Options: Wireless Lav or Sync in post?
 

I have a Olympus WS-300M voice recorder that I use in my reporting.

On the other hand, is the audio quality I'd get from a wireless lav worth the money? (I suppose I could still use the WS300M as a backup.)

And if so, what wireless lav would you recommend? (Is there a wireless lav system where you can plug in a wired lav mic into a wireless box - if one part breaks on me, I want to be able to use the other parts for the rest of the shoot.)

-- Brian.

Audio quality depends on a chain of things; eg. mic placement, mic quality, preamp quality, recorder quality.

But I'd guess with a high degree of confidence that most wireless sets sold for video, with its properly placed stock lav recording into the camcorder would outperform that particular recorder with its properly placed optional lav.

And yes with a little research you could cobble together a kit that would work as you asked.

I'm picking up a $150 wireless kit tomorrow along with the Canon HV20 - yeah, I know, it's not a pro camera, but for a consumer camera, it's nothing to sneeze at. Now I just need an omni lapel mic for $50 or less. Maybe used?

Your wireless kit doesn't come with a lav mic??? You didn't say what wireless you're getting but whatever it is, for <$50 you're not likely to find anything better than the kit's stock mic.

No stock mic, no.

Well, you might check out Giant Squid - they seem to find favour with the wedding videographers to use with their pocket recorders and are supposedly fairly decent though I can't claim any personal experience with them. Your "under $50" criteria really eliminates almost all the market. It might help if we knew what brand of wireless you're getting.

Actually, correction. It -may- come with a stock mic but I simply don't know. The $150 set DOES come with a mixer, but I'll need two mics for that. That I'm interested in getting because that'll allow me to capture my interview questions on the microphone as well.

$150 for a wireless transmitter/receiver pair AND a mixer ?!?!?!?!

My budget is $7000. Total. That's including everything, including room and board for 5 weeks while I shoot, airfare, etc. I know y'all are serious about this stuff, but some of us have to start out on the kiddie violin before moving up to the Stradavarius.

I'm going to pick up two of the Audio Technica ATR-35S Lavalier microphones from Amazon.com - I've heard they're good, but I can also justify using them for work as well.

You think that's mad, my diffuser light is a $20 pie-plate work light with a $7 150W flourescent bulb (to reduce heat) covered with a t-shirt attached via a rubber band, and my reflector is a piece of insulation! :)

I don't think it's mad to save money, far from it. But there are lower limits below which a "bargain" is actually the more expensive option in the long run. When on a tight budget one should go with the least expensive option that actually does the required job properly - cheaper priced gear that isn't up to the job means 100% of its purchase price is wasted.

But I was commenting more because I was wondering just what system you were getting. You need to make sure that the mics you're considering actually work with your system and you still haven't said what make and model wireless you're buying so the rest of us have enough info to actually advise you what mics might work with it.

It is a Sony WCS-999, and it does look like it comes with a mic. I'll use the included as a spare, I think, and get an Audio Technica ATR-35S. It does NOT include a mixer (I was mistaken before.)

Well, the ATR mic looks like it can be used with that wireless but it's going to be a bit inconvenient as according to the Audio Technica site, that mic has a 20 foot cable that is hard-wired to it. Unless you coil it up and hide it on the talent some way you'll have to shorten the cod and re-attach the plug.

Is there some reason you feel the AT mics will be better than the Sony included with the kit?

Better? No, but I like having one around because A) I'll need a spare if the Sony mic goes bad. I'll need a long-wired microphone of the Sony transmitter goes bad.

I've been testing out the Sony mic. Now, I think the sound levels were off (the talent didn't get the concept that when you're wearing a lav, you do not need to "project.") but I still picked up quite a bit of static. It's not going to do the job - I'll see if I can return it for store credit.

The worst case scenario is that I shoot with a shotgun and a wired lav (picking up two AT-35s.) The lavs are meant for sit-down interviews - I'm sure the 20' cable should be able to reach that far, but I wanted the wireless in case the subjects wanted to walk around the room.

-- Brian.