I have watched a lot of videos and I am noticing that most interviews I see I can not see a lav mic used. I would imagine most of these are done on a boom mic above the talent. I don't own one of these. I do have a nice lav and recorder and I am wondering what you do yo ensure that it isnt seen. Do you hide it under clothes? Do you just let it show? What is the procedure for this?

The only reason I can think of to hide a lavalier is narrative film work. That is, where seeing the mic would interfere with the experience. Everything else, let it show.

I've never really worried about hiding the lav. Doing MOS type interviews the clients don't seem to care that the lav can be seen.

OK Thanks...

In regards to lav placement to get the best audio, where would I put it?

There are a few levels of hiding:
0) Let it all hang out.
1) Hide the wire only,
2) Hide the wire and partially obscure the lav such that it's exposed and subtle,
3) Totally hide it.

Unless it's narrative, I go with 0 or 1. If it's a "real" interview, I hide the wire. In an impromptu place, like on a tradeshow floor, I just clip it on and shoot.

For placement, the trade off is to get it as close as possible, but not so close that the voice will change as the person moves naturally. Typically, this is between the 2nd and 3rd buttons on a dress shirt.

The toughest situation I encounter is when somebody is presenting an object or screen behind them. They alternatively turn their head to the camera and to the screen/object and the volume/tone can change drastically. If you can predict that they will always look forward or to the right, you can clip the mic part way to the right. The more they will turn their head, the lower you mount the mic. The louder the environment, the higher you mount the mic.

I guess for the head turners, I should make them wear a hat and mount it there. :)

BTW, some mount the mic pointing downwards. Your lav is omnidirectional, so it doesn't matter where it points - except for plosives. If the talent lays a loud "P" into the mic, it might be less sensitive to it when facing away from the person. I've never worried about it. My COS-11D lavs don't seem too sensitive to plosives when mounted normally.

What Jon said. For trade shows especially, thee just isn't a lot of time to play around with placement and hiding cable so for me, it's clip it on, I'm a left lapel kinda of guy or if no lapel, it get clipped to the button panel on the shirt last resort is the collar especially on women who are wearing a sweater or a pullover type blouse. I'll hide the wire as best I can but I don't go crazy over it. They want to move on and so it's clip, shoot, go!

I have worked on plenty of documentaries where they wanted to hid the lav for long interviews. Thank god for booms! A lot of reality shows rely on hidden lavs. All sorts of techniques to hide lavs and different mic heads are easier than others. Much riskier than out in the open but some projects demand it.

Working on a variety of commercials, marketing videos, corporate interviews, etc., I can tell you that many times the client WILL want the lav hidden. There is not necessarily rhyme or reason to it, sometimes they're ok with it being visible, other times not. If it's a concern for you, I would try to learn the methods sound guys use to hide them (it's not the hiding that's hard, it's the hiding while getting good sound and making sure lav doesn't move too much/rub on clothes/rub on body/etc.)

Yea I prefer the look of having it hidden. I think it looks cleaner, but like you said, I need to learn how to hide it while keeping audio quality high. I'll have to do some research.

I need to learn how to hide it while keeping audio quality high. I'll have to do some research.
Re: Lav Placement...
research.. and practice.
Hiding mics is sort of black art. Sometimes if works, sometimes it don't so expect to make mistakes.. if you want to call them that. The typical hiding accessories are a must have. Undercovers, Topstick, Transpore surgical tape, hush lavs and vampire clips are the most used in my world.

"Doing MOS type interviews the clients don't seem to care that the lav can be seen"
>I guess 'MOS' interviews are with mimes or sign language.

My favorite way to hide a microphone is in someone's collar, or behind the tie or the edge of their jacket so that the very tip is the only thing you might see. I use a lot of fabric tape to make sure it doesn't move, though, since that is often the death of your audio, the scratching and crackling.

It's really easy with the matchstick microphone we bought to use with our pocket recorders. Sadly, I haven't found a comparable for our lav.

If you attempt to hide a lav, monitoring with good headphones is more important than ever.

