Bobbsy Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 I have a last minute job coming up next week and I'm being asked to use a mixture of Evo300 and Sony Freedom radio mics. I've used both separately but never used the two brands at the same time. I have a frequency plot that works for me (on the Channel 69 UK General freqs) with either make alone but (just being paranoid) are there any potential funnies I should be aware of mixing them? Slightly different RF filters? Interfering pilot tones? That sort of thing? This is me being lazy...I have the gear in my dining room right now but am desperately trying not to set it all up due to a daughter's birthday party...so if anybody has done it before.... Thanks in advance. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundo26 Posted April 22, 2006 Share Posted April 22, 2006 Hi; We've got Sony mics and Sennheiser kits and have tried to use Sennheiser mics on Sony receivers and the receivers come up with "not one" in the LCD display and refuse to pick up even when tuned to the same frequencies (have tried this several times with different mics), so if you manage to get them to work let us know I'd be very interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 22, 2006 Author Share Posted April 22, 2006 No, Sony transmitters won't work with Sennheiser receivers (or vice versa) because, although the carrier frequency may be the same the additional data they both add to the signal is totally different. To be clear, I'm not asking about mixing and matching RX/TX units, just if using two different manufacturers will throw up additional intermod or other interference problems that I don't get sticking to a single brand of hardware. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanT Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Just do the sonys one end of the RF range and the senns at the other extreme that they each go to and distribute them evenly across the range, shouldn't get any rf problems. Make sure you have the balanced line cables for the sennheisers if they are not gen 2 (gen 1 only have jack iirc, sonys are all XLR) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 For what it's worth. Trantec 4000 receivers work fine with Sennheiser transmitters. The deviation is slightly different and the compander settings seem a little different - but the result, to my ears actually sounds a little better with handhelds - about the same when used with a correctly set up pack and lav mic. On the handhelds, I've always found the sennheiser receivers sound a little rough when the talent talks up a little too much. The Trantecs seem to handle this a little better. I'm guessing, but I wonder if Trantec tx deviation is a little more? The effect is similar to a little light compression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanT Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 I must take a look at what trantec receivers we have kicking about that don't have any matching mics - sure they are UHF not sure what model!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Update: The two manufacturers seem to co-exist fine. I had a bit of a worry when the Sennheiser receivers showed a significant amount of RF on their meters when only the Sony mics were turned on but in practice I'm not experiencing any interfererence between to two systems. The Sennheiser receivers are also very happy being fed from my AN820/WD820 antenna and splitter combo. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Alcock Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Bobbsy, I've never mixed Sony and Senn (as I don't own any). However, I've had to use a right mixture of Shure, Trantec, Samson on occasions. This free tool continues to be very useful: http://ff.audiotechnica.com/cgi-bin/freqcompat.cgi as a starting point when selecting frequencies, although you're right, there's still the chance of pilot tones etc interfering. I once found that keeping the receivers apart cured a strange whistle which could have been down to pilot tones, IF frequencies etc. (For a production of Les Mis with lots of radio mics, I put the Samson RXs stage right and the Trantecs stage left. The Shures were the best so I had them in the balcony with me). All worked fine. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Pete, I use the AT programme and alse the Sennheiser SIFMPRO that you can download (and is rather more flexible). I've also written my own frequency checker in Excel. The trouble with the manufacturer ones is that they assume their own bandwidths, pilot tones and filter slopes etc. but these can actually vary from brand to brand. Some mics are much better at intermod rejection than others. This can quite often lead to interference warnings that aren't born out in real life...or problems where the programme doesn't show them. For this reason I much prefer to stick to a single make and model of mic but was caught out on this show and forced into the Sony Sennheiser mix. Ah well...it's working well! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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