Wired lapel
 

I am looking for a decent wired lapel (XLR) in the $250 price range. Main use is for speech, occasionally singing (both live and recording sessions) in a conservative church environment (more like opera, less like rock). I have to live with the budget (I know it's low) and make the most out of it...

Suggestions for make/model appreciated.

For that much money..you might consider just renting rather than getting something that is noisy and not realistic sounding. Especially if singing is involved. Audio Technicas, Sennheisers, Sankens or Lectros. might be the way to go.

Roger that. How about moving up to say double the money?

Maybe the Sennheiser G2's or the Audio Technica's 101's from 500-600 dollars.

Hmmm... what am I doing wrong with my search?

The Senn G2 seems to be a wireless mike series (I need wired mikes), and I can't find the AT 101s at all...

Those are wireless but maybe the tram might be a good choice. I have the TRAM TR-50 wireless setup and it is very clean. But for your purposes this wired Tram might help. You will need phantom power to run it.

http://www.coffeysound.com/product.p...&cat=42&page=2

Countryman, Sanken, Tram, Sony among others have excellent wired lavs in the $300-$500 range.

hi ervin,

i was shopping around for lavs last week, and gave a few a good listen, based on recommendations by some of the great folks here. i decided to go with a couple of cos11's, but i really liked several, a couple that fit nicely in your budget.

if you can provide phantom and don't require a power module, the countryman emw sounded pretty great, similar to the tram. the one with the hardwired xlr connector comes in at less than $200.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...crophone_.html

if you need a power source with the mic, i thought the at899 sounded pretty nice for the money. the kit below comes with a battery power supply.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._Lavalier.html

as steve mentioned, just a little step up in budget ($50-$100) will open up a lot more choices to you.

in any case, good luck!

If your singers/speakers will accept it, the Countryman E6i "earset" has great sound for a personal mic in a live-sound environment.

You usually see it as a wireless, but it can be had as a wired mic as well.

http://www.countryman.com/store/prod...?id=6&catid=10

A lav is inherently further away from the mouth - that makes a lot of difference for live sound.

I suppose Ervin wants something that has multiple uses(ie. mainly speech and a little singing)

I would use the lapel only if you don't really have much choice.

We like the Audio Technica Mt830R, and the AKG C577WR.
The Audio Technica AT831b is really popular too, DSE has one in his kit.

Countryman
 

Country man has a great little lapel that comes in a couple of configs,
one of which is a wired version. I'm pretty sure they call it a B3.
Omni directional and great sound for the money. Under $300 on B&H


Matt Gore

Narrowed down the search
 

Thanks for all the good info. I narrowed down my search to the following four wired lapels:

- Tram TR-50
- Sony ECM-44
- Sony ECM-55
- Sony ECM-66
- Sony ECM-77

The requirements have somewhat changed - we will be doing TV production to be broadcast via sattelite. The bulk of the work will be sit-down interviews, round tables.

Question is, which one of these will give me the richest, fullest speech audio (we dropped the music requirement) and the lowest background noise pickup (the projected "studio", if I can call it that, is the living room of a regular home) - think air conditioning noise.

What is the difference between the different Sony models? I should probably also mention that a multichannel audio mixer will be used (along with direct multichannel digital recording), so basic corrections can be done at the time of recording with final adjustments done in post.

Tram TR-50 or Sony ECM-77 will give you the richest, etc. I've used both extensively, they are good stuff.

The Sonys get progressively larger as you go down the line. When you go up the line to the 77 (and 88) you get a mic designed for what Sony calls "open" recording, but what I would call flatter response. The lower-priced Sonys have a built-in EQ curve that helps intelligibility at some cost in harshness.

AC noise is another thing entirely. The best solution is to control it at the source (turn it off, baffle it, make it quieter, change locations). Next is to control it at the mic (close-micing techniques). Finally, compensate in post (Noise Reduction from various manufacturers, I use Sony NR 2.0).

The earlier in the chain you control the noise the better it will sound and the less expensive (in time or money) the correction will be. The better microphones are also better at recording environmental noise.

Countryman E6. Not a lapel (lav), but much better.

If you DO have a wireless body transmitter, order the E6 with "the link" so you can use the E6 hardwired or with your wireless.

Bite the bullet. Buy right once. have no regrets.

Regards,

Ty Ford