Wondering if I should keep or sell a lavalier?

[MattRobertson]

I've gone through a few lavaliers until I finally found one that I loved, that one was the DPA 4060. Until I started mic'ing closely and recording loud voices, in which it would peak before it peaks on the levels. So i've got a big shoot coming up in which i'm going to mic up two people on screen with DPA 4061's (more headroom than the 4060). But i'm wondering if it would be smart to keep the DPA 4060 around still? I'd like to have an extra 300-350 or so in my bank account, but don't know if I should still keep it around. I'm sure people on this board have different versions of lavaliers with differing amounts of headroom in their audio bag, yes?

 

[Doc Bernard]

Good rule of thumb: never sell gear unless you have to. You never know when you might need it. What if one of the 4061's crap out in the middle of a shoot? Always nice to have a back-up, and not have to play musical lav, or worse cancel/postpone the shoot.

Don't know if you are a dedicated/full-time sound engineer, or if this is an income for you. Or if this is just a serious hobby for you (LOL, DPA's are a very decent and not an inexpensive choice of lav). But directors always like it if something goes wrong with the sound equipt, for the sound guy to say....."No prob, give me 3 minutes and we are good to go."

 

[MattRobertson]

Good rule of thumb: never sell gear unless you have to. You never know when you might need it. What if one of the 4061's crap out in the middle of a shoot? Always nice to have a back-up, and not have to play musical lav, or worse cancel/postpone the shoot.

Don't know if you are a dedicated/full-time sound engineer, or if this is an income for you. Or if this is just a serious hobby for you (LOL, DPA's are a very decent and not an inexpensive choice of lav). But directors always like it if something goes wrong with the sound equipt, for the sound guy to say....."No prob, give me 3 minutes and we are good to go."

yeah thats very true. I probably should keep it around. I do video work professionally, but generally i'm a 1-2 man crew. I usually am generally mic'ing up just 1 person at a time, and the reason I bought the two dpa's was because I wanted them to match for this shoot I have coming up in vegas.

Used to have a sanken cos-11d but honestly didn't see what the hype was about. DPA's sound so much more natural and open. I love em haha.

 

[Rick R]

Lavs are considered 'expendables' by many. Loss, destruction, unreliable or just plain no longer sound good are reasons to have back-ups.