wireless lav newbie

C

Cheesesailor77

Veteran
I'm in need of a wireless lav system for my dvx. I have no idea what components I need or whats good or not.

I'd like to spend under $1000 for the whole setup, is that feasible?

THANKS!
 
microphone, transmitter, receiver are your components. g2 100 series are $500 for the whole package but the mic is lacking. Add a sanken cos-11 for $300ish and you're set. I think the next step up would be a lectrosonics and thats more in the $2000 arena. Look up the g2's and you'll find some pretty favorable reviews especially considering the price.
 
look at used audio ltd 2000 or lectro 201 + lm transmitter
for extar 100-300 you have way better sytem then g-2 crap
 
thanks for the info. I'm googling these things and I'm not sure if im looking at the right stuff. If you get a chance I'd really appreciate it if you could post some links.

and any more suggestions are appreciated too :)
 
http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=547&cat=77&page=1

http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=376&cat=43&page=1
call them and ask for an adapter that goes from lectro ta5 to sennhieser g2 3.5mm locking plug. You will be able to use this mic wired or wireless (with g2 or lectro).

I chose the sennheiser system that is $100 more to get the stick mic wireless adapter. You can then use a EV RE50 for news gatering stuff too.

http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=364&cat=41&page=1

I have all of this stuff and it is great!
 
olegs suggestion with lectrosonics lm transmitter and a 201 receiver is a great one. you'll want a sanken cos-11, country emw or b-6, or maybe even a tram tr-50 or sonotrim mic. Depends on your application. The COS-11 is probably nicest.

Remember, there is sadly one rule with wireless - the first thing a sound guy reaches for after a wireless.. is another wireless. so keep this in mind when thinking about what you need wireless for. is one system enough?
 
timapter said:
olegs suggestion with lectrosonics lm transmitter and a 201 receiver is a great one. you'll want a sanken cos-11, country emw or b-6, or maybe even a tram tr-50 or sonotrim mic. Depends on your application. The COS-11 is probably nicest.

Remember, there is sadly one rule with wireless - the first thing a sound guy reaches for after a wireless.. is another wireless. so keep this in mind when thinking about what you need wireless for. is one system enough?
Click to expand...

I agree with Oleg's definition of quality... and I agree with everything Tim just said... which begs the question; has anyone ever seen a Lectro 201 w/ LM for less then $1K (to meet the OP's stated budget).

The Lectro's I've been seeing are at least $1100, and up to about $1300. If you decide to spring for a Lectro system then I'd highly advise you to get the UM200 bodypack over the LM transmitter. The LM is a digital hybrid, which is fine if you end up with a Lectro 4XX system... but until then you have a transmitter that's barely any different then a G2 (performance wise) when you could have had the UM200 with some serious power. Reliability in wireless comes from a combination of factors... but a biggie is the strength of the signal from the transmitter. G2 = 30mw... LM = 50 mw... UM200 = 100mw. I've heard people argue that the LM's 50mw output is the MINIMUM and that you might get a transmitter with as much as 70mw... but all I know is what I experienced with my own...

I had a Lectro 100 w/ LM transmitter and it was barely better then the G2... in max range, and drop-outs. The 2XX series is way better... so I guess the receiver makes up the difference? Because the LM transmitter doesn't perform that much better then the G2 transmitter. I also didn't hear much difference in the sound quality... again, this is with the Lectro 100... not 2XX... but the LM is the same box.

But either way... I'd rather have 2 G2s then one used Lectro for $1K... and of course I'd rather have ALL Lectro, but it depends on your budget. How long before you can get another Lectro?

It depends on the work you do... but one single wireless 'aint worth much. 2 is pretty much the minimum for almost anything other then a single person interview or single person walk 'n talk. I'd say the average soundguy will have 4 wireless ready in any normal situation. Sometimes you'll want all 4 wireless on talent... sometimes it's 2 on talent and 2 transmitting to the cam from your mixer.

