which radio microphone lavaliers for movie production?

[Dan Wake]

hello friends can I ask you help for this buy pelase? 

I need a new mic bacause I only own a zoomh6. I wanted to buy the rode ntg3 + boompole but then I though maybe it's better a radio microphone lavaliers for me.
I need it to shoot indy movies and short films. And often to do interviews and promo videos for privates (that include interviews).
do you believe that for those proposed the radio lavaliers are better than a shotgun mic? can you suggest models and prices please?

For example for movies if we use 2 cameras (one far, another one close the subject) it become hard to use the shotgun mic. so lavaliers is ok.
 
I need 2 radio microphones lavaliers and I wish the sound quality similar to the NTG3 do you believe can I reach this goal with 700 euros?

p.s. I'm in Italy if someone have something used but new to sell I'm here.  

thanks a lot.

[pablogrollan]

Hi Dan,

These are the ones I use:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/649986-REG/Sennheiser_EW100ENGG3_G_Evolution_G3_100_Series.html

They are pretty much the standard for interviews and such, basically because they are reliable and nearly indestructible. You'd be using this kit 10 years from now easily... and I'm sure you can find them in Italy, they're very popular everywhere.

A cheaper option would be this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1115091-REG/rode_rodlnk_fm_rodelink_wireless_filmmaker_kit.html

Coming from RODE they must be good, but frankly I haven't used them nor know anyone who has.

[fuzzynormal]

The EW100 kit is good, but hardly indestructible.  I've gone through 2 of the lav mics over the years.  They are sensitive to damage and if you're really beating on them don't expect them to survive.  That said, the transmitter and receiver have been fine.

[Dan Wake]

Hi Dan,

These are the ones I use:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/649986-REG/Sennheiser_EW100ENGG3_G_Evolution_G3_100_Series.html

They are pretty much the standard for interviews and such, basically because they are reliable and nearly indestructible. You'd be using this kit 10 years from now easily... and I'm sure you can find them in Italy, they're very popular everywhere.

A cheaper option would be this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1115091-REG/rode_rodlnk_fm_rodelink_wireless_filmmaker_kit.html

Coming from RODE they must be good, but frankly I haven't used them nor know anyone who has.

​

thanks for your advices Pablo.

In that bundle I'm going to pay for this device, but if I'm not wrong it's for classic microphones (the one that use singers at concerts for example)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/634263-REG/Sennheiser_SKP_100_G3_G_SKP_100_G3_Plug_on.html

is that device for those kind of mic right? I'm sorry I do not know anything about those kind of products. 

 

I wanted to add some info to my request please. I could have the necessity to add up to 4 lavaliers and send them into separate audio channel for audio recording. 

the device EW 100 G3 have a single lavalier so I can record only one people right? 

does exist some kind of bundle with 2 lavalier mics please?

what can I do to record each mic to separate channel for audio recording? I have my zoom h6 it is necessary right?

 

thx for help.

[pablogrollan]

Yes, that device is a transmitter to turn a dynamic hand mic into a wireless one that can be synchronized with the receiver. There is also a bundle without it (slightly cheaper):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/618739-REG/Sennheiser_EW_112P_G3_A_EW112_p_G3_Camera_Mount.html

The EW G3 is a single lav mic plugged into a transmitter on the same frequency as the receiver. If you need 4 lavs, you need four sets (from Sennheiser or any other brand) of lav mic+bodypack transmitter+bodypack receiver. The 4 sets would obviously need to be set to different frequencies and the receivers could be plugged into the 4 XLR inputs of the Zoom H6.

I also have seen this bundle:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/877198-REG/Sennheiser_ew_100_ENG_G3.html

There are many brands and many bodypack wireless bundles, but most of them are crap! I would stay with the few reliable brands: Sennheiser, Shure, RODE, AKG... If you have a tight budget you might consider skipping Sennheiser and trying out Shure or the new RODE filmmaker kit, but nothing cheaper. I have tried out some cheapo brands and the difference is so noticeable that it isn't worth it.

 

[Dan Wake]

​thx again for your help Pablo. 

[Dan Wake]

Sorry I need help again to uderstand. 

 

The Rode is max 44khz 24 bit? Why? Should not be the recorder to set the max amount of  khz possible? I mean the radio mic should just be similiar to a cable, it's a analogic signal. then the recorder shoud set the max amount of khz. for example my Zoom h6 can reach 96kHz. 

