Best Microphone?

[James Aleksic]

Hello all,

My name is James, and I am new to this site! I love all of the information, and am really happy to be able to be a part of a forum like this.

I have only recently developed an interest for technical theatre - I'm 16 and have recently become self employed. A local school have asked me to suggest microphones for them to use, after another company quoted £1000 for two radio mics. I was just wondering what other people's favourite microphones were, and if anyone would pay that much for a couple of handheld microphones.

I look forward to reading more of the forums!

 

[Jacques Mersereau]

Hey James,

Having had a lot of experience with wireless mics - I call the show wreckers - you really want to make sure you don't get the wrong ones.
Why? Some, if they lose what I call 'telemetry' - the contact between the mic that is transmitting and the receiver - give a HUGE BLAST of white noise that will knock Grandpa's teeth into the back of his throat.
Other are susceptible to what we call HITS, a big spike of noise/interference from some outside source somewhere.
The bottom line is, TEST in your space before buying. If they work and are solid, great, but if they cut out, drop out, get hits and/or lose telemetry, you might as well have not purchased them.

Is $1000 for two setups expensive. NO. In fact, it is probably suspect as being too cheap. Others may disagree, but perhaps they haven't had a show wrecked from even a decent system. For our studio, we purchased Lectro Sonics top end. For six channels, transmitters (for lavs and headsets) and two plug in transmitters that allow you to plug in almost any kind of other mic, six DPA lavaliere mics and six DPA headset mics and remote antennas w/ cables the system was $20,000. That said, it has been rock solid and as good sounding as wireless mics can get. Good stuff lasts and retains its value. I could sell it all tomorrow for almost the same price paid a two years ago.

As always, your mileage may vary.

 

[robartsd]

Is $1000 for two setups expensive. NO. In fact, it is probably suspect as being too cheap.

OP was talking about two setups for 1000 GBP which is 1600-1700 USD.

 

[TimmyP1955]

The cheapest wireless I go with would be Sennheiser EW100, or Shure ULX-D.

 

[jkowtko]

What type of wireless miss? Handheld or lava liver? What is the usage? How frequently?

I have four AKG WMS450 handhelds that can be found for under $250 each, have the D5 capsule which has a nice warm sound, and the transmission is flawless. These transmitters run off of a single AA battery which makes them very economical to operate. We have also used these with body back transmitters (also 1 AA battery) and countryman B3 lavs with very good success.

I have also worked with the sennheiser G1 body back wireless, as well as Audio-technical ... Both good units but they use 2AA batteries. And you still have to buy separate lavs if you want really good sound.