Ear hangers for lavaliers

[jkowtko]

This season I'm going to attempt using halo and toupee clip mounting through the hair as much as possible, however I'm sure I'll still have plenty of actors without the appropriate head of hair that I will have to use ear/cheek mounts for.

Rather than taping over the ear as we did all last year, I'd like to find or fashion a simple ear clip to which I can attach the lav, to keep the mic head around the sideburn area. The lav cord can go over or under the ear as far as I'm concerned -- probably under the ear would be less work for the clip.

I will try floral wire for this, but in the meantime does anyone know of any commercially available ear clips that sit well on the actor's ear and to which I could easily fasten the mic cord?

Thanks. John

[mbenonis]

I have found that green floral wire works just fine for this. Cut a piece of wire long enough to go all around the ear, and shape it to the victim...er, actor's ear. I twist the extra wire together at the bottom and put a bit of black gaff on it to protect the neck. Then tape the mic wire to the top of the loop with a bit more gaff, and put it on the actor. Depending on how far down the cheek you want to run the mic, use medical tape to affix it to the actor's face. Then send the actor to makeup.

[ssss2art]

I also have tried the floral wire technique.

I have settled on using ear piece replacments for cell phone headsets that are sold at radio shack. They Sell some that wrap around the ear and others that insert in the ear (I reccomend the around the ear type unless you want to custom fit the in ear version for each actor(they come in three sizes).

They are made out of silicone and plastic. Using these as a base I have attached piano wire(which is stiffer than floral wire) by stabbing the wire into the silcone part of the ear holder and then bending it to the desired shape to extend the capsule onto the cheek. At the end of the wire I bend a loop to help secure the casule. This method seems to require less tape on the face. and easier transitions between actors since they can just bend the ear piece to fit. I attach the capsule to the rig by using clear rubberbands to tie the wire onto the rig.

If you are interested i can send you a picture.

[ssss2art]

i made some pics



hope this helps

[jkowtko]

Thanks -- this is the type of thing I was looking for. I'll see if I can find one at the local radio shack.

[Dillon]

I use home-built ear-rigs for all my singers. Mainly to custom-fit them to each singer's ear. I use heat shrink to seal it all together. The trick here is to find 3:1 heat shrink so that it will fit over the mic element and shrink up small enough to keep the wires all tight. I bought white heat shrink which we color to match each actor's skin tone. Cheap and easy!

[jkowtko]

This one is great too! Thanks for the ideas!

[jkowtko]

You know -- one thing I tried last night that actually worked ... a simple elastic band stretched llightly around the ear, with the mic clove-hitched to the cord and sticking out about an inch past the top of the ear. If the actor has enough ear lobe it will hold ... our actor barely had a lobe, but his band held the entire night and he's thrilled.

Fyi, the rear of the cord is toupee-clipped to the center back of his hairline.