Wireless Mic Rigging -- The "Right" Way

[Andy_Leviss]

Hey Dave,
As for the Hellerman sleeves, they're a piece of cake to remove afterwards. Just get yourself a tiny pair of medical scissors, and very carefully cut the sleeve right off. It's soft rubber, so it cuts easily, just be careful to watch where the tips of the scissors blade that you put inside the tube goes, so you don't nick the cable itself (hence why I suggest the tiny medical scissors).

As for the markers, I'm not sure offhand, since I never had to clean them off. I imagine something will clean them, although I don't know for sure what, and can't guarantee that the same solvent wouldn't be a very bad thing for the cable. I do know that rubbing alcohol doesn't do much for cleaning them, though.

[zachlipton]

Thanks again for all your help. I sold the director on $170 worth of gear, so I hope it works. It's all (except for the Hellerman sleeves) reusable though, so it should last us for a while.

For everyone's general reference, here's the prices I got from Masque Audio, this stuff is really hard to track down online:

Hellerman Tool--Fixed Prong Version--55.00
Interchangeable Prong Version--78.73
Hellerman Sleeves (bag of 100)-2.0mm-6.00
3.0mm-8.00
Hair Clips--(S,M,L)-- 1.75/each
Ear Loops--Plastic covered Metal or Nylon--7.80/each

In case you were wondering how much this stuff is, now you know...

Also, anyone have any recomendations on metal or nylon ear clips?

[Andy_Leviss]

You want Telex's AEF3 nylon earloop, which you can buy from Full Compass at http://fullcompass.com/Products/page...624/index.html

They also make a plastic-covered metal version, which I haven't used. The nylon ones are easy to cut, lightweight, and hold on pretty well when the cable is appropriately taped. Metal's moldable, which the nylon isn't, but the white color hides nicely (better, due both to color and shape, than the "flesh" toned ones I've tried).

As noted above, you'll want to take a sharp pair of scissors or a pair of diagonal cutters and snip the actual loop off (the ear loops are made to hold IFB speakers for broadcasters).

--A

[satriasound]

I see people talking about 170 bucks worth of suspension equipment and hellerman tools to hook up countryman b3s and stuff. I thought I'd add in a cheaper method that works for us.

there's a wire type known as memory wire (same stuff that's used in teeth braces). it's available fairly cheap from craft/hobby shops. about 7 bucks will buy you enough material to build 15+ ear to ear headset types or more single ear types. you're looking for beading (as in neclace beads) memory wire (neclace sized rings), typically a silver/chrome finish. this is far stronger than flower wire and holds its shape through light bending and such. the wire's fairly thin and can be shaped with a pair of needle nose pliers. use a good pair of cutters cuz it's stainless steel and will eat weak wire cutters. I would also recommend a simple hotglue gun to coat the ends of the wire to prevent hair getting stuck or sharp edges from sticking out.

the shape you're going for is very close to those around-the-back headphones made these days for pretty cheap. suspends over the ears, around the back of the neck. I like to use heatshrink (gently) to attach the mic element to the wire once the shape is completed. you also should add a slight curl/twist in the wire at the top of one ear that can be pinched closed (gently) to prevent the cable from sliding around too much and straining the mic head if it slips that far. heatshrink the b3 cable back to the center of the memory wire (back of the head) and let it drop.

automatic strain relief provided by the memory wire headset, tape optional, stayed on to a guy who was literally jumping backwards and landing on his back, handspringing up and doing it again. very lightweight.

only thing i noticed about the design is past about 3-4 hours I've heard some mild discomfort on actors because it pinches at the ears a little bit (needs to in order to stay on well without tape) (note: that's 4 hours continous wear. show length seems fine and most actors appreciate being able to take them off for short breaks.) I've used these with hoods, hats, wigs, and full costume changes. if they're fitted well to the actor's necks/ears, they don't generally affect the changes or costume fits.

also, you're probably worried about the chrome showing. the wire's thin enough that at 10+ feet you have know what to look for to find it when shaped correctly and hidden at the base of a hair line, otherwise you can always coat it in whatever heatshrink/paint you like.

if actors complain it's pinching around the tops of the ears (cable is really thin), add a layer of heatshrink and adjust the headset's fit slightly.

these start to look a bit "worn" after about a month of use, but still very useable. and materials put it at around or under 1$ per headset so, throwing them away isn't too big a deal just cut off the heat shrink and build a new one. I also build an adjustable neck size version when i don't know how big the people I'm going to be dealing with are and need to prep them in advance.

shoot me an email or something if anyone's got questions or wants to get more details!

