Dan Wake Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Hello I need info about lavalier mics. My recorder device is the Zoom H6 I need lavaliers as alternative to shotgun mic, I should take the audio in short movies, and interview. My question is how much money do I need? Are the wireless system affordable? How many mics should I get? How little must they be? Thanks for any suggestion! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 The Sennheiser G3 is a good wireless Mic. Used a lot by the Budget crowd. It does eun around $600 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpais Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 @dafreaking Since when is $600 a budget mic? Or is Budget the name of a production company? This is a bit dated, but you can learn a lot about lavs here:http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/lavs_brockett.html Actually, after reading the article I was more confused than before and decided to stick with my shotgun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 @dafreaking Since when is $600 a budget mic? Or is Budget the name of a production company? @jonpais, It is expensive but it's the cheapest good wireless option. A better option is to Probably use a lav with a pocket recorder, but you lose monitoring capabilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpais Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Thanks for Clearing that up :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Somnang Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I've been using Sony UWP series: http://www.adorama.com/SOUWPV1U3032.html with my zoom H6. It's a tad cheaper than the Sennheiser and works great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpais Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I thought I'd found someone to handle the sound for me (a young college student who works at a coffee shop nearby) until he bailed out on me the other week. So boom microphones are great if you have a crew, not so great if you don't. Perhaps it's time I shop around for a lav myself. I'll probably be looking for a uni-directional mic, since I always record in noisy environments. On the bright side, even though he'd never handled a boom before, the results came out quite good, except for the occasional dead cat in the upper right corner of the picture. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzynormal Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 @dafreaking Since when is $600 a budget mic? Since buying a wireless mic that has great fidelity, extended transmission range, useful monitoring, and is rock solid mechanically costs about 4 times that amount. Good audio gear is expensive for a reason. You're paying for the value of reliability. If you want cheap, you can always get a mini-jack lav and run it into a smartphone to record. I've done it. It works, but since you can't monitor the mic, you just gotta hope... If you can do shoots that can afford the luxury to fail on the audio side --and that risk is manageable, maybe that's a better way to go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
com21 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 We got the Sennheiser G3 at school and i used them alot and would agree they are pretty good for some stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpais Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Could you elaborate a little? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzynormal Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I'll expand on Com21's comment. A benefit of the G3, or any wireless system, is that you can have a mobile lav on a subject and monitor it easily at the recording source. The recording source and the subject can move about freely. Also, if something goes askew, like the mic rustling on cloth, you'll know about it. It's just a practical tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpais Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Thanks fuzzy normal, that's a little more coherent than 'pretty good for some stuff'. Although I haven't worked with lavs yet, I guess the answer to the OP's question is 'wireless microphones are affordable if you have $600 to burn'. A wired mic is much more affordable, and there are some that are intended to attach to the outside of a person's clothing, where presumably the rustling of garments wouldn't pose such a problem, and you could still monitor the sound. If used strictly for interviews, I should think a wired mic is the practical solution. If on the other hand, the subject is moving, a wireless microphone or boom mic would be the way to go. I'm primarily interested in a lavalier because it would allow me to work without having to depend on an assistant. Also, it's my understanding that the smaller the mic, the costlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 No. Just because it's smaller it doesn't necessarily become cheaper or more expensive. All lav mics are more or less the same size. The Azden EX-503 is a great budget wired mic. If paired with an Azden system http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3656-REG/Azden_WLX_PRO_WLX_Pro_Wireless_Lavalier.html it provides a decent solution, but not reliable. The Sennheiser is way more reliable (doesn't lose connection easily, etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
com21 Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 what i ment when i said they are good for some stuff is that for interviews or documentary style filming they are good if you avoid the rustling of the clothes so like Fuzzy Nomal said. One bad thing I have noticed is that they sometimes pick up alot of noise that from what i have been told is that their wireless capabilities are also sometimes their downfall. There have been plenty of times where we had to swtich to a shotgun because no matter what we did or where we moved we could not get rid of the noise. Also the battaries as with any sound equipment but especially those die super fast. For me personally i like the shotgun mic because i like someone having control where to pick up sound that with a lav you don't get since its stuck in one place and if a person moves their head back and fourth it won't be the same. But thats just me , I am not an expert, thats just what i have experienced and prefer. we did use them with a h4n and then later with a H6 which is sweet by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzynormal Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 If used strictly for interviews, I should think a wired mic is the practical solution.. It is. I do this often. jonpais 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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