Rugged lavalier ?

Guy Cochran · May 4th, 2010, 01:47 AM

My brother is a professional fighter. I've been just outside the cage a few times as well as rolled and trained with him. There is no place on a full contact fighter's entire body that I would place a wireless transmitter and string a lav. There's just too much of a chance that it will hinder the fighter (unless I'm missing something in terms of the style you're dealing with). If absolutely had to, it'd be a Pin Mic, if you can still find one, on a short cable, with the transmitter in some kind of waist or leg pouch. Maybe you can talk them into buying a extra large jockstrap :)

I'd consider parabolic, football stadium style, choir mics hanging, or hypers on a boom - the Audio Technica 4053b does amazing indoors around reflective surfaces.

Gints Klimanis · May 4th, 2010, 07:29 PM

Thanks, Guy. Your jockstrap idea is not as far-fetched as you joke. The bladder is not a common successful target, but driving the hard edge of a transmitter may not be a good idea. So, padding the trI do a lot of mixed martial arts fighting myself, although not professionally. There are parts of the body that are not common targets. I liked the results of placing the light transmitter in the pants front pocket and clipping the mic on the edge of the shorts or even on the collar of a shirted fighter. The mic popped after one round, but I liked the audio up until then. I'm just fishing for better ideas. Please toss the idea about when you're having a few brews with your fighting brother while watching UFC.

Paul R Johnson · May 5th, 2010, 02:17 AM

I work often with dancers and tight costumes, and one useful place is on the inner thigh - girls usually have skinnier legs than muscled blokes, of course - but the shorts would cover it and it's fairly protected. The other thing is to NOT use high quality, branded mics - we have similar problems with some actors on stage wrecking expensive mics frequently - especially if they do fight scenes, or rolling on the floor, or in tight locations where the cable might get snagged or ripped out. We use cheap unbranded mics - available for around the 50UKP price - audio quality wise, they're not quite so smoooth, but perfect for these riskier jobs - where wrecking a DPA each performance is simply out of budget by a long way. Throwing a cheap one away after a couple of outings, I can live with. In a fight situation, ultimate audio quality isn't needed, is it?

Gints Klimanis · May 5th, 2010, 03:22 PM

Thanks for the suggestions, Paul. I knew another entertainment segment would have solved the same problems. I;ll give them a try.

Yes, I don't need ultimate audio - just something that can reasonably record the subtleties of the breath and grunts. Body microphones provide a much higher signal-to-room reverb ratio and overall sensitivity than a boom or nearby microphone can provide.

May 4th, 2010, 01:47 AM	#16
Guy Cochran DVCreators.Net Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 892	My brother is a professional fighter. I've been just outside the cage a few times as well as rolled and trained with him. There is no place on a full contact fighter's entire body that I would place a wireless transmitter and string a lav. There's just too much of a chance that it will hinder the fighter (unless I'm missing something in terms of the style you're dealing with). If absolutely had to, it'd be a Pin Mic, if you can still find one, on a short cable, with the transmitter in some kind of waist or leg pouch. Maybe you can talk them into buying a extra large jockstrap :) I'd consider parabolic, football stadium style, choir mics hanging, or hypers on a boom - the Audio Technica 4053b does amazing indoors around reflective surfaces. __________________ Guy Cochran DVinfo Sponsor, Cool Gear - DVeStore!

May 4th, 2010, 07:29 PM	#17
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Thanks, Guy. Your jockstrap idea is not as far-fetched as you joke. The bladder is not a common successful target, but driving the hard edge of a transmitter may not be a good idea. So, padding the trI do a lot of mixed martial arts fighting myself, although not professionally. There are parts of the body that are not common targets. I liked the results of placing the light transmitter in the pants front pocket and clipping the mic on the edge of the shorts or even on the collar of a shirted fighter. The mic popped after one round, but I liked the audio up until then. I'm just fishing for better ideas. Please toss the idea about when you're having a few brews with your fighting brother while watching UFC.

May 5th, 2010, 02:17 AM	#18
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,016	I work often with dancers and tight costumes, and one useful place is on the inner thigh - girls usually have skinnier legs than muscled blokes, of course - but the shorts would cover it and it's fairly protected. The other thing is to NOT use high quality, branded mics - we have similar problems with some actors on stage wrecking expensive mics frequently - especially if they do fight scenes, or rolling on the floor, or in tight locations where the cable might get snagged or ripped out. We use cheap unbranded mics - available for around the 50UKP price - audio quality wise, they're not quite so smoooth, but perfect for these riskier jobs - where wrecking a DPA each performance is simply out of budget by a long way. Throwing a cheap one away after a couple of outings, I can live with. In a fight situation, ultimate audio quality isn't needed, is it?

May 5th, 2010, 03:22 PM	#19
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Thanks for the suggestions, Paul. I knew another entertainment segment would have solved the same problems. I;ll give them a try. Yes, I don't need ultimate audio - just something that can reasonably record the subtleties of the breath and grunts. Body microphones provide a much higher signal-to-room reverb ratio and overall sensitivity than a boom or nearby microphone can provide.