Countryman B2D Cardioid Lav - Another Useful Tool

Small Size and Multiple Colors

As I continue to shine light on professional audio gear, I hope you'll join me in my search for tools that make the job easier and sound better.

This time I'm talking about a directional lav; the Countryman B2D Cardioid Lav. That's right, a cardioid lav that comes in five different colors. Most lavs are omnis, and as you may know, even omnis are somewhat directional at high frequencies.


You can see that the B2D is a pretty small mic. Not quite as small as a B6, but a lot smaller than you'd expect. The diameter of the diaphragm is inversely proportional to the selfnoise of any mic. That means the smaller the diaphragm, the noisier the mic. If your ambient noise is high enough, it'll mask the hiss of the selfnoise, but if you're in a really quiet environment and don't have something like music to mask the hiss, you'll hear it.

You can use some of the many noise reduction softwares to reduce the hiss. I like iZotope's RX3 Advanced. You may find you get acceptable results with the less expensive non-advanced version.  With any of these, you need to have a keen ear and know when to stop because at some point you can hear the effect of the noise reduction. The audio begins to sound "underwater" or unnatural.

Here's a short video that demonstrates the difference between a Countryman EMW omnidirectional lav and the cardioid B2D. Hear for yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r98ci7xUbg4

Detachable cables

Shure Triple Threat Shotguns

Shure VP89 L, M & S

The VP89/L, VP89/M and VP89/S are long, medium and short electret condenser shotguns from Shure. The bodies are charcoal-grey metallic painted aluminum alloy with a stainless steel screen. They require 11-52 V DC phantom power. Each interference tube capsule comes with and use its own Shure VP89 XLR-terminated power supply with high-pass filter. There is no pad.

Each mic comes in a handy and sturdy vinyl-clad hard tube holster that’s large enough to accept the mic with its included foam wind filter. If more wind protection is required, Shure has three sizes of pistol-grip based windshields, one for each length and a Rycote Lyre suspension mount.

Audio-Technica System 10

Even though I am very impressed by its 24-bit, 48 kHz, APTx compressed audio quality, I've been skeptical of the Audio-Technica System 10. Wireless on 2.4 GHz? Up there with Wi-Fi and consumer wireless phones? I still am not sure how fierce a Wi-Fi environment System 10 can prevail in.

Right now System 10 offers a maximum of eight units running at the same time. As the environment crumbles, I'm told, you lose mics and/or operating range. I'd like to push the envelope to find out when and where things crumble using eight units running in a dense Wi-Fi environment while getting at least 100 feet for a start. 

At 2.4 GHz, 10 mW is not a lot of power. What about absorption. How robust is the system when you have to bury the transmitter on someone? As I mentioned in the above video, I got 75 feet with the body mic transmitter in a pocket of my cargo shorts. When I took the mic out of my pocket I was back on and got another 120 feet. So, almost 200 feet, unblocked, line of sight. There are five or six Wi-Fi enabled houses visible on my iPad when I take it outside, so it's not like I'm in the middle of the desert, plus I'm running a 2.4 and a 5 GHz system in my own home.

5/2015 Addendum: While the System 10 works quite well with the Audio Technica 830 Lav, I found digital RF problems and noise when using Audio Technica's BP892 and AT 896 mini lav and headworn mics. It's apparently a shielding problem. More on that as it develops.

If you were using the hand held mics for a walk and talk or live music performance, line of sight isn't much of a problem, but for most video work, you don't want to see the transmitters and the deeper you hide them, the shorter the range. A lot of video is shot with location sound mixers within 20-30 feet. To test that, I'd want to try four buried mics simultaneously at 30 feet for starters.

At only $300-$400 a set, though, depending on which set you get, the "get in" price is pretty low. You can do your own envelope pushing. Oh, there's a small rebate available if you buy before 12/31/13. Here are the rebate details.

Rode NTG8 - The Big (Shot) Gun

The long shotgun microphone is something you don't see in a lot of kits. I have one, but haven't used it in years. But then most of my work is inside. I remember playing with the long shotgun soon after I got it to find out what it would give me. 

I was on the front lawn in a quiet neighborhood in Baltimore. A short block a way, across the street, one of my neighbors approached his car. This was back in the day when you had to unlock your car with a key. I put on the headphones, aimed the long gun at him and cranked the input on the mixer. To my great surprise, I head the tinkle of his keys. Then a car came up the street, driving between us. It would have deafened me had I not ejected the headphones straight off my head.

