Advice for lapel mic system
 

Hi:

I am thinking of purchasing a couple of lapel mics - that is 2. At this point wireless will have to wait. The mics will connect to my Canon XH-A1, got two XLR and one mini jack. One XLR will be reserved for the shotgun mic I got.

My idea is to have the lapels connect to some mixer that connects to the other XLR in, for unknown reasons I dislike using the mini-jack. I've got lost in the multitude of connectors and mics available, and I have no idea how these mics are soundwise or what specs to look for - cardiod or condenser?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Erik

First of all, cardioid and condenser are not an either/or. Cardioid is the shape of the mic's pickup pattern while condenser is the electronic principle on which the mic works. Most lav mic are of the condenser type - in fact, I'm not aware of any that aren't. The pickup pattern comes mostly in two flavours, cardioid (heart-shaped, directional) and omni (spherical shaped). Lavs used for film and video production are almost always omni. The directionality of cardioids means it's too easy for the slightest head-turn to take the talent off-mic with a corresponding change in timbre - they're pretty much restricted to use in sound reinforcement applications where the directivity is needed to help control feedback. So your best bet is going to be to looking are omnidirectional, condenser mics that accept phantom power or have an inline battery power supply (since you want to feed it directly into a mixer or your camera.

As to specific brands and models, there are a lot to consider. Very popular ones for film and video work include mics from Tram, Countryman, Sanken, DPA, Sony, and others. The Tram TR-50 with an inline power supply is very widely used and the arguably current 'go-to' mic for broadcast is the Sanken COS-11. A quick perusal of the Coffey Sound or Trew Audio website will give you an overview of what the professional market is buying these days.

Even though wireless isn't in the cards right now, you might want to go ahead and plan for the wireless you'll eventually be getting. Different wireless manufacturers use different plug schemes on their transmitters. The mics themselves can be fitted with a breakway cable arrangement that has the a wireless-type plug in the cable going to the phantom/battery supply module. IF you choose the right connectors, right now you'd use the mic plugged into its XLR adapter. When you later get your wireless, you unplug the mic from the XLR adapter and plug it into the wireless transmitter. If you've chosen the right connectors you get a 'two'fer'

As for a mixer to combine the mics, the SD MixPre or 302 might be candidates to consider but be very careful. If the actors are close together, mixing two lavs into one channel carrys the danger of phase problems as the two mics pick up the same sound at slightly different times - mixing them together can cause selective reinforcement and cancellation known as 'comb-filtering.' Better to unplug that shotgun and put each lav mic onto its own dedicated channel.

Steve -

I had a similar question and searched this site for an answer. Yours is perfect. Thanks for the information and suggestions - I'll use both.

Len

Hi Erik,
What will you be using the label mics for? Will you be doing sit down interviews? Documentary?