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Wireless microphones not only help the videographer get great sound, but they also help you get great video, for several reasons. <\/strong><\/p>\n Not having to mess with that mess of tangled black spaghetti known as audio cables is more than just convenient, it also allows you to put the cameras in positions you couldn’t if you were restricted by cables. Using a wireless keeps people from tripping over cables, too, which also allows you to film in places where cables would be too distracting.\u00a0 (Sometimes a professional crew will tape their cables to the floor for safety reasons.\u00a0 This takes a lot of tape.\u00a0 Duct tape leaves residue.\u00a0 Electrical tape is better to use, but more expensive.)<\/p>\n Another advantage of wireless microphones you might not think of is that when people on camera wear them, they tend to forget it’s there, so they become less self-conscious. People who feel comfortable on camera are going to do a much better job.\u00a0 They can move more freely without the constraints of a wire, too.\u00a0 A short, wired cable mic can be very restricting for the person wearing it.<\/p>\n Wireless mics are particularly good for run and gun situations, like news or any documentary-style show.<\/p>\n Here is a brief description of how a wireless mic works. They usually have half a dozen pieces, but essentially, there are two basic parts.<\/p>\n The transmitter and receiver work much like a radio station broadcasting to the radio in your car.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The microphone is plugged into the transmitter. This uses a wire.\u00a0 The person speaking usually wears the transmitter by clipping it to their belt or shoving it into their pocket<\/strong><\/em>. Pay close attention when you are watching some TV shows, and you can see a little black box about the size of a deck of cards on people’s back tucked into their belt. This is the wireless transmitter. They put it on their back to hide it as much as possible.<\/p>\n Then, the receiver is plugged into the camera, or where ever your sound is being recorded.\u00a0 <\/strong>This takes a wire too.\u00a0 So wires are involved with a wireless mic, but the microphone does not need to be plugged directly into the camera, like a wired mic would.\u00a0 I must admit, this confused me to no end when I first began working with wireless mics.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n The transmitter sends the sound to the receiver, which is plugged into whatever you have to record sounds, usually the camera.<\/p>\n Instead of having your audio travel from the microphone to the recording device through a cable, it travels through the air. So it is this cable that is eliminated. This is the only cable that is eliminated, but it is your most limiting cable, so dealing with the other cables is no big deal.<\/strong> Other cables are used to plug the mic into the transmitter and the receiver into the recording device, so a wireless microphone system is not COMPLETELY wireless, which can confuse people.<\/p>\n You can buy wireless microphone in sets, or kits, like the one pictured above. This way, you can easily use multiple mics together. Each mic needs to have its own radio signal.<\/strong><\/p>\n Problems can arise when these radio signals conflict or get crossed. Kits eliminate that problem. You can also eliminate the problem by setting your mics to different frequencies, but that takes both a wireless microphone system that allows you that kind of control and the know-how to do it. It’s usually not too complicated, though.<\/p>\n A good wireless microphone will cost quite a bit more than a comparable wired mic.<\/strong> In my experience, anything cheaper than $200 is probably going to sounds crummy. However, over the years as technology has improved, the prices have come down, so you can get a wireless microphone today for less than $200 that works fine. A poor quality wireless is a total pain, because the signal will cut out and have tons of interference and static.<\/p>\n If there is no advantage to using a wireless, go with a wired.<\/strong> The advantages of using a wireless usually boil down to being able to let the camera move more freely and be further away from the people speaking. That, plus giving the people on camera more ability to move around without being tethered to a cable. So if you’re recording something while everyone is seated and stationary inside a studio, using a wireless microphone is not going to help you much.<\/p>\n You can buy wireless microphone systems that do not actually include a microphone, it is just the transmitter and receiver. Then you supply the mic.\u00a0 These work with multiple microphones, handheld, lavaliers, and a shotgun microphone all work with the same transmitter and receiver system.<\/p>\n If you are shooting video where the camera needs to move about freely, having a wireless microphone is very helpful.<\/p>\n There are so many different kinds, so you’ll need to do some research first to get the right one for you.\u00a0 I always enjoy searching the website at B&H Photo.\u00a0 As with everything, their selection is enormous, so you can learn a lot just by searching their site.<\/p>\n FOOD FOR THOUGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n Thanks for reading Video Production Tips Wireless microphones are the video photographer’s friend! They help you get both good audio and better video since you are not restricted in your camera placement by short cables. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[366],"tags":[2607,3016,636,167,635,3015],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/wireless-mic-system-expensive-lectrosonics-400-series.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2621"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19461,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions\/19461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How Does a Wireless Microphone<\/a> Work?<\/h3>\n
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\nLorraine Grula<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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