So getting back to the original request... I'm not blown away by any of the stock lavs. If you find a used Lectro for anywhere near $1K including a decent lav... then POUNCE on it... because deals like that MAY come by from time to time, but I've never seen one. To get a used Lectro with a nice lav is probably going to be around $1400+... If all you need is one single wireless and you can scrape up the extra cash then that would be a safe place to put your money.
 
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too true Matt. I just spent the last month solid working with G2 systems (6 of them) and Lectro LM/100 combo's (2 of em) on a reality series.

really tough horrible disgusting wet salty and high impact environments (like abseiling 200m into a gorge, and then hiking cross country for 20km in and out of rivers and stuff on boats etc to the sea).

The lectro units (and this is only my opinion) kicked the crap out of the G2's. Sure, the Lectro 100 series isnt even on the same playing field as the 2xx and up units, and its closer to the G2 even though its WAY more expensive, but on this last show I was really REALLY happy that I had that difference in quality available at times.

One thing I'll argue you on Matt is the range of the two systems (again, this might be a case of my specific shoot, and maybe also my country which is quite RF clean) but I found the Lectro's had a very superior range to the G2's.

anyway, my guess here is that the OP would probably be best off with 2x G2 systems. The Lectro systems (any of them) would be better but hey, a budget is a budget.

My 2c (South African cents :))
 
Hey I'm glad to hear that experience with the Lectro 100... I sold the set I had after two weeks of having a G2 and the Lectro at the same time. I bought the Lectro... and compared it to the 2 CR187 sets I already had... the Lectro 100 beat the CR187s easily... so then a buddy of mine gave me his G2 set to use for a couple weeks... the gist is that in every test I tried... they were really close in performance... so I sold the Lectro 100...

But generally I love Lectro... so maybe I had a bad set... I don't know. I ended up selling it for $699. My pro kit is higher-end Lectro... and I'm going to eventually convert my other bag to all Lectro also... but I try not to buy gear that won't get paid for in a reasonable time... and $6K+ of wireless takes a while to cover.
 
Mattin, what's your config for those 2 applications you mentioned?

1) 4 on talent
2) 2 talent 2 from mixer to camera.

Sorry I'm a newb to wireless and external mics, with just 1 G2100 system.


So in case 1 do all four tx send to rx attached to one mixer which you later dub in? Or do you cable from the mixer to record live audio into one (or 2) of the camera inputs.

And in case 2 I'm completely baffled. (I know not hard to do)
a) If you have 2 on talent, why woudnt those go right to the camera, more (wired) mics you want into the mix?

b) How do the tx's on the mixer tx to the camera.. just a mic out signal to 1/8" inputs on the tx? Oh and how do you mount 2 rx at once on your camera.

c) what mixer do you use.
 
1) 4 transmitters on talent 4 receivers in the bag... running into mixpre + 302... breakaway cable out to cam.

2) 2 transmitters on talent 2 receivers in the bag... 2 transmitters in the bag from mixer out... 2 receivers on cam.

a) because if you want to have soundguy monitoring and control over the levels you still route through the mixer.

b) whatever output the mixer has available to convert to the proper input for the given wireless... depends on the mixer. For mixpre it's 1/8 to 1/8 anyway. 2 receivers can mount to the cam many ways... the pro way uses a box that mounts to Anton Bauer brick... for low budget I would suggest the G2 mount kit with extendo-shoe mount. The G2 is so light that it's no big deal to put 2 on the shoe... otherwise pouches on tripod or grip of DVX.

c) mixpre and 302... chained together for 502 or running 2 cams.
 