You see long shotguns outside in sports, nature and some feature film work when wireless lavs are frowned upon and wide shots have dialog. Not used as often as hypers or short shotguns, they remain part of the audio tool kit, along with the wind gear that's usually required to keep them happy.

Neumann RSM 191 Stereo/Shotgun Mic - Going, Going, Gone!

Neumann RSM191

The Neumann RSM191 is on the endangered species list because the factory only had fourteen of them left a few weeks ago, when I asked. After they are gone, Neumann says they have no plans to make more. The RSM191 will then fade into history as one kick-ass, remote controllable stereo/shotgun microphone. If you want one, it will probably be a special order. Why bother to post this review? It's just a great sounding microphone system.

TASCAM DR-60D Four-Track Digital Recorder for DSLR and other uses

As long as DSLRs continue to be designed by video people and photographers, audio problems will probably remain. 

I had heard that the Canon 5D Mark III audio was OK and proved it here with the DR-60D by sending audio from the DR-60D to the 5D Mark III. 

The trick was using very little gain on the Mark III and using the line output gain on the DR-60D to do the heavy lifting. 

4/2014 Update: We also found that you could get a better feed into a BMCC camera this way. Line out from the DR60 to the mono 1/4" inputs of the BMCC. Set the BMCC to MIC instead of line and set the BMCC input level to 15% and the Line out of the DR60 to 3. Faint noise but more than adequate for a scratch track. 

TASCAM, and parent company TEAC, to their credit, have always empowered people to be able to do creative audio production at a fair price, especially at the pro-sumer level.

Sennheiser SK 5212-II and EK 3241 Wireless - Less Is More

Sennheiser SK 5112-II and a nickel

Shrinking spectrum and challenges to hiding a body pack transmitter are driving location and studio audio people to find better solutions. One of these solutions is the Sennheiser SK 5212-II transmitter. 

The retail price is $2,349, for just the transmitter and another $2,100 for the EK 4231 mono receiver, for a total of $4,400. 

I found a $3,750 Bundle Price online for both transmitter and receiver that also includes the AA battery power kit for the EK 4231 receiver (batteries not included). 

There's a big price difference between these pieces and a Sennheiser G3 transmitter and receiver kit for $629.95 at B&H. Read on to discover why.

Audio-Technica BP4025 Stereo Mic - In A Field Of Its Own

Audio-Technica BP4025

You don't think about it much, but good stereo ambi - ambient sound - can add a lot to the feeling of a video sound track. But how do you capture it? There are many stereo mics and the cost range varies significantly; from several hundred to several thousand dollars. 

The Audio Technica BP4025 is a relative newcomer. B&H lists it for $649. It's a professional X/Y patterned mic and requires phantom power. It has a five-pin XLR output connector, 10 dB pad and low frequency roll-off. The BP4025 comes with a five-pin to dual three-pin XLR Y-cable that plugs into any professional mic input. 

A simple foam pop filter is included, but for serious outdoor work, you'll need something more wind resistant. The significant difference between the BP4025 and other stereo mics is that the BP4025 has relatively large diaphragms; about an inch in diameter. These larger diaphragms grab sound with less selfnoise than mics with smaller diaphragms. Selfnoise exhibits as high frequency hiss and can really spoil the sound. 

Audio-Technica BP4025 Grille Removed

Rode Reporter Dynamic Interview Microphone

The first mental image I get of a dynamic Omni stick mic is of NBC’s Al Roker trying to remain standing for a live standup during a hurricane. We always hear him just fine, even in 60 mile an hour winds. It’s been a while since anyone has taken a shot at this category of mic. How well would the new Rode Reporter compare?

FEATURES

The Rode Reporter is a classic hand-held, end-address, dynamic omni stick mic in a long-handled form factor. It comes in a designer box with zipper pouch and mic clip. The 10.7 inch shaft is three inches longer than the industry standard ElectroVoice RE50, allowing a few more inches of reach for inquisitive video journalists. A two-sided clip-on flag holder is provided for station logos. Unlike square flag holders, this requires the user to make sure the mic is held with the flag broadside instead of on edge to the camera so the flag can be seen.