Audio issues with Sennlavalier mic

[Marcus Martell]

Hola my friends,

I'm having issues recording interviews with the senn kit. I'm working on aproject with interviews with old people on a little town in the middle of the country where there are no cell phones areas or tv antennas...nada!
I'm hearing on the head phone a lot of digital noise, sometimes even digital little "Stak"!
I tryed to check the wires and they seem ok.....

What would you suggest me to set as Sensisibility of the mic TX (i guess-20db right)?
And what about the receiver? I set squelch on LO, and AF out -06, what do you gurus think about? Many thanks

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Marcus Martell

Hola my friends,

I'm having issues recording interviews with the senn kit. I'm working on aproject with interviews with old people on a little town in the middle of the country where there are no cell phones areas or tv antennas...nada!
I'm hearing on the head phone a lot of digital noise, sometimes even digital little "Stak"!
I tryed to check the wires and they seem ok.....

What would you suggest me to set as Sensisibility of the mic TX (i guess-20db right)?
And what about the receiver? I set squelch on LO, and AF out -06, what do you gurus think about? Many thanks

The sensitivity on the Tx is determined by the output of the mic connected to it and the volume level of the person's voice - there's no "standard preset." The AF level in the meter should be up between about 80% of full scale and just touching full scale and you use whatever setting gives you that reading. The setting of the AF Out depends on the sensitivity of the device you're sending the signal to and again, there's no magic preset.

Check to make sure the batteries are fresh in both units, Check to make sure the antennas are straight and parallel. Make sure the cable from the mic capsule doesn't drape over, cross, or loop around the Tx antenna. Make sure the Tx antenna isn't touching skin or pressed against the bodyy of the person wearing it.

Are you sure there's no cell phone service? And just because there's no service doesn't rmean someone in the room doesn't have one on ther person they've forgotten to turn off.

[Marcus Martell]

Steve,
first of all thanks...I wish i had an audio guy with me during the shooting...
Where do u suggest me to attach tape on the wires in the way there won't be any kind of noise of the wire touching the shirt or the skin of the guy with the mic on?


thx mate!

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Marcus Martell

Steve,
first of all thanks...I wish i had an audio guy with me during the shooting...
Where do u suggest me to attach tape on the wires in the way there won't be any kind of noise of the wire touching the shirt or the skin of the guy with the mic on?


thx mate!

First is it a dramatic show where the mic must be hidden or an interview or doco scenario where a visible mic or cable is okay?

[Marcus Martell]

Doc where i'd like to see just the lavalier little mic!
I don't like a hand with mic or stuff like that :)

Thx 4 your help Steve

[Rick Reineke]

A hardwired Phantom Pwr. adapter or battery pwr. supply would be your best bet, if your interviewees are not walking around. Other than that, basic wireless mic mounting and usage applies. Search this forum for mounting (9dB loop) and other instructions and posts..
Keep the transmitter and receiver antennas line-of-sight. Do a proper frequency scan regardless of what frequencies are 'supposed to be unused'. Yeah, a sensitivity setting of -10 or -20dB on the transmitter should work good if there are no other problems.

[Marcus Martell]

Guys what about the SQULCH function? I left to low, when do u turn it up?
thx

[Marcus Martell]

Just finished a new test but: i always hear a little noise on my headphones.....
I tryed to change channels, i changed the wires but the little noise is still over there!
It's like a little "FRSHHH" not loud but noisy...
:(

[Brian P. Reynolds]

Try removing the mic from the TX and see if the noise is still there or switch the mute switch on the Tx, if its clean the problem is with the mic if it's still noisy the Tx-Rx set up.
Check the batteries as Sennheiser setups seem to best with fresh batteries and drops off rapidly when the batteries are nearly depleted.

[Steve Oakley]

if you are taking RF hits which is what this sounds like, just change the frequency....

ya make sure batteries are good

also try moving the receiver a .25m-1m in the room. sometimes RF reflections in the room, even at close distances can cause problems. you might need a short extension cable to do this ( audio feed from receiver to camera ! )

just because there doesn't seem to be a TV tower or cell site doesn't mean there isn't RF out there. you'd be surprised that some times in the middle of nowhere you can take RF hits. it may or may not be external interference, so often the first cure is just moving the receiver around.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Marcus Martell

Guys what about the SQULCH function? I left to low, when do u turn it up?
thx

I would always leave the Squelch set to "low" - I would only turn it up in the situation where you have a very good signal from your transmitter but are suffering breakthrough from something else. Then turning up the squelch should get rid of the interference while still hearing your own transmitter.

Turning the squelch up in other situations runs the risk of the receiver muting if the TX level drops a bit.

[Les Wilson]

@Marcus. Post a sample on Vimeo or something so we can hear it.