lav micing for weddings

[Denny Lajeunesse]

Can't seem to find rentals in my area so i am thinking of either buying a wireless lav system and/or a portable recorder like the tascam DR-100 and wiring a lav to it.

What are you all using?

Main question. WHO are you usually micing? I have heard that many grooms/offients etc. do not want to carry a transmitter.

I have also heard that if that some people place a mic nearby the alter etc. What are you using for a mic when you are doing that? Are you using a seperate sound person with a field mixer?

I come mainly from a filmmaking and live event video background and am wondering what your audio techniques are when it comes to weddings.

[John Knight]

Sennheiser G3 on minister (ask nicely) connected to main cam. Sennheiser G3 on Groom (don't ask - just shove in his pocket at last minute) connected to 2nd cam. iRiver on podium, iRiver near any live musicians. Tell any people doing readings not from the podium to stand near the priest/groom if possible. Roll!

[Don Bloom]

Audio Technica 1821 dual receiver with 1 mic (countryman EMW on groom) and 2nd mic on lectern where the readers speak and the priest generally does the gospel and homily. This of course for Catholic ceremony's with 2nd mic placement dependent on the exact ceremony, although most ceremonys that are held in a church are usually mic'd that way.
Hotel and outdoor ceremony's are mic'd depeding on the logostics of the venue but the groom always get's mic'd. I've had only 1 groom that didn't want to be mic'd about 6 years ago.

[Howard Neill]

We put a mic on the Officiant, Groom and any people doing readings, etc. We have four iRivers, with Giant Squid mics. That allows for two readers.

If there are more than two readers, reader#1 hands his unit to reader#3 - reader#2 hands his to reader#4, etc.

.

[Chris Harding]

Here the priest/celebrant is pretty close to the couple so we just pop a radio mic on the groom and then a second one on the lectern where they do the readings. I have had a groom refuse to wear a mic (first time ever!!) but the priest was quite happy to wear one for the Church PA and one for me!!

My main cam is usually pretty close to the ceremony so I also let the Rode mics on each camera run as backups!! You can only do so much!! Last weekend, despite the rehearsal's careful planning and a radio mic on the lectern, the priest (in his wisdom) decided on a new spot for the readings. These sorta things happen so you have to be prepared for all eventualities!!
I rather like Don's reception idea (I think it was Don??) of having a drum mic right next to the PA speaker, then if a reader uses a remote mic you always get reasonable audio!!

Chris

[Denny Lajeunesse]

Thanks for the tips. Most of the weddings I'll be doing will be civil weddings. Pretty large proportion of those here as this is a destination wedding area.

Damn, looks like I'll have to spend another wad of cash for mics/transmitters etc.

[Don Bloom]

Denny,
Spending a "wad" of cash is relative. What's your budget? $500, $5000 or somewhere in between?

For example, an Audio Technica dual channel receiver with 2 body paks and stock mics is about $1300. A single channel unit is about $500. Sennheiser units, receiver, transmitter and stock mic goes for about $600. A Lectrosonics unit 400 series unit about $2500.

Of course you could also use the small stand alone recorders and for about the same money you could buy a lot of them and while they might work well for some people personally I don't trust them if for no other reason that I can't monitor them but that's me. I know they work and lot's of people swear by them.

Anyway, you pays you money and takes your choice.

[Denny Lajeunesse]

Anyone using field mixers? How are you controlling your levels if you do not?

[Don Bloom]

The AT receiver has a levels control on it and while not as precise as a mixer does work well in conjunction with the control on the camera.

Personally I try to keep it simple and adding a mixer to the "mix" is just another thing that could go wrong and something more I need to "keep my eyes on".

Since I've been using the AT dual channel setup, I've not had any problems or complaints about my audio, not that I did before but this unit makes contolling and monitoring 2 units very simple.

Works for me, YMMV.

[Jim Snow]

I have been rethinking this since I have been using Plural Eyes from Singular Software. Plural Eyes makes it very simple to sync multiple audio tracks so it makes it easy to use recorders instead of wireless mics. This also avoids the risk of interference when using wireless mics. Before I bought Plural Eyes, this option wasn't as appealing because of the tedious task of syncing multiple audio tracks.

You can still use a wireless mic but it gives more safety to also have multiple audio recorders appropriately placed. There's nothing wrong with not using extra audio that it turns out that you don't need but it gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach to ONLY have bad audio. For events where there is no second take, backup audio will save the day at times - it's just a matter of time.

Plural Eyes is currently available only for Vegas Pro and Final Cut Pro although I believe they have versions for other NLE's in the works.

[Taky Cheung]

I stop using wireless lav mic for a long time. Now I'm using voice recorder. It works very well for me. Very inexpensive indeed. You can read about it in my blog

Wireless Mics vs Voice Recorders | L.A. Color Blog
On-Camera Shotgun Mic Audio vs Digital Voice Recorder | L.A. Color Blog

[Scott Brooks]

I've just recently switched over to the Yamaha PockeTrak CX with Giant Squid microphones. For $175 at B&H it's a nice little recorder. I'm planning on putting one on the groom, the officiant, musicians, and one at the lectern for readings.

[Mike Hammond]

Same as Taky. Using DVR's.

I run a Olympus DM400 (oh boy, I think that's the model number) with Azden lav mics for the cermony. Also, a recorder by a PA speaker if possible. No interference and sync is easy in post.

At the reception, a DVR near a speaker.

[Michael Clark]

We use an Audio Technica Pro 88w for wireless and recently have begun using an iPod Touch as a secondary. We use other audio recorders for other things (shotgun, marantz pmd660 for sound board, etc), but these are my two primaries for the groom/officiant. Surprisingly, I've been moderately happy with the iPod. I use a program called Griffin iTalk Pro, which costs a few bucks at the iTunes app store. It doesn't offer level controls, but you can still monitor audio levels to verify that it is picking up sound. Not sure that I'd go out and buy one just for this purpose, but since I already have one it works as a backup.

As far as who I primarily mic, more often grooms are comfortable with wearing a mic whereas some officiants have requested to not wear one. In this case, I will hide the iPod mic behind a flower pot or elsewhere. Not great from that range, but still a backup.

[Denny Lajeunesse]

Mike, how is the ipod touch at recording audio via a lav? What app?

I have one laying around gathering dust.