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Head worn microphones for pantomime...


johnjpinner

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Hi there, Could anyone reccomend a discreet headword microphone with a sennheiser connection. It's for use in a pantomime so needs to be able to withstand dancing and a bit of shaving foam. For our last pantomime we were handed me2s which I taped to coathangers... it looks a little ghetto, and I would like an affordable alternative (to hire)

 

I don't think the budget will stretch to countrymans for a month, though if anyone knows of a place who would do 8 for a month for a reasonable price, please chip in.

 

ANY SUGGESTIONS WELCOME.

 

Cheers folks, John

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Maybe not the standard response but the £4 CPC Lavs are surprisingly good and also have an incredibly good write up from users on here. Obviously I don't know the level of your show, so maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree making this suggestion, but worth the mention anyway.

 

Thread here : Although it also covers the headsets : http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?show...c=22451&hl=

 

CPC - http://cpc.farnell.com/MP33750/audio-video...-signal-mp33750

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these from CPC are what I use, same capsule as above, but they can be pushed back if they need to be more discreet.

 

Damn good for the price, plus especially in a panto where anything can happen (thinking slapstic, last night etc) it wont be a great fortune damaged if the worst happens ( we lost 4 last year due to custard pie foam)

 

the adjustable ones are good if your body packs gain wont back off enough too!, which I have had in a couple of operettas I even had my AKGs set to line level, and backed off and the SPL was still too much for the bodypack!

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thanks for the suggestions, are you guys all in league with this pulse company ? I'd never heard of them before, then I get 4 suggestions in one night on the things.

 

by the way, Anyone had any experience of what they're like with high spl's ? I cant seem to see anything on it in the spec. I think ill buy one as a test and see how I get on with it

 

If anyone cares to make more suggestions, please feel free.

 

take care, John

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Maybe not the standard response but the £4 CPC Lavs ...

 

Oh yeah, it is the standard response; You forgot this is the blue room, and everyone has good words about these el-cheepo mics.

 

Now if Chris (HELLO CHRIS ARE YOU LISTENING - ONE TWO TWO TESTING ONE TWO) would just get the powers that be at CPC to do what RS and Farnell have done, and serve the Aus/NZ marketplace....

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Let me raise a glass of nicely chilled Aussie Riesling in the direction of dbuckley and Chris and endorse the idea of CPC down under!

 

Anyway, at the risk of being a "me too", after losing far too many good mics on panto, I endorse the idea of using the cheapies as a disposable item. No, they're not as good as an MKE2 but the differences aren't as bad as you might guess from the price--and they certainly sound better than a dead MKE2 full of shaving foam!

 

Bob

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thanks for the suggestions, are you guys all in league with this pulse company ? I'd never heard of them before, then I get 4 suggestions in one night on the things.

 

by the way, Anyone had any experience of what they're like with high spl's ? I cant seem to see anything on it in the spec. I think ill buy one as a test and see how I get on with it

 

 

the pulse mics seem to be CPCs own brand, I use alot of them as I do countless kids things, and Im lucky if they last a year, even the expensive ones.

 

with regard to the high SPL, I dont hae any figures, but they have worked fine with opera singers, and mean good ones, its been more my bodypacks that have struggled, mainly my AKG WMS40 ones, they have very little gain adjustment.

 

they work fine with my Trantec S4.5s, my old beyerdynamic (Trantec) VHFs and my old Senny VHF kit. its a matter or trying it out, and maybe adjusting the mic back if you use my suggestion, this also helps with breath noise as if t slong enought Talent always seem to want the Briney look and bend it right round in front of their mouths, which even the small sheilds that come with them cant fix.

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If you are doing a professional panto, then I would suggest putting your principles on something better than the cheapies. They do have a place on the stage, but for key lines and better audio quality during musical numbers, I would recommend something along the lines of the AKG C477 WR. IT's a bit fragile, but it sounds great for female vocals and you don't get much contact noise from it. There's a newer 577 with bigger ear mounts too, and I'm guessing the sound quality would be just as good.

 

I know that everyone is on a budget, but people are paying to see the show so the key performers should at least sound good.

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Actually, despite the price, the sound quality isn't half bad. The bigger issue with the CPC offerings can be reliability with some parts (the cable in particular) being a bit flimsy--there was a topic a year or two ago about a modification that can be done to replace this with some good Mogami stuff from Canford.

 

Having said that, in my experience the principals with the big solos are rarely the characters who do the slap stick so, yeah, I've usually given the "biggies" my usual choice of mic (MKE2/Countryman/DPA or whatever).

 

Bob

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I've just spent a day at Alton Towers. Their performers in "mutiny bay" were definately on the cpc ones (dual earhok headsets) and 2 of them seemed to be performing faultlessly. The other was vry scratchy and muffled, but it's been 30 degrees today, so could well have been sweat.

 

That said, the little lug half way up the boom is great for dripping the sweat off (I tried one with an eye dropper of water and some tissue around the capsule to protect it.).

 

I think the praises of the cheapo ones have been sung enough. I personally, really like them. For the money they sound great. There is a place formore expensive mics, and I do have them in my stock, but I know a few engineers who roll out 20 sennheisers per show and only come back with 18. That's too big a chunk of the fee gone for my liking! Treat them as disposable items and the audience won't hear the difference in quality, but your bank balance will feel it.

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