I'm baffled..

[Brian P. Reynolds]

Sony ECM 77mics on occasions have problems with humidity when going from different sites across the country, they on occasions have a slight crackle to them (but not as bad as some AKG mics) by having 2 mics and often with 2 totally separate paths to the truck solve the problem.
Many OB's I'm involved with have the main mics via fibre and the backup mics go via copper one thing you learn over the years is NEVER rely on just one system, fibre works great but the weakest link is often the power point its plugged into, trip a circuit breaker and you've lost the lot.

[Ty Ford]

"The lavs are omnidirectional so being upside down is not an issue."

Well sort of. Some omnis are better than others. It's not unusual to lose some HF when you invert an omni, causing the source to be off-axis. Try it with yours and see (or, um, hear).

Regards,

Ty Ford

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Gary Lee

I don't know if any of you are watching the Masters golf tourney pre show, on the Golf Channel.

Yesterday, I was watching the the golf channel Live show and all of the hosts had their dual lapel mics pointed down. All three of them. I have NEVER seen that on any TV show of any kind.
Today,, They were pointed up.
On Thursday, they were pointed up.
I bet if you watch tomorrow they will be pointed up.

Can anyone think of any reason for them to be pointed down????? Then the next day pointed up? I looked close to see if there was any overhead shotguns but couldn't detect any. Would they have been using some type of lapel mics that could point in either direction? What would be the point of that?
I noticed no difference in audio on either day.

is it at all possible that some novice put them ALL on wrong yesterday?
Maybe I'm the novice, but I've never heard of pointing them down. I'm assuming they were omni's but its just weird.

Sort of a mystery to me. Anyone can clue me in?

Thanks,
GL

This is standard BBC practice.

They are omnidirectional and pick up from all around - but - facing them down protects the diapgragm from "nose noise" - IE: the blasts of air from the nose that are directed down into the mic. and can cause popping.

The first day they were put on by a sound engineer that had been properly trained and knew what he/she was doing. The second day they were put on by someone else.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

"The lavs are omnidirectional so being upside down is not an issue."

Well sort of. Some omnis are better than others. It's not unusual to lose some HF when you invert an omni, causing the source to be off-axis. Try it with yours and see (or, um, hear).

Regards,

Ty Ford

Agreed - but not with a sub-miniature tie mic. that is truly omni, as the size of the mic. is smaller than the wavelength of the highest frequency we can hear.

With larger omnis this is a point and a normal small diaphragm condenser has a size well above the wavelength of the high frequencies and would attenuate sound from the rear.

[Ty Ford]

John,

Then the times I've experienced this with lavs, something else may be the cause.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Gary Nattrass]

Haven't done sound on golf for a few years now but two lav's is rigged as a main and spare and upside down will prevent downward nasal blasts into the capsule.

If the are on the left or right lapel depends on the position of the person speaking but the presenters should be in the centre if possible and guests can vary depending on if they are looking at a presenter or cam left or right.

in the old days the shots were done on a special quarter inch machine that had a moving sound head and the shot was put on as the swing was taken these days the BBC use special radio mic systems that can work over long distances and the microwave cameras can also get a lot closer to the action.

[Ty Ford]

you mean they foleyd the ball hits?

That's hilarious

Ty Ford

[Greg Bellotte]

we still foley (well, digital playback anyway) the ball hits quite frequently...don't always have a mic with the group on a lot of events. the masters however has mics via fiber on every tee and green, and a wireless shotgun in every fairway. the whole package is distributed to all broadcasters onsite via two MADI feeds (128 channels!) or a CobraNet system. if you can't get hit sounds on that show...

[Gary Nattrass]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

you mean they foleyd the ball hits?

That's hilarious

Ty Ford

Yes I seem to recall it was an ampex machine and it had a large weight on a sliding plate fixed to the playback head, you had a gear-ed wheel that you turned and it moved the payback head across the tape at a fixed speed to add the sound of the swing in sync with the pictures, there were different parts of the tape for driver and iron shots.