A question about mics

[staceyrebecca]

I've only performed using lavalier mics in the past (and one on a mic stand, but let's not talk about how terribly that went). What's the benefit of using one on a head-band? Which do you prefer?

 

[wes]

I prefer the head set 0nce you use one, you won't go back. I made the investment and its great not ti have to mess with cords and junk.

As far as head band to head set, I think what ever your more comfortable with.

 

[spcglider]

We spent almost three months cleaning up our sound for TVTV because we didn't have wireless headsets to use. Michael ended up picking through our scratch track for dialogue he could use and then we ADR'ed the rest. It was long and difficult and tedious work.

NEVER AGAIN.

We will be investing in wireless headsets and an 8 track digital recorder for future episodes so we can record everyone on seperate tracks and get the real performance without worrying about over-talking in the dialogue or laughter in the background.

-Gordon

 

[staceyrebecca]

But why a headset as opposed to one you clip to your shirt (lavalier)?

 

[wes]

In My experiance, when using the the lavalier with puppetry is that usally your speaking up, or in odd placement, if your not talking straight out or down the lavalier does not pick up your voice. The head set is close to your mouth and follows it, thus picking up your voice at all times.

The cheapest Head set I found was a Audio-technica head set that worked great it was like $170. I still use that same mic.

 

[Jinx]

There are actually many, many variations of "headset" mics, and obviously they come with many, many different prices tags.

One of the most popular is the Countryman E6, which has a very small profile visually, so it is favored by performers, clergymen and other public speakers, and it is an excellent mic. I personally use a Sanken COS-11 microphone with a Sennheiser SK100 transmitter. I use these primarily for stage use in Musical Theatre and in my vocal quartet. The mic is very small and is usually "glued" to my face in front of my ear, or sometimes in the hairline, if the style permits.

One thing I like about this style of miking is that the sound has a much better "ambient" quality to it, rather than sounding like the close miced sound of a DJ for instance.

I have used this same mic for puppetry and the way I do it is to run the wire straight up the back of my head and over to the forehead. Then I use an ordinary gym headband to hold it in place directed down towards my mouth. It works really well.

The best advantage to wearing a head mic is that it always remains a constant distance from your mouth, regardless of how you must contort yourself in order to puppeteer. This way your sound engineer (if you are fortunate enough to have one) does not need to be constantly adjusting your gain. With a "lav" mic you can easily turn your head/mouth away from the mic, or equally bad, turn your head straight down and bark straight into it. They are also much more prone to rubbing against clothing, props, arm rods, etc. etc.

 

[spcglider]

Yes. We had tons of problems maintaining the mouth-to-microphone distance relationship for our puppet vids using lavaliers. They work great for a show where you have two people sitting at a desk and not moving around or standing up in front of a camera, but when you have to keep changing positions you lose the relationship and lose your sound.

The other problem when recording is using a boom microphone with multiple puppeteers and everyone is facing a different direction looking at a different monitor.

So the headset microphone on a separate track for each performer is the ultimate way to go. It doesn't limit your performance in favor of sound collection.

-G

 

[Bradd]

While someone is mentioning mics, I thought I'd pass on some info on the excellent microphone I recently found. It's manufactured by BLUE and is called the SNOWBALL. It's a USB microphone so obviously it won't work for live puppet work. However, it's excellent for the studio and ADR. So far the only problem is that it's not compatible with Windows Vista.

 

[staceyrebecca]

I just recently talked to the director at our theater. She said they use lavalier so they can turn their head away when a character is calling from off-stage and things like that.

So it sounds like I need to figure out the needs for all the shows we do and invest in a mic that will suit those needs. The worry is...what if we spend all this $ and the needs change.

My director insists that Telex is the only brand to use, however they're about $700 each! That's a lot of mic-less shows to do before we can earn enough to pay for 3 sets...

 

[MGov]

Take a look at ebay.

As for which mike is best...

I've played with a couple of bands that have used only Shure mics (I played harmonica and used the Green Bullet, which was fantastic). I know a few sound guys from movies who won't use anything but Sennheiser mics.

The only brand to use is the one that accomplishes what you need at a price you can afford.