[jkowtko]

memory wire -- great idea

The design I built a couple of times is a direct copy of the DPA 4066 ... boom the mic under the ear rather than over -- maybe a subjective opinion, but I think it looks better than over the ear.

Also, check out Tool-Dip or Liquid Electrical Tape, which you can literally paint onto the wire to pad the cut ends and the over the ear hook. Plus, this stuff doesn't slide so it should hang on better.

And please post a pic of your headset if youcan (I didn't take pics of the ones I made in the past :|

Thanks. John

[waynehoskins]

Been a few years gone by now .. wow, seven years? .. for a run of Man Of La Mancha in college I tried the over-the-ear thing as an experiment; that show was a longer-hair show, so I was able to put stupid huge ugly capsules just at their sideburns, worked surprisingly well. Good audio, not a huge eyesore. Would've been better if they were Mke2s, but back then we took what we could get.

Used bobby-pins to hold them in place to the hair. Somehow it worked.

[satriasound]

the ear to ear design i have is based off of dpa's headset as well. heehehehe.. interestingly, it attaches reasonably well to countryman e6s as well to give full wrap around head coverage when it just won't stay. (we had an actress with ears so small there was no way to hang the e6 off them once. memory wire was thin enough, and held on to her head enough to work)
thanks for the tip on the liquid e-tape, I'll have to try that. part of the benefit of the shrink wrap is being able to hold the wire on and be able to get it off the headset without too much hassle cuz tape can get very ugly very fast. but coating the memory wire with that stuff sounds like its worth looking in to. kept them small file size so we don't destroy anyone's connections. pictures are reasonably big i think tho.

this is the single ear and multi ear design i use built with memory wire available at any beading/crafts shop like Michael's. this particular brand is "Bead-a-lon" i believe. neclace shaped loops. 1 package for around 7 bucks, builds 15 full headsets, and a lot more of the 1-ear type. holds shape that its bent to, and can be gently bent without destroying the prebent shape. great stuff.

mounted on ear loop at top for mic line.


the 1 ear rig, bend lower bits around to match people's ears. that one is just large enough to fit on me (as you see in first picture)


tried a "head on" shot so you could see the loop. camera can't focus on it tho. sorry


this is the ear to ear version that i build. this one's adjustable to fit most people (hence the double wires at the back. they slide past each other to extend the space around the neck)


hope that helps. the adjustable wrap arounds take about an hour or so to build due to all the small detail bends, but the single ear pieces are just a few minutes worth and they hold for months through all kinds of abuse.

[Dillon]

I'll second all the stuff that Andy already threw out there... building mic rigs have developed into quite an art for the Broadway engineer.

My two cents worth:
1- Ditch the plastic ear clips. More often than not, they don't fit as well as a piece of bent bailing wire will. Buy a spool of wire at the hardware store for a few bucks and play around with different rigs for differently-shaped ears... some stores will call it "hanging wire" in the plumbing section. The rigs hold up pretty well... I have a couple dozen that have been in use since March.

2- If the investment in a hellerman tool is too much for your organization, try picking up some heat-shrink and use it in the same way. I've had luck with some 3:1 shrink (so it would fit over the mic head) on wire rigs. Be careful to keep the heat away from the mic element when you are shrinking.

3- Colors. I haven't found anything yet that will return a mic cable back to it's natural beige color. So if you are renting, keep the markers in the drawer. Otherwise, I'll second the Pantone markers. I've had good luck matching skin and hair tones with a set of these markers. In many cases, a simple black sharpie will go a long way as well.

[coldfire]

I just thought I would add my thoughts about this. From my experience with it all, I have always preferred Countryman headsets. Now, I know that a lot of headsets move and can be difficult to work with, but these are quite stable. If you have a small budget, however, these would NOT be the way to go. Check them out for more details on color and pricing.