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Author Topic: lav mic placement woes  (Read 1881 times)

Kirby Yarbrough

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lav mic placement woes
« on: September 16, 2018, 05:30:01 PM »

Looking for some ideas on how to better place a wireless lav mic on a woman wearing thin fabric blouses.  Body pack in a back pocket with cable coming up inside the blouse, with the mic dropping from inside over the neckline and clipping to a pinch of fabric.  The content is mostly spoken word with occasional singing.  The issues are cable and mic noise when she tucks her chin in or when the blouse fabric moves.

I've asked but she doesn't want to use a headset mic, and doesn't often wear blouses with a placket front to provide a better clip on site.
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Jordan Wolf

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Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2018, 06:04:00 PM »

If the fabric isn’t too sheer, I’ve used my business card behind the fabric to create some stiffness.

Always gets a name mention...

URSA Straps makes capsule mounts, too. I like DPA’s options, but they may not work for your capsule type.

I’d consider renting some sub-miniature lavs like the Countryman B2D or B6/B3. DPA makes a few as well, but most mics that small are omni, so consider that when you purchase.
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Russell Ault

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Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2018, 12:13:51 AM »

I've asked but she doesn't want to use a headset mic [...]

I guess my first question, under the circumstances, would be "why not"? If it's for aesthetics (and not because she doesn't like having things on her face), then you might be better off using a traditional theatre hairline mounting (using a loop of elastic to create a "halo" makes this doable on even a pretty temporary basis).

Otherwise, my knee-jerk reaction (having not seen the shirt) would be to find a spot on or near the neckline where the fabric doesn't move, and to either clip or safety-pin the lav to that spot, even if it's quite off-centre. Compression will help to fix the level differences that an off-centre mounting will cause, but I don't think any amount of processing is going to fix fabric movement noise.

-Russ
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Rick Earl

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Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2018, 10:31:26 AM »

Looking for some ideas on how to better place a wireless lav mic on a woman wearing thin fabric blouses.  Body pack in a back pocket with cable coming up inside the blouse, with the mic dropping from inside over the neckline and clipping to a pinch of fabric.  The content is mostly spoken word with occasional singing.  The issues are cable and mic noise when she tucks her chin in or when the blouse fabric moves.

I've asked but she doesn't want to use a headset mic, and doesn't often wear blouses with a placket front to provide a better clip on site.

Try sticking the mic cable on the inside of the blouse with a small piece of moleskin.  It stiffens the blouse and helps reduce cable noise.  The mic can then just stick up above the neckline without a clip.
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Mike Caldwell

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Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2018, 12:39:59 PM »

I guess my first question, under the circumstances, would be "why not"?

-Russ

Some people forget the reason there doing a presentation is for the attending audience to actually hear it. 

Mark Rombouts

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Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2018, 02:13:01 PM »

make a sort of necklace of a piece of elegant rope. you can hang your mic from that.

Sennheiser MKE40 has a standard solution for this.
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Christopher Irwin

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Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2018, 02:47:15 PM »

make a sort of necklace of a piece of elegant rope. you can hang your mic from that.

Sennheiser MKE40 has a standard solution for this.

DPA makes a necklace mic that sounds great (of course!) and is super easy to use via a simple magnetic clasp on the back.
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Ike Zimbel

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Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2018, 12:37:34 AM »

Looking for some ideas on how to better place a wireless lav mic on a woman wearing thin fabric blouses.  Body pack in a back pocket with cable coming up inside the blouse, with the mic dropping from inside over the neckline and clipping to a pinch of fabric.  The content is mostly spoken word with occasional singing.  The issues are cable and mic noise when she tucks her chin in or when the blouse fabric moves.

I've asked but she doesn't want to use a headset mic, and doesn't often wear blouses with a placket front to provide a better clip on site.
Couple of things:
1) An old trick for reducing cable noise is to tie a very loose knot in the cable, near the capsule.
2) If she is willing to do this (or if there's a female wardrobe person / A-2 to do it), have her clip the mic to the inside middle of her bra. I have some custom tie-tacks that I made for this purpose and have used them with very good results on TV variety shows. You get a very natural sound and little-to-no costume rustle.
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steve horen

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Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2018, 05:44:48 PM »

Hi. My first post! Finally joining the conversation instead of just lurking.

There are tons of ways to mount lavs. Questions before answers:
  • Is this for live SR or for an on camera application requiring maximum concealment?
  • Is the talent open to having a mount directly to their skin?
  • Does this require a quick turn around for the microphone or do you have time to prep the talent?
That will inform what directions you can go.
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: lav mic placement woes
« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2018, 05:44:48 PM »


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