Wireless Microphones
 

I am looking for 2 wireless clip-on microphones and reciever for $500 or less. Can anyone direct me toward a good product. It mainly will be used for weddings and doing interviews. I don't know the difference between UHF & VHF can somone inform me?

Try doing a search and reading some threads in this forum and in the audio forum. These subjects are covered extensively. $500 for 2 systems may be wasting your money.

below $500 wireless IS wasting money - Matt is right. Wait until your first ceremony when the pastor/priest is also using a PA - you'll regret it. Buyers remorse will set in quickly.

I switched to Voice Recorder (a good one with good sample rate)... easily in your price range. I primarily use the camera's audio then just amplify slightly the voices with the Voice Recorder audio. It works like a charm. Those who swear by wireless would be amazed at how crisp and clear the vows are in my videos. It may take a bit of practice to get the audio snyc'd but other than that they are simple and reliable.

I just did my first wedding with a Rode VM and AT88W wireless mic ($109). The wireless mic audio was great. The problem was that the groom was mic'd and sounded great, but the bride needed 6db in post. Being a VHF mic, I did have to monitor the audio and keep the receiver on my belt as opposed to clipped to the flash bracket. The priest was using a wireless mic and there were no problems. We did of course test the systems first.

Having the bride and groom both mic'd would have been perfect.

During a previous day's test in the church I did get a burst of radio traffic...so I'd be hesitant to use the AT88W wireless mic as a professional wedding videographer. I'm sure the interference issue would bite sooner or later.

If $500 if for each system, I would recommend the Sennheiser G2 series. I bought an ew112 package and liked it so much that I just bought an other one. I'm sure it doesn't beat Lectrosonics, but at that price, there's nothing else to beat it, unless you find a killer deal on used gear.

Hey Dennis:

I just got the AT88W/R from B&H. Why did you want to keep it on your belt as opposed to the camera bracket? I'm planning to use the AT88W/R along with a MD at a wedding coming up soon. I'm doing it freebie for the experience, but I still want to do a good job.

Thanks,
Bruce

I picked up an occasional bit of hiss in certain positions close to the camera. I found that this disappeared with the receiver on my belt. I was in an old church with heavy stone walls so this may have been an issue. I also used the mic during speeches just sitting on the podium. I tried clipping it to the PA mic stand but there was an audible buzz with it mounted there. Ideally, a second small mic stand perhaps on a flexible stalk could be used to position the lavalier better...or ideally you could jack in a better mic. I have also seen examples of this unit plugged directly in to PA output (not sure if they used line or mic level output).

Check the lavalier jack housing to make sure it is screwed tightly into the jack body....mine wasn't and almost came apart during the rehearsal shoot.

Loud groom? No.
 

Next time place the lavalier mic lower on the groom's coat. This will make his voice less boomy and better balance the pickup of both bride and groom's voices. When I first started videotaping weddings, I would clip the mic at breast level, but now I place the mic midway down his chest. It makes a big difference, unless, of course, you get one of those mousey brides who barely whispers when she speaks. Then she'll need boosting in post anyway.

She was pretty quiet....I had it mounted mid chest. I had the same problem with her speech. The podium mounted lavalier was fine for all the other guests....but she was so quiet, that neither the RODE VM on cam, or lavalier on podium gave me good audio.

The Rode VM on a tripod or mic stand fed through the wireless transmitter would have done the job much better during speeches IMHO.

Sorry that is what I ment, so spending a total of about $800-$1200

So, for every transmitter you have to have a seperate reciever?

That's correct Matt. You have one portable transmitter and one portable receiver for every mic. Each transmitter and receiver is about 4" tall x 3" wide and clips to a belt easily. At least for the ew112P-G2 version. There's a rackmountable version that is not as portable. The lavalier that comes with the ew112p is good and very small, but you could upgrade it to suit your taste or needs better if you still have some budget left over. You'll find more info on the Sennheisers here.

1 Transmitter per receiver unless you're willing to spend serious coin to buy pro equipment like this Sony rig.

Good point about keeping the mic a bit lower on groom, it normally does help to balance out the brides voice. I have 2 Samson systems, a UM1 with standard AT mic as back up and a UM32 with a sony ecm44 (think thats right) mic. It has been a couple of years, but I believe I paid around $500 for the UM32. I have never had 1 problem with them from day one. Only once have I ever had to change frequencies on the 32.

[QUOTE=Dennis Wood]I picked up an occasional bit of hiss in certain positions close to the camera. I found that this disappeared with the receiver on my belt.

Had something similar with an Audio Technica wireless receiver. Everytime I got it close to the camera battery, it powered off. Turned completely off, power light went out, everything. Move it somewhere else, and it was fine.

Took some figuring out to find out why I was losing audio from that mic because I didn't expect that.

I would look hard at the AKG PR/PT81 series. B&H has them at $449 and I love them. They are extreamly light, they use AA batteries (read cheap rechargeables), and most important, I have NEVER had a drop out while in the same room as the transmitter. I do churches that get close to 300 feet long, and they do great.

I think that AKG has a snazzy shoe mount, like the Sony. That's my only complaint about my Samson Micro32 receiver, it has no shoe mount, and the antennae can only rotate on one axis. If the antenna could rotate on the other axis, you could lay the receiver flat and strap it to the top of a small ENG camcorder top handle. If my Samson ever craps out, I'll replace it with the AKG or Sony $450 model.

I've used wireless mic systems for 20+ years and continue to use them successfully. Having said that, I feel the use of stand alone recorders, specifically the iRiver, is an excellent and cost effective way to go.
If you take the time to learn and understand how wireless systems work one can acquire effective systems at a very reasonable cost. One MUST understand the idiosyncracies of wireless, however.
I use a NADY products. My system is rack mounted and includes two UHF receivers and two VHF receivers. There are lapel and hand mic transmitters for all frequencies. My total investment for four single systems, a rack case, a 4 channel audio mixer, and a light stand to hold everything at a reasonable height for clean reception is just under $700. The equivalent Lectrosonics system would have cost around $4000. To achieve this cost I had to do my homework, which included research into all reasonable interference broadcasts within a 200 mile radius.
The best recording systems are those which are immune to interference. I call them "closed" systems. Within this context, one can't get better than a mic connected to a single recording device via a shielded cable (which is what an iRiver is).
Every choice one makes about recording audio is about a trade-off between quality, set-up/tear-down time, testing, and convenience. Just about any approach will work well, provided one knows where the pitfalls will be and how to compensate for them.