Looking for a Simple Wireless Lapel Microphone

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Scott Davis

Freshman
May 31, 2013
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Hello! My name is Scott Davis and I am new to these forums. A few years back, I bought a $40 pair of wireless lapel transmitter/receiver sets from eBay. They actually worked okay but were made very poorly, and fell apart some time ago. I don't do pro audio or anything, but I plan to do some documentary-type videos for my local astronomy club, and would really like to have a pair of wireless lapel mics, without spending a lot of money.

For my audio recording, I would use a DCR-TRV300 camcorder which has a 1/8" stereo mic input jack. Hooked into that, I have a XLR adaptor (don't remember the brand). The adaptor has two channels with individual volume controls, and each channel can accept an XLR input or a 1/8" mono input. The adaptor can either route each channel to left/right or mix into both channels.

I don't need anything fancy - just something I can hook onto a shirt and record their voice at a relatively good quality with a minimum of fuss. In a quick search on ebay, I found:

Two Mics 1 Lapel Lavalier and 1 Over The Head Wireless Microphone System | eBay

Wireless Lapel Microphone System Nady DKW 1Lt 634343003734 | eBay

I know nothing about these brands, so I'm open to suggestions - as well as any suggestions you may have. If possible, I'd like to get something with a relatively good quality for less than $100.

Thank you very much!
 
Scott,

Honestly what you are doing is the equivalent of asking an Indy car driver for advice about a go cart. I think most of the people who frequent these forums have very little if any experience with products in the price range you are looking at.

Actually most of us spent more than $100 on the case we keep our cheap wireless in.

Just for a recommendation, a friend that works with a local TV station turned another friend who is a wedding videographer onto the Sony digital wireless and the results I have heard have been excellent.
 
Re: Looking for a Simple Wireless Lapel Microphone

Jay Barracato said:
Scott,



Actually most of us spent more than $100 on the case we keep our cheap wireless in.
Click to expand...

That said, everyone started somewhere and some are still there...

The Sennheiser Freeport / Trantec S4.4 is OK if your needs are very basic, though obviously nobody's using them for large televised events. (I hope). You'll need to pay more attention to gain structure to keep them from being too noisy. They're the same unit rebranded. They go for about £130 in the UK and probably the minimum I'd use.

Chris
 
Re: Looking for a Simple Wireless Lapel Microphone

Way back when I started, I had a Nady Mic, and thought it was awesome for what I was doing. I ALWAYS had problems with it, but it's all I had. Other gear in that same price range behaved pretty much the same, and I thought no wireless systems would ever work. Of course, once I bit the bullet and spent actual $$$ on gear stuff actually works.

For your astronomy club, which I'm assuming is a hobby and has no real budget to work with, the cheap gear you find will likely do the job. As posted earlier, under $100 would likely get the case for quality gear. Of the two items you posted, I'd probably lean towards the Nady. But the cheaper one might be just enough to get the job done for you. I wouldn't expect super high quality out of it, but for a hobby production, it really doesn't matter as much.
 
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