Hey Zach,
Here are a few posts I've posted at a couple other forums with some advice in the past, hopefully they'll be of some help to you, too!
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There are three brands of medical tape we use for mounting the mics, all from 3M. My usual tape of choice is Blenderm, a matte finish tape that needs to be cut (it can be torn via a dispenser). It sticks well, blends in fairly easily, and tends to
wash off easily (my actors tend to occasionally end up with tape left behind on their neck or back due to how we have to tape their mics).
Second choice is Transpore, which is textured with lots of large pores. These make it easy to tear by
hand, which is a plus, but I also think it shows up more visibly from a
stage than Blenderm does. A couple of my actors find that it sticks better, especially those with coarse facial hair even when "clean-shaven".
Finally, for the hardcore sweaters, there's Tegaderm. This comes in small sheets, and you cut a strip out to fit your application. It sticks like crazy to most people, although it's slightly harder to remove (can be removed by
hand without any need for cleaning products, however). The one downside is that it's shiny, so you'll want to carefully powder it down (avoiding getting powder in the mic capsule).
For those who still can't get it to stick, try prepping the skin with a product from Smith & Nephew called Skin-Prep. This is a small wipe that looks like an alcohol prep pad, but it contains a polymer that forms a thin layer on the skin to both protect the skin and help the tape bond. It works great, but only use it when needed.
Finally, one trick for people who tend to really sweat the tape off, which works well both with and without the Skin-Prep, is to do a
base layer of Tegaderm directly on the skin. Then, tape the mic to that using Blenderm. Since the TD is directly on the skin without the mic lifting up an
edge, it's much harder for sweat to cause the tape to come up. The TD acts as a barrier between the skin and the BD.
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I'm still trying to find time to put together all the pics and stuff for the rigging tutorial, but here are some further thoughts on rigging with elastic; Kassel's suggestions are a good start, but not quite there in my experience (mostly because, in addition to ear being not as good a location as forehead, when you do an ear mount you want the mic further down the
face, and not right where the ear joins the head).
When I do elastic rigging, what I do is take the elastic and tie it with a
clove hitch about a finger width above the
base of the mic capsule, about an inch and a half from the end of the elastic
cord (typically, you'll want to use white elastic and color it with LetraSet Pantone markers to match your actor's skin and/or hair as necessary).
Then,
bend a small U shape in the mic cable starting at the capsule base--roughly the size of the curve from the
base of your fingernail on one side of your finger around to the other side ought to do the trick. Tie the end of the elastic around the other side of the U, such that when the elastic is stretched all the way, there is still a little
bit of slack in the U.
This won't be the best, but let me try to do an
ASCII until I can get the pictures up on my site:
Code:
/-----\
/ \
___mic_cable____/========|=======elastic========>
|
O <-capsule
This U loop will act as a
strain relief, allowing the elastic to remain snug on the actor's head without pulling on the
element or cable.
Now, hold the cable
in one hand and the elastic in the other, and place it on your actor's (or, if you need to, your own) head, with the
element centered on the forehead, just below the hairline. Bring the elastic and cable together at the back of the head, towards the bottom of the hairline, so that there's a little
bit of tension in the elastic. Pinch to
mark where the cable and elastic meet at the center (make sure it's centered, the cable won't hide as well off-center), then take it off the head and tie the elastic around the cable with a final
clove hitch. If you want, you can add a half
hitch on top of that to make it extra secure, although I don't find it necessary.
Trim any excess elastic beyond the two end clove hitches, and you're done. Fit it to the actor's head, sliding the
clove hitch at the back of the head along the cable if necessary to adjust tension (be careful that you didn't tie this one TOO tight, or you'll pull the
jacket of the cable and risk damaging the
shield inside). Use a comb/pick to pull the hair back up over the elastic, and all is good.
For the finishing touches, get yourself a
bit of first aid tape, as I discussed above. Have the actor tilt his head as far forward as he can, and apply a piece of tape to the cable at the
base of his neck, just below the collar of the costume. This will allow enough slack for him to be able to turn his head, but keep the cable from pulling up and showing above the collar.
If needed, you can use a piece of tape above the capsule's molded
strain relief (don't
cover the
strain relief, it's amazing what will screw up the tone of a lav, B6s are especially sensitive to tape over the
strain relief in my experience) to hold it pointing towards the actor's mouth.
I've had a couple actors who were allergic to the adhesive in the tape, so what I'd do in those cases was take a piece of appropriately colored floral
wire and, after a few tight wraps at the
base of the
strain relief, spiral it loosely around the cable for the length of the U tied in it. This will let you mold the cable and
point it how you need without using tape.
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Here's the quickie version of doing it with sleeves and ear clips.
You need a Hellerman tool, and packages of Hellerman sleeves (these are about 1" long rubber tubing pieces, similar to surgical tubing). The sleeves are fairly cheap, the tool is not (but boy, does it look cool!).
Then you need plastic ear clips, they're sold for use with
IFB earpieces, so most major audio retailers will have them. I can't recall which company/companies make them offhand, but you'll want the nice white rounded plastic ones. I've seen metal ones, and
flat plastic peach ones, and they're a lot more visible on the ear.
The clips come with a loop for holding the
IFB at the end, you can snip that right off with a sharp pair of
scissors or a set of dikes. Then, you'll use three of the sleeves to attach the cable to the clip, one curving along the clip where it goes over the top of the ear, then two along the back of the ear, with the last one ending right above where the clip straightens out.
You'll need to experiment with how much of the cable to leave coming off the front of the clip, it needs to be long enough that, when clipped on, the capsule can extend down to the actor's cheekbone in order to get the best sound. Then, just clip it on the ear, use a small piece of tape to hold the
element in place (again, being careful to not
cover the capsule or the
strain relief, as either can severely alter the tone of the mic), and do the same head tilt/tape below the collar thing that I described with the elastic rigging, and you're all set.
Experiment with placement here a
bit, and you'll see how even the smallest adjustment can make a HUGE difference in tone. Also note that this is a much more "middy" placement than on the forehead, so you'll have to EQ appropriately. Personally, unless necessary I would go with a forehead mount; it sounds better and is more hidden.
As long as I'm at it, the Hellerman-free approach I mentioned a while back is basically a cross between this and the floral
wire bit I mentioned in the previous post. Twirl a couple tight loops of
wire at the
base of the
strain relief, and then loosely spiral it around the length of the cable for a good 6 or more inches. Place the
element on the cheekbone, with the
wire/cable combo going over the top of the ear, and mold the cable/
wire around the back of the ear.
You want the cable/
wire wrap to end at the
base of the ear, with the cable going loose down to the transmitter. The
wire, however, will wrap up around the front of the ear until it meets the cable/
wire at the top, where you'll twist it around a few times to lock it all together.
What you end up with is a loop shaped roughly like a backwards D, with the capsule end of the cable (wrapped loosely with the floral
wire) extending off the top of the D, and the
connector end of the cable hanging loose from the bottom.
The
wire will help you aim the mic, and may alleviate the need for taping the mic, although you'll again want to experiment (a nice plus if it holds position on your actor without tape is that it can float off the skin, reducing chances of a sweatout).
If any of this is unclear, just e-mail me and I'll come back and try to clarify whatever I can!
)
--Andy, who spent much of last year on the
road rigging wireless mics for
The Full Monty, and now has it easy using a
headset for
Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Coloring Book )
