sucks. For the equipment I have, I get really good sound generally. I record music have been doing it for a while. I know how audio works but I am not familiar with lapel systems. I can show you music I recorded and you can tell me if it is mediocre or not. I don't wanna come hard on you but you came hard on me so I am just defending myself. Hope you had a happy new year.

Tim
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Fair enough Tim, I did make some presumptions based on this post and others of yours from the past. I didn't post this to tear you down, quite the contrary. You say you know how audio works but sorry your posts don't reflect that IMO and I was trying to encourage you to expand your knowledge base for you and your clients good. The written word can be easily misinterpreted so I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Over the years I've worked with some people that get good results but don't necessarily have a good grasp of the technology. The downside always was that if anything went wrong they had a difficult time troubleshooting their way out of the problem. That was the point I was trying to make.
I wish you all the best in the New Year!
Best,
Bernie
 
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