Working with 12 wireless lavalier mics

[casey1202]

I am getting involed in doing sound and lights for an amature theatre group.

I have done this before but I have never worked with 12 wireless lavalier mics and im looking for advice from anyone who can help

me with the following questions

1. what are the best mics to buy

2. where is best to buy them

3. Do I have to group some of them together because of the restiction in frequencies

Thanks Guys..

[WiLL]

for a start, don't buy them.

HIRE them per show, it will work out cheaper I promise.

Ask specifically for UHF (Ultra High Frequency) as they perform better than the older VHF (Very High Freq.)

Talk to your local theatre hire company about your requirements.

Are you sure you need 12? That seems rather a lot even for a full musical. Normally we make do with 6 and with occassional mic swapping between the cast members during the show.

[Sirch Sound]

1. what are the best mics to buy

2. where is best to buy them

3. Do I have to group some of them together because of the restiction in frequencies

 

1. Whats the best car to buy?

2. Wheres the best place to buy it from?

 

You ask some very, very unspecific questions, we need alot more info on what your going to do with them, budget, length and regularity of use, amongst other info.

 

Rich

[Bobbsy]

Some good advice so far, but I'm going to take issue with a few of the points.

 

First, I'll agree that, unless there's an extra agenda you haven't told us about, rental is likely your best option. Decent radio mics are pretty costly and, even more important, can be a bit fragile. Sweat in the mic capsule, broken cables, etc. etc. mean that if you own them you also need a replacement budget. Besides that, there are some changes coming to UK radio mic regulations in 2012 and you may well find the frequencies you use today are illegal then.

 

What brands to use (rented or bought)? Sennheiser are always good, but offerings from Shure and Trantec are also pretty acceptable. Make sure your rental house knows they're for theatre and that you want small, inconspicuous mic capsules. Some can look big and obvious. As an aside, start thinking about where and how you will mount the mics. Two common positions are up in the hairline or poking out over the ear. A BR search will find lots of topics about how to stick them on, best tapes to use, and so on.

 

Just to reassure you, 12 in no way sounds like overkill to me. Obviously it varies from show to show, but for a typical musical I often us 20+ mics and still have to do swaps back stage. I'd suggest sitting down with the director early on to work out who needs mics and what possibilities there are for swaps. I often go through multiple versions of mic charts planning who gets mics when. One note: to use 12 mics you will have to used licensed frequencies. If you hire, the company you get them from should take care of this for you; if you buy you'll have to talk to JFMG yourself to buy a license. You'll also have to have a frequency plan to avoid the mics interfering with each other...again, a rental house should help with this.

 

I'll also disagree with the fellow who said VHF isn't as good as UHF. In fact, if you can get GOOD VHF kit, the signal tends to be more robust and more able to pentrate walls (or rotund actresses!) than UHF. The two issues are that there are fewer available frequencies on VHF and not nearly so many good quality ones built. However, just as an example, if you were offered something like an Audio Ltd. RMS2000 of 2020 on VHF, grab them to use in conjuction with your UHF kit. They'll work very well!

 

Finally, I'm not sure what you mean by "grouping together" but you most definitely cannot share frequencies....one transmitter and one receiver per frequency is the only way! However, if you mean swapping mics among actors, that's totally normal.

 

Bob

[ojc123]

I'll leave all the technical stuff to those with more knowledge. I'll just say you might find this topic useful too.

[Johnno]

I use eight Gemini UF range budget radio mics in our school hall without problems. The capsules are quite big and black, though. I think they're meant to be a dj brand. Battery life is good (2xAA).

[Damon999]

Completely agree with Bob.

 

I would add that if budget allows, try and avoid swapping between performers as it could result in additional problems and is an extra concern for the cast.