Lav mics on Network TV Shows

[GHC]

Are there any broadcast guys(gals) on here that happen to have an inside as to the type of mics being used network shows. Example, Today Show, GMA, View, various news shows.

I do some TV work, but am helping a production company research the best mic choice for some upcoming location shows where several lav wireless are needed on the same set. We need both good quality and as much isolation as possible since room acoustics may not be ideal.

The current crop of tiny mics are hard to distinguish as to brand.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[jpleong]

If you're looking at Wireless Lavaliers then you're actually looking at two different components: One would be the transmitter/receiver component and the other would be the microphone itself.

Unfortunately, my broadcast experience has been limited to hard-wired lavs and these have been mostly from Audio-Technica and Crown (if I'm not mistaken -it's been a while).

On the other hand, I have a bit more experience with musical theatre where wireless lavaliers are abundant. On the component side, the (upper-end) Sony and Sennheiser units have been very popular with the techs; the latter being the preferred of the two. The ability to transmit across a wide range of frequencies and the ease at which settings are altered are key. I believe that the Sennheiser units I've worked with also have a computer monitoring system for battery life, etc...

With microphones (the elements), we've used mostly Countryman mics due to their sound quality and compact size. These have replaced the stock elements that come with the bodypacks. The usual polar pattern for theatre is cardiod or super-cardiod. For broadcast television, I would recommend an omni-directional pattern since you're not having to worry about monitors feeding back. This will also help ensure that if your personality strays from on-axis, he or she will still sound relatively normal.

I'm not sure what your experience is with wireless bodypacks, but to calm any fears about soldering, etc... all upper-end wireless bodypack systems utilise a removeable element connection (usually connected via BNC or Mini-XLR) so changing/replacing an element is relatively easy. Only thing to keep in mind: buy lots of batteries. They eat them like candy!

JP