Radio Mics and Mixer required.

[djsteviec]

Advice needed please.

 

I work in a fairly large club and the microphone equipment is crap at best! I advised to spend some money on decent radio mics seeing as they are paying big money for big names to perform and instead of this, a £100 dual mic system from Maplins was bought instead. It flutters in and out of signal, it cuts out for no reason, it sounds crackly... it's awful!!!

 

And what don't help matters is the god awful Pioneer DJM600 thats in there. It's ok for DJ's that need to cover up bad mixing with filter effects and the like, but its a nightmare to get a decent sound for vocals.

 

The stage is about 8-10 meters from the DJ box and we rarely need more than two mics. I was thinking of getting a smaller microphone mixer, say 4 channels maybe, with full EQ that would output into the pioneer etc. Is this a viable option?

 

 

Could anybody please advise of a dual or two radio mic sets that total around the £500 mark. I have seen the Shure wireless setup on their site, does anyone recommend these or is there better out there for the money?

Secondly, can anyone recommend a little mixer that could control the mics as explained above? (Ideally a 19" one so I can screw the thing down!)

 

 

Thanks all, Steve.

[paulears]

The price of solid quality radio mics is now around £500 for each one. You can get the cheap systems for less, but build and performance quality is a bit lower. Perhaps not drastically lower, but there is a difference.

 

If you've been keeping up to date, you'll know that from next year you have two difficult choices, and as you're buying kit now - the choice over what to but is pretty critical. Cheap systems will still be available in channel 70 - 4 channels shared between every single user of this kind of kit - and in big town or city centres, there could be many users - maybe even the bar next door! The alternative is better kit, with more available channels, with a license, in a totally different radio band - too far away for items to be able to cover both - so in effect, no cheap kit in the wider band, and no pro kit in the channel 70 (apart from older kit that will tune it).

 

Mixer wise - I love the little Soundcrafts they're not expensive and are decent quality.

[cedd]

Read and digest all of what Paul said before reading on, he speaks wise words (as usual).

 

IF you decide to go channel 70 and risk interference, I'd recommend the JTS kit. I believe you should be able to get a pair of handhelds for around that price. They aren't high end kit, but I have 4 and they've never let me down.

 

There are also quite a few sennheiser g2 systems floating around second hand on eBay. Subject to them not being fakes, they're quite well thought of and again might come in around budget.

[andylouder]

If you are using the cheapy dual set of radio mics from maplins , make sure you set the jumpers in the mics and the receivers so that the frequencies are as far apart as possible. The order of the jumpers is not that logical with regard to which frequency they address , ie: all jumpers up on one mic and all jumpers down on the other, don't make the frequencies as far apart as possible. Check the manual and it will tell you what frequency is set at what jumper position.

If you don't have the manual you can download it from the maplins site I think.

 

Also try to position the receiver as close to where the mics are being used as possible , and make sure the receiver can always 'see' the mics.

 

They also do foam pop shields for those mics , which look ugly but do help a bit to tame the harshness , brightness and plosives on those mics.

 

This might help you a bit in the meantime.

[djsteviec]

Thanks for your responses.

 

What do you think of this product from Shure?

 

http://www.shure.co.uk/products/wireless_systems/pg_wireless_pg58_pg185_dual_set

[paulears]

I don't doubt they'll work very well for you - they're uncomplicated can work in channel 38 and from the older model I have heard sound pretty good - not quite the same as a 58, but close enough for many purposes. Price wise, they look very good value

[djsteviec]

I don't doubt they'll work very well for you - they're uncomplicated can work in channel 38 and from the older model I have heard sound pretty good - not quite the same as a 58, but close enough for many purposes. Price wise, they look very good value

 

Paul, I'm not really up to speed on radio mics. I did hear something a few years ago about radio mics eventually not being able to be used and everything transferring to something similar to a wireless network. Would you mind giving me a brief catch up please on what's happening and the difference between what I have heard on here... channel 38...channel 70??? Unless you're talking about Sky+, I'm lost. ** laughs out loud **.

 

Thanks Paul.

 

sorry.... this is it

 

http://www.shure.co.uk/products/wireless_systems/pg_wireless_pg58_combo_handheld_set

 

I don't doubt they'll work very well for you - they're uncomplicated can work in channel 38 and from the older model I have heard sound pretty good - not quite the same as a 58, but close enough for many purposes. Price wise, they look very good value

 

Paul, I'm not really up to speed on radio mics. I did hear something a few years ago about radio mics eventually not being able to be used and everything transferring to something similar to a wireless network. Would you mind giving me a brief catch up please on what's happening and the difference between what I have heard on here... channel 38...channel 70??? Unless you're talking about Sky+, I'm lost. ** laughs out loud **.

 

Thanks Paul.

 

sorry.... this is it

 

http://www.shure.co....bo_handheld_set

 

 

Also, why is it that these cheaper mics drop out from time to time? Are these more expensive models design to stop that, or could it be some other fault that might still reoccur even with this new equipment?

 

 

[chelgrian]

Paul, I'm not really up to speed on radio mics. I did hear something a few years ago about radio mics eventually not being able to be used and everything transferring to something similar to a wireless network. Would you mind giving me a brief catch up please on what's happening and the difference between what I have heard on here... channel 38...channel 70??? Unless you're talking about Sky+, I'm lost. ** laughs out loud **.

 

Analogue Radio mics work in white spaces between TV channel bands. These are nearly but not quite the same ranges as particular analogue TV channels were however everyone just uses the TV channel names because it's easier.

 

For your purposes all you need to know is:

 

Channel 38 - Licensed band which works everywhere in the UK (Cambridge and South Manchester only after the 21st of September). You must buy a license from JFMG.

 

Channel 69 - Used to the the licensed band, not available after 1st Jan 2012.

 

Part of Channel 70 - Licensed exempt band. Most mics that tune to channel 69 also tune to channel 70. Not recommend for professional use as it's being deregulated further in 2012 so the risk of interference from other users is too high.

 

There are some companies, such as Line 6, which have produced digital systems which work in the 2.4GHz band ie the same band as WiFi.

 

Also, why is it that these cheaper mics drop out from time to time? Are these more expensive models design to stop that, or could it be some other fault that might still reoccur even with this new equipment?

 

RF is very tricky. There are a whole variety of reasons why you might get dropouts. Some of them will be cured by using high quality equipment from the likes of Sennheiser et al. some of them won't.

[Wilflet]

I wouldnt go mic>>mixer >>DJ mixer>>PA

 

Id do Mic>>>|Mixer>>>PA

DJ>>>>|

 

if that makes sense.

Running everything through the pioneer gives the dj end control of everything, going the other way means you can turn dj down to match vocals or in general to reduce the damage he does to your amps etc.

 

also as the djm is from what you say the weak point in your audio chain by doing it this way youve stopped the vocals going through it and they should sound a bit nicer.