wireless boooooom

C

craigery

Member
ok, i need a boom mic and id prefer wireless, what are my best options for a decent price. i dont know where to start, i plan on doing an equal amount of in and outdoor audio.

please help
 
Eh, why screw with the pristine audio from your boom by running it through a radio?

But if you must, your cheapest bet would be getting a low-cost battery powered (non-phantom) shotgun, and running that into a Sennheiser G2 Cube transmitter.

Next up in price would be traditional boom like a Sennheiser 416 plugged into a phantom power supply on the boom, and then send that signal into a Sennheiser G2 cube transmitter.

Next up in price would be same as above but send your signal through a higher quality cube transmitter such as a Lectrosonics or Zaxcom transmitter.

I've experimented the ultra cheap route with my AT897 shotgun powered by a AA battery then I simply stuck my G2 transmitter on the bottom of the boom pole. Worked good, but still--- when I use a boom, I want good clean sound, I'm not going to hook up a radio if I can avoid it.

By the way, I believe Senheiser DOES make a G2 with phantom power capability, but it's more pricey.
 
craigery said:
what do most people do, have an xlr cable hooked up to the camera or have a seperate recorder..?
Click to expand...


MOST PEOPLE have a XLR cable going from the boom to an external mixer (Sound Devices 302, Shure FP33, PSC Alphamix), and then the send another XLR from the mixer to the camera. This se-up will give you the best audio quality and control.

If you can't afford a mixer you could just go XLR directly into camera or you could use something like a sennheiser G2 wirelss set like I mentioned above.

You can use an external recorder as well, but unless you want to invest the time of re-linking your audio with your video in post, I would send audio to the camera.
 
craigery said:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...s&Q=&sku=422105&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

would this be a good option for me? minus the wireless
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Yeah, the 416 is awesome, the boom pole is so-so (I prefer VDB poles), the shockmount lookslike a good starter, and the Rycote wind protection is decent for starting out. But before you send that signal to the wireless unit, it will have to go through a phantom power module like this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...989&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation
 
wireless is sounding like its to expensive anyway. do i need that power mudule if i hook up to the camera...or does hte mic consume the cameras power?

sorry i have to much to learn about sound
 
craigery said:
wireless is sounding like its to expensive anyway. do i need that power mudule if i hook up to the camera...or does hte mic consume the cameras power?

sorry i have to much to learn about sound
Click to expand...

If you have a DVX100 or HVX200 they will supply 48v phantom power to either of your XLR inputs-- the switch for this are on the left side of the camera, underneath where the LCD screen folds in.

If wireless is sounding too expensive for you right now, don't worry, hard-wired connections sound better, and you won't have to worry about RF signal hits. Make sure you get good XLR cables by Canare or another good broadcast brand-- don't mess around with cheap XLR cables designed for instruments. IE, don't buy them at Guitar Center or Sam Ash.

-Vic Rattlehead
 
craigery said:
what do most people do, have an xlr cable hooked up to the camera or have a seperate recorder..?
Click to expand...

Converters on the cameras suck. Always did always will.

Run your boom into a protable recorder like the Tascam H2P2, Or SoundDevices 702 recorders or a Deva deck. Rent them. They all supply the 48V phantom if needed right there.

Run a cabled mic/boom to channel one, run a radio'd lav mic to channel two - and this is key: AT THE SAME TIME!!!

Rent whatever you have to.

Great sound is half the picture!
- -- ~~<((( d(-_-)b )))>~~ -- -
 
What most people do depends on what they're shooting. For the shows where I've run sound we have a really tight schedule and we do boom wirelessly at times, but how we do it is through a mixer with Lectro transmitters in the mixer bag. So the mixer is supplying phantom power, controlling levels, and letting me monitor sound... meanwhile the transmitters are sending the results to the cam. Since there's no way to monitor a return feed my cam op will wear ear buds and ALSO monitor the sound the entire time. Then on top of that we usually have a backup source (or two) such as more wireless sets and lavs.

In my personal kit (for lower paying gigs) I will also run a boom wirelessly SOMETIMES... in the very same way. If you get a Mixpre or some other mixer that supplies phantom power then you can monitor sound, ride levels, and send the output to any ordinary wireless, such as a G2... and much of the time this will be okay. I should also add that I have a digital recorder in my personal bag... so I can still run the sound like this, wirelessly, and simultaneously I can record it in the best quality imaginable... then if for some reason the wireless audio isn't good enough OR if the producer wants to foot the cost of extra edit time... the digital sound can be dropped in the timeline. It's lots of extra work, but then you get perfection.

Advice like this depends on you having common sense about the job... "reality based" programming is less dependent on minutely detailed audio then say, your indi production would be. We would never run the sound 100% wireless for a movie... or a high-polish short.
 
hey Matt,

Just saw this thread...

Can't the new Zaxcom's handle a return for monitoring from the camera? I thought (besides having a built-in recorder) that was one of the nice benefits of the new system.

(And, yes, I understand, this is way out of most of our budgets at this point, but I can always dream, right?)

Phil
 
SiliconAudioLabs said:
Converters on the cameras suck. Always did always will.

Run your boom into a protable recorder like the Tascam H2P2, Or SoundDevices 702 recorders or a Deva deck. Rent them. They all supply the 48V phantom if needed right there.

Run a cabled mic/boom to channel one, run a radio'd lav mic to channel two - and this is key: AT THE SAME TIME!!!

Rent whatever you have to.

Great sound is half the picture!
- -- ~~<((( d(-_-)b )))>~~ -- -
Click to expand...
if you come with accurqate signal , you can live with mic in audio quality on cameras, at least mn if you are worling for tv shows ( never heard complains about sending wireless feed with good transmitters from people who work in the tv buisness .
but fefenetely its better to amplifi the signal first and level it befor transmittion .
desent mixer in front will do a better job then sending directly and try to do somethong on the camera ..
usially on the new cameras the camera converter doe not sucks , the lousy operators and these who dont know how to deal with each device contineu to suck fo r the end of the times:-)

on psc site you can find 1 channel preamp wich for 350 can give you quit good unswers befor you send your feed from the boom
 
ptalsky said:
hey Matt,

Just saw this thread...

Can't the new Zaxcom's handle a return for monitoring from the camera? I thought (besides having a built-in recorder) that was one of the nice benefits of the new system.

(And, yes, I understand, this is way out of most of our budgets at this point, but I can always dream, right?)

Phil
Click to expand...
the new zaxcom cost more then hvx 200 ( the phantom version 250 mw ) with ifb return feed .
the samll tx you will defenetly will need some amp /leveler to work normally .
 
Thanks for the feedback Oleg.

I knew about the price - I am a dreamer remember? Besides, who would spend all that money on a silly camera, when they could have a Zaxcom wireless kit instead????? ;-)

Phil
 
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