Do you use a field Mixer for weddings?
 

I have been using a Sound Design 302 field mixer when doing weddings and its nice but also has the potential for problems. I had the batteries in it go dead at a reception and lost audio until I replaced them. Luckily was only during some dancing. Its also another link to worry about. Not sure with the better cameras and recording devices like my Sony PCM D50 if they are necessary or not.

I used the lav mic the other day right into the Sony recorder and it worked great, wondering if I need the mixer anymore.

I'm a minimalist so no I don't use a mixer for weddings. Actually let me restate that. I di once but it was a very special thing I did and I needed to have a mixer, but again, that was a 1 off event.

For ceremony's I run 2 lavs on my A camera to my AT1821 dual channel receiver and for the reception I run a Sennheiser E604 drum mic with a plugin transmitter back to my camera and use an AKG Blueline hypercaroid on the camera. I get a very nice mix that way and post time is cut down considerably. For me the less the better but I was raised in the video biz on run and gun stuff a hundred years ago so that's carried on for me and works just fine. YMMV

Hey Don,

Great tip! I've got a drum mic that I can use on my plug-in transmitter too. Should I just mount it a little in front of one of the DJ's speakers?

Roger,
Well it's hard to say. Let me tell you my setup with an explaination then you can decide from there.

I set my plugin transmitter to -6db and try to keep the levels to -12 or a bit less at the camera. The AT receiver has a levels adjustment on it so I can use that and the levels adjustment on the cam to get a pretty even level thru out. I set the mic about 4 to 6 inches in front of the DJs speaker on a mic stand and can adjust it up or down as needed to get the levels where I want them.
Now here's where it can get tricky. You migh need to play with mic placement by the speaker a bit depending on the sound you're getting thru your headphones but I've been using this system for about 7 or 8 years now and it's has worked very well for me.
HTHs

Denny, I wrote here recently that being able to use my SQN field mixer on weddings would be a wish - but it's unrealistic. The budget simply can't carry a sound engineer and, as you evidently found, it's yet another piece of kit to consider and maintain.

Happily, the technology has improved sufficiently to the point when we can plug mic channels straight into into our Z1s with some confidence. True, we still monitor but if we're absolutely honest that's more to do with ensuring we haven't lost a mic channel battery than monitoring quality. Long gone the days when you could hear the AGC on our BVW507 (the ENG standard) breathing like a wheezy smoker.

Looked at from the other angle, if it hadn't, quality wedding videos would have to cost considerably more.