When the mic is visible, you can see if things are rubbing or wiggling. When the mic is hidden, you can't see what it might be scraping against or what might cause a sound to be coupled into the mic.

In fact, I don't think I've ever had problems with clothing noise on a visible lav - and I don't think I've ever avoided clothing noise entirely when hiding it!

Hey Rick, I don't understand what you meant. MOS to me has always been 'Man on the Street' news style so I'm not sure about your comment. Please explain.

I am sure Rick was referring to the use of "MOS" Which also has meant Mit (with) out sound in Film production. The slang of news MOS Man on the Street has always been at cross purposes to the film MOS slang in this case.

"Doing MOS type interviews the clients don't seem to care that the lav can be seen"
>I guess 'MOS' interviews are with mimes or sign language.

Daniel,
Thanks. You learn something new everyday. I had no idea that MOS was used in another context. Again thanks!

In my world (broadcast and corporate), MOS is "mit out sound" as well and Man On The Street interviews are Streeters or Vox Pop (especially in French).

Don, Your welcome. MOS seems to be an acronym with many meanings. Mom over Shoulder. came up fairly quickly

Here is the movie version.

Movie★Slate > Support > FAQs (http://www.movie-slate.com/FAQs/10261/)

Never been asked or bothered to hide a lav. For live speaking and meetings, just clip it on the lapel, about level with the pocket top. When not using a suit jacket, then on the tie, also level with the shirt pocket top. Make sure that the mic is not touching fabric, or in the way of long hair that would introduce friction noise.

For more formal interviews or where I have time, I always hide/secure the cord, sometimes under the lapel around the collar and then down the back, fixed with a little gaffers tape to prevent interviewees from subconsciously fiddling with it and creating noise, (it happens). I also add a small 1/2 inch loop at the base of the mic and secure it through the clip. This prevents noise transmitted by the cord when it moves.

A popular (presumed to be mythical) origin theory is that MOS stands for broken English "mit out sound", that is, "without sound" as a 1920s German-émigré director might have said it.

According to this theory, a German director, recently transplanted to Hollywood (probably Ernst Lubitsch, but possibly Fritz Lang), was asked by a script supervisor how he would like to shoot the next scene of the day. The director responded "mit out sprechen!", and so this was noted as a joke on the production reports and the camera slates for the shot. In The Screenwriter's Bible, David Trottier credits the term to Austrian director Erich von Stroheim, who allegedly would tell his crew "Ve'll shoot dis mid out sound." Many have also referred to MOS as "motion on screen."

Documentary, news and reality shows have added to the meaning of MOS to mean "man on street" which are random interviews from the public, although in the UK the term "vox pop" is commonly used for this instead (from the Latin "vox populi"- "voice of the people").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_(filmmaking)

I recently worked on a production where we had a visible camera on a circular track around the four guys at a table. But the producer insisted on HIDDEN mics and we struggled to keep them all working through dozens of costume changes. :-(

Since I work mostly in film production lately, 'MOS' means "without sound" to me.
FWIW, I did a lot of freelance ENG news work and have never heard the term MOS 'Man on Street' used. At least in NY, may be different in other parts of the country/world though.

Not to contradict Rick's experience in NY but I have heard of MOS as man on the street here and Vox Pops as well as a few other terms. NY is a big city.

Guys,
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start anything. ;-) I've always or at least for the last 30 years known MoS to stand for "man on the street". I've not done film production so I never heard of the other definitions of the acronym.
I AM glad to know of the other meanings so now when I say MoS, which BTW also means Military Occupational Specialty, of which mine was 11BX(P) meaning, Infantry (11B) X meaning rank, in my case 4=Sgt. and the P meaning Parachute qualified, but I digress.
Perhaps it was just an abbreviation for some in the live event industry in my area when they would use MoS to signify they wanted Man on the Street interviews.
In any case, now I know. See even old dogs can learn new tricks. Woof!