For movie production I need 48khz and 24 bit. So I shouldn't buy the RØDELink Filmmaker Kit (it's only 44khz)? if my DAW (pro tools) is set to 48khz 24bit and I import 44khz 24bit footage it will speed up the whole content. this could ve bad or not? any solution? 

thanks 

[pablogrollan]

Hi Dan,

Didn't notice the Rode was 44khz. Still, Why is that a problem?. Placing 44khz audio in a 48khz timeline will not speed your audio. Sampling rate has more to do with the quality of the audio (many conversions/interpretations are done automatically), and supposedly anything above 50khz is "wasted quality" to our limited human hearing. 44.1khz is CD-audio quality, pretty much the same as 48Khz, and IMHO should be enough if properly recorded. Keep in mind that you are capturing voice, a monoarural sound with a very specific and limited frequency bandwith. I suspect many of the other sounds you will be mixing with (foley, effects, music, etc.) may have different sampling frequencies (48khz, for example) but as far as I know you can mix them together -they maintain their pitch and speed- and encode the final mix to whatever you want.

Besides, if your mics are going to the ZoomH6, their sound would be recorded at 48khz. And even if you should deem it necessary, any 44.1Khz sources could be easily converted to 48Khz.

[Dan Wake]

Hi Dan,

Didn't notice the Rode was 44khz. Still, Why is that a problem?. Placing 44khz audio in a 48khz timeline will not speed your audio. Sampling rate has more to do with the quality of the audio (many conversions/interpretations are done automatically), and supposedly anything above 50khz is "wasted quality" to our limited human hearing. 44.1khz is CD-audio quality, pretty much the same as 48Khz, and IMHO should be enough if properly recorded. Keep in mind that you are capturing voice, a monoarural sound with a very specific and limited frequency bandwith. I suspect many of the other sounds you will be mixing with (foley, effects, music, etc.) may have different sampling frequencies (48khz, for example) but as far as I know you can mix them together -they maintain their pitch and speed- and encode the final mix to whatever you want.

Besides, if your mics are going to the ZoomH6, their sound would be recorded at 48khz. And even if you should deem it necessary, any 44.1Khz sources could be easily converted to 48Khz.

​Thanks for help again Pablo!  I'm speaking with Rode (of my country) I asked them: The product page refer  lossless transmission  44.1kHz 24bit. does it refer to the sample-rate conversion or it refer to the transmission capacity?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1115091-REG/rode_rodlnk_fm_rodelink_wireless_filmmaker_kit.html

 

sorry I used google translate plus my sense of bad english to translate this. they reply:

Loseless (covers the transmission) and is simply to indicate that the sending of data occurs in standard "withoud loss of data". In fact there are protocols that in practice, in transmission send a compressed version (for instance like MP3, AAC or ATRAC format, called LOSSY, as that what they take away is lost forever ...). In practice what is sent is what comes. is not subtracted anything from the passband, is not subtracted anything from the passband.

 

what do you think about it? thx!

[pablogrollan]

I believe they must be talking about sampling rate, but since you are going to record it on the Zoom H6 at 48kHz, the resulting .wav file is going to be 48kHz -honestly, I doubt anyone can really tell the difference between 44.1khz and 48khz in terms of audio quality-.

The only concern you may have would be comaptibility. Since your files are going to be sampled at 48khz, you should have no problem. Still, I usually edit in Premiere and it automatically conforms all video and audio files to the settings of the sequence/timeline, and I have used both 44.1 and 48khz sources in the same timeline without any drifting, distortion or noise.

Having said that, if you are going to do a proper sound mix, the sound technician will conform the files to whatever sampling rate he considers before mixing. Some mix at 96khz even though the delivered file will be sampled down to 48khz. Again, keep in mind not all sounds are as complex: if you have background music from a band in a scene taking place in a club, that music will probably include several instruments, it will be muted down and with several effects (reverb, etc). In that case, the technician may decide to have extra overhead to avoid any degradation. But human speech will always be recorded as clean as possible, and it's basically a mono stream at no more than 4-5khz.

[Dan Wake]

I believe they must be talking about sampling rate, but since you are going to record it on the Zoom H6 at 48kHz, the resulting .wav file is going to be 48kHz -honestly, I doubt anyone can really tell the difference between 44.1khz and 48khz in terms of audio quality-.

The only concern you may have would be comaptibility. Since your files are going to be sampled at 48khz, you should have no problem. Still, I usually edit in Premiere and it automatically conforms all video and audio files to the settings of the sequence/timeline, and I have used both 44.1 and 48khz sources in the same timeline without any drifting, distortion or noise.

Having said that, if you are going to do a proper sound mix, the sound technician will conform the files to whatever sampling rate he considers before mixing. Some mix at 96khz even though the delivered file will be sampled down to 48khz. Again, keep in mind not all sounds are as complex: if you have background music from a band in a scene taking place in a club, that music will probably include several instruments, it will be muted down and with several effects (reverb, etc). In that case, the technician may decide to have extra overhead to avoid any degradation. But human speech will always be recorded as clean as possible, and it's basically a mono stream at no more than 4-5khz.

​thanks so much Pablo! so it seems case solved! right?