Oh they make a piggy-back double shoe mount thingy?

short version > 2 lavs are way better than one

long version>My first project w/ the new wireless was a mess because I had two subjects who were wandering around as they spoke in front of an audience. Talent1 was on the wireless, so sounded great. Talent2 was recorded with the on camera mic so I got all the ambient (which can be great if the ambient isn't 5 people coughing their lungs out -and horses raising hell. Note: whinneys are loud, like +9db spikes.) So I had to playback in STP while recording the slider positions of talent2's track. What a nightmare as it was a 3.5 hour session. Well, wouldn't have been that bad, but I had to learn how to do all this stuff. Not to mention my ambient track was recorded too low in the first place so I had to push the levels in post which led to sharp spikes. 2 lavs would have made that a piece of cake- but then I'd have missed the audience questions. I think this means I need a second wireless and a mixer and a mixer bag and a breakaway cable and a shotgun mic and a mic stand.... Ugh. I'm sticking to shooting horses instead.
 
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Or else use 2 pouches... can be small digi-cam pouches.

Mics have to be close... that is top priority... any mic that isn't close will not get good dialog... so if you have two people who aren't close and only one is wearing a lav... the other person's dialog will suck.

At almost no time in any production is there call for a person to be more then 3 feet away from a mic... even if they are supposed to sound somewhat distant for camera perspective it will be no more then 8' to 10' or so... otherwise it will sound like they're 50 feet away.

However many people you have that appear to be the same distance from the cam will have to have mics at equally close distances... that can be accomplished through a GREAT boom op (for a reasonable spread of people)... or with multiple wireless sets.
 
hey matt... yeah, i do totally feel your reasoning with the lectro/g2 cost/performance thing.. cheers mate..
 
hey guys, Thanks for all the input.

I found this:

Lectrosonics 210D System. Includes UCR210D receiver, UM200C belt-pack transmitter, power supply, M-150 Omni lav, windscreen, tie clip, antenna and vinyl case. Frequency: Block 22. (563.200-588.700 MHz). Condition: Excellent. $1,450 USD

does that sound like a good deal? As you might have noticed from my other post (i decided it was redundant and returned to this one), my budget's gone up a bit.
 
While the lectro stock mics are better than the G2 stock mics, you're still going to want to add a better lavaliere (have already been listed above). See if you can get them to knock $100 or so off the price to dump the mic and get an Countryman EMW (a couple were recently listed in Trew's used section for $125 each).

Phil
 
Oleg 2 said:
look at used audio ltd 2000 or lectro 201 + lm transmitter
for extar 100-300 you have way better sytem then g-2 crap
Click to expand...

It's funny you're the only one that refers to the g-2 as crap. Did you ever think that not everybody here could afford a Lectro system ?
 
While shooting a 30 min informercial lone wolf 3 weeks ago, I really hesitated to use the G2 with Cos 11. 99% I prefer to use my AT4053a, but it was a real hassle with the mic stand ...etc.

While unloading the P2 card into the computer, I took a quick listen on FCP. The G2 with Cos 11 in a clean frequency environment sounds 96% as good as the boomed AT4053a.
 
Rob said:
It's funny you're the only one that refers to the g-2 as crap. Did you ever think that not everybody here could afford a Lectro system ?
Click to expand...

this forum not about what you can afford , its about what make your life easier and your sound better .
by the way i have g-2 , they make excellent job for these who can only afford them ( mostly poor students or these who need ifb feeds for cheap), these who can afford better ones never ask for them from some idiotic reasons as range , sound quality and reliability :-)
but as it your money , you can buy/rent whatever you like
 
Cheesesailor77 said:
hey guys, Thanks for all the input.

I found this:

Lectrosonics 210D System. Includes UCR210D receiver, UM200C belt-pack transmitter, power supply, M-150 Omni lav, windscreen, tie clip, antenna and vinyl case. Frequency: Block 22. (563.200-588.700 MHz). Condition: Excellent. $1,450 USD

does that sound like a good deal? As you might have noticed from my other post (i decided it was redundant and returned to this one), my budget's gone up a bit.
Click to expand...
the earlier models of 210 where suffering from switching antenna noise , check the unit in very quiet place , overall they are very good i had a few like that till switched for 411
 
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