While we're at it, if I wanted to 'hide my lav' I would either
(a) put the lid down
(b) shut the door
or even
(c) remove the sign

Now, tie clip mics, that's another matter. :-)

Shouldn't a lavalier mic be hung from a pendant anyway (or possibly a pedant like me. :-)

This is not the first time I have seen the suggestion that we hang the pedants. And I was frequently included as one of the offenders.

I usually think of MOS relating to "no sound", but have probably heard it for "man on the street" as well.

I would usually center the lav (e.g. on a tie or whatever) if possible for a speaker on stage, unless for some reason they're only going to be looking to one side the whole time, then I'd bias the lav toward that side. I figure center, voice won't drop off as much as head swings side to side, no?

Also, when hiding JUST the wire, around the collar etc. always seems a pain (seems to pull the mic in weird directions). I always try to go down the shirt (well not me personally but the mic hardy har tee hee nudge nudge wink wink). For a dude, in through an upper button hole and out a lower one, remaining lav wire through belt loops, trans box on belt/pants somewhere. Obviously this is with biz-casual attire on talent.

Tshirts? Whatever.

For a lady? Whatever works.

Topless man covered in popcorn oil? I've stepped into the wrong room and meant the one down the hall.

Tshirts?
A Tram or other small side address mic with a vampire clip at the collar is common, as is attached to the skin at the sternum with Stickies or other adhesive aides.
Woman are usually easier, vampire clipped mic to the center of a bra.

Brock,

This is all brand new to you. Take it one step at a time. Hiding the mic exponentially increases your chances of flawed recordings. If your going to hide it have a solid back up recording in place too.

If your going to let the wire show, DO NOT run it over the shoulder from the back to front! That screams amateur and looks so bad it makes me crazy!

For obvious reasons I have always asked women for permission to touch them before I attach a lav. In the last few years I have also been asking male presenters for permission. I am amazed by how many men say no and insist on doing it themselves. Ironically, the ones that say no are almost always physicians.

Steve

PS I am not a fan of the upside down placement technique. Too much opportunity for sound pick up from outside the proper pattern for my comfort zone, even with a so called omni, I just can't do it.

If your going to let the wire show, DO NOT run it over the shoulder from the back to front! That screams amateur and looks so bad it makes me crazy!

OOOPS. I did that a year ago on an interview with an 80 year old lady who BTW was driving me crazy for a number of reasons but I ran the cable over the shoulder just as you described. At the time there was a valid reason that I did. Oh yeah the producer said "do it that way". I said it wouldn't stay and wouldn't look good, she said "DO IT". I shook my head and did it. The cable was hidden at first but after about 5 minutes into the interview it slipped into sight. I saw it, called a halt, fixed it, started again and within another 5 minutes it was showing. I motioned to the producer of this segment which was going to take another 50 or 60 minutes to shoot and she motioned back to forget about it. Just leave it. I wasn't in a position to argue with her so I did what she said to do and left it. It hurt my eyes but she was the one in charge and I couldn't get her to understand. Yes it was her first job as a producer.
Oh well. Her call, not mine.

Hey Rick, I don't understand what you meant. MOS to me has always been 'Man on the Street' news style so I'm not sure about your comment. Please explain.

In the UK we have always called these sort of interviews "vox pop" (voice of the population).

Generally MOS means without sound (mitt out sound), that's not to say you won't get a different meaning within sections of the industry. You do find areas where terms have used in a way locally, which may not apply in the industry as a whole. In news some newspaper terms have been carried over, but in the UK vox pop is the term used

Some organisations also have their own terminology, the BBC has/had quite a few examples of this: Chroma key being referred to as CSO (colour-separation overlay) in the BBC.

I guess I spent too much time in the repair shop. The first thing that pops into my mind is Metal Oxide Semiconductor, as in MOSFET.

Except at the local diner, where MOS is a burger with mushrooms, onions, and swiss.

Seriously, I cast a vote for Vox Pop (vox populi = voice of the people, as I believe someone stated above). I think that's best, as it's unambiguous. Vox Pop does not refer to anything else in filmmaking, in electronics, or on a menu, as far as I know.