Lapel microphone question

Hi Jeorg, It depends on several factors. An omni mike will pick up everyone and everything around the wearer, so sometimes can be a problem if the user likes to shuffle his notes, or she has banging bracelets. They can also be nice if the user is one of a group, such as a choir, as it then picks up those around...

The cardoids are good for picking up just the wearer, but with them, and especially the super cardoids, you have to be sure the mike is aimed properly. But they also have higer directional gain.

Charlie

Ok, it has a clip but our pastors and vicars wear no ties. So it gets clipped either to a shirt collar (where it can interfere with the robe) or on the robe where the directional orientation changes with movement because the cloth of the robe is rather floppy.

It's a Lutheran church, so only male pastors and no bracelets, and a good pastor has his notes memorized :-)

if you can aim it card. if yo can't omni.

That was also my very first idea but ... no numbers or descriptions on it whatsoever :-(

Ok, here's the other reason why maybe it has to be omni: The speaker does turn his head a bit to make eye contact with people. Even if that's only +/-25 degree, probably too much for a card?

Cards are better for gain before feedback. If it's a tieclip lavalier, that's where I would start.

-- Les Cargill

Silly me - I forgot to ask - what was the last one? That worked, right? :)

-- Les Cargill

Sennheiser MKE-2 red dot seems to be the most often preferred for Broadway shows. It's an omni.

"Let's look at the standard: on Broadway musicals and plays, the most common lavalier used is the Sennheiser MKE-2 red dot, a compact and omnidirectional element."

I figure it should mate perfectly with your system. As I recall, Sweetwater.com carries them, and you can probably get them at a bunch of internet places.

Ed

I was looking at Sweetwater because we had bought there before and they have good prices. Our belt packs are older so we need the locked phono plug. Was looking at the ME4 which comes in the three versions:

Will give them a ring, maybe they know something about it, and to make sure it really fits the SK-100 transmitter belt packs.

I'm late to the conversation as usual... Needed to replace our church's old wireless system that could not be updated and was now on an illegal frequency. I bought a Shure wireless mic system through Sam Ash and got a very helpful person that guided me through selection. His leading question was very good, "do you want your priest to sound like an idiot?" Usual comments aside, I understood immediately that he meant to steer me away from cheepo solutions. Wound up getting a Shure PGX series and everybody was very happy with it. Came with an omni mic. Got a 'house of worship' discount to boot.

Also have had good dealings with Full Compass They have a good downloadable catalog for reference use.

Oppie General church techie and choir member

I can second that Full Compass is a good, reliable vendor. That was the main site where I got all the gear for the city's sound system a few years ago!

Charliee

I like the Sennheiser stuff much better. Nice heavy-duty metal construction, sturdy, and most of all no popping and rat-tat-tat when some big load is switched. We also have a Shure Marcad but I hope some day we can get rid of it, causes too much static.

So I take it that an omni-directional lapel mike would be the right one then.

I don't think we'd get that at Sweetwater but $140 for a lapel mike sound like an ok deal.

I am one of the "well, it kinda fell into my lap" church techie. But no choir, if I'd sing there the congregation would run ;-)

But for some reason they have the Sennheiser ME4 lapel mike only in the cardioid version. From what I've read here that wouldn't be so good for church use.

I'd go for the cardioid, if it's possible to point it at the speaker's face and not out into the room. (I don't know what "super-cardioid" means.)

Why not call somebody in Hollywood and find out how they do their mics? ;-)

Good Luck! Rich

I'd still do it; ± 25° should be within range for a cardioid.

Have you looked at Bluetooth? I'm baffled by how that little ear clip can pick up the speaker's voice, but not room noise.

Good Luck! Rich

I think the point might have been, do you have any others that are still working, that you could actually analyze?

Good Luck! Rich

Yes, I could experiment a bit in hopes of figuring out the characteristics because if you tug the cable a certain way you can make it work again for a while. But the problem is I am in the middle of a chip design, the mike is over at the church and they need it quickly.

Bluetooth has no range. We need a solid 300ft through obstructions.