CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Real World Gear: Ingenious Solutions

Pro Sound Web: Over the past three or so years, many of the major suppliers have introduced digital wireless microphone systems, with some offering models from entry level to professional, and others remaining at the higher end.

Additionally, one of the earliest entrants into digital wireless, Line 6, released a new generation of its platform last year.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't have that much experience with sound equipment, but I recently had a sound class for half a semester and I got to work with equipment that I never thought I would learn. Near toward the end of class we always talked about how cues are processed through QLab and how the cheapest way to put all of your sounds together is through audacity and to see more advancements in the sound area of entertainment is so amazing. And finding more solutions for wireless mics are even better. There seem to be a lot of parts you need to keep in mind if the mic isn't working. And with broadway, tours, and other events, a sound technician doesn't have the ability to be next to the person with the wireless mic they whole time they are speaking, so even though there may never be the perfect wireless mic that will never break, it's nice to see that they are starting to narrow down the issues that wireless mics always seem to have at some point. I can even see wireless mics being a simple clear/nude sticker that's put on the face and that's it. wouldn't that be wonderful? Not having to worry? I mean this idea may not be the best, but all in all I really appreciate these sound advancements. Keep it up!

Katie Pyne said...

As technology progresses, I'm more and more impressed by the the quality of it. Using wireless microphones has always been a stressful situation for me. They're fickle beasts but incredibly useful. Here, engineers are making them more versatile in more situations. Hopefully, this will make them more available to smaller theater companies. One non-technical problem I had while working in high school was that they were so expensive. Low-end ones broke easily, but ones that were in the middle range were so unreliable that my school didn't want to invest in them. Here's to hoping that wireless mics become as commonplace as SM58s.

Mike Vultaggio said...

It's no secret that wireless microphones have some serious issues that can really make or break a performance. Having a lot of experience with wireless systems, mainly from Shure and Sennheiser, both analogue and digital, I have seen and employed many methods of getting rid of these common problems such as drop outs and interference. For the most part these can be avoided with proper antenna placement and frequency coordination. This being said the advancements in the technology are making it even easier to set up a wireless rig and just know that it will work. One new product that is really changing the way that wireless audio is looked at is the Shure Axient series. The cool thing about this system is that the receivers are connected to a real time analyzer is in constant communication with the transmitter. Once the analyzer senses interference it will switch the microphone wirelessly to a new, cleaner frequency without interruption. With technology like this and more that is continuously advancing we can assume that wireless systems will become much more reliable as the years go on. For those of us that don't have the money to drop $20k on a new wireless system we will have to stick with our own methods of system set up.