I just ordered ... « Videomaker Community Forums

ishootparties
Member

- Azden WLX-PRO Camera Mountable VHF Wireless Lavalier System with WR-PRO Receiver and WLT-PRO Body Pack Transmitter/Lavalier Microphone

- Azden CAM-3 3-Channel Mic Mixer

- Comprehensive Stereo Mini Male to Stereo Mini Male Cable - 3'

According to you guys, I am all set on my audio. Did I get the right entry-level stuff? How will I use the mixer? I want to mic the groom, and havre my zoom mic going as well. Comments please? :D

Posted 5 years ago #
ishootparties
Member

I ordered from B & H. Approx total - $189.00

Posted 5 years ago #
Video-maniac
Member

IMO... I would have went with UHF instead. It's less prone to outside interference. It kind of comes down to where you live. If you are in the outskirts of town or the country even, you'll be fine. If you are in the middle of a big city there could be some issues. You'll just have to make sure you check out your system well in advance to make sure you aren't picking up something else when shooting an event.

RAM

Posted 5 years ago #
compusolver
Member

RAM is technically correct...but....

Out of the last four purchases of brand new Azden products (including two 100 UHF sets), the only one that didn't have to go back to the factory within the first 12 months, is my WMS-PRO VHS set.

Out of all the audio issues that have arisen on our event shoots, the WMS-PRO has been the most reliable! (Other sets include 500 UHF, 2@100 UHF - all Azdens).

Now understand, that to me a "big city" is OKC or Tulsa. Perhaps our results would have been worse in L.A. or Detroit, etc.

Also, I presume the poster is just starting out and his budget is dictating his purchases.

Posted 5 years ago #
Video-maniac
Member

Hank,

Wow! May I ask why you had to send the UHF stuff in?

RAM

Posted 5 years ago #
ishootparties
Member

Thanks guys. I'm in Chicago, and I was following the advice of an equipment thread on this forum.

Sigh ... should I cancel and order the UHF instead? Wht is the price difference? :(

Posted 5 years ago #
compusolver
Member

One of the 100's just dies, apparently after it heats up for about ten to twenty minutes. Sent it back to the Azden factory with clear, detailed instructions as to what was happening, but they obviously never read that and sent it back saying they had just adjusted the channels. It still dies after ten minutes.

The other 100 set has an non-operating volume adjustment. Turn it all you like and nothing happens. Also, you can barely hear anything picked up by it.

The three channel mixer just started messing up (it is two months old). It is blending all inputs and sending to both channels, hopelessly mixing up shotgun mic with lav mic.

And now my 500 set is giving me problems.

I'm about through with Azden!

Posted 5 years ago #
Video-maniac
Member

Wow Hank! That's the first I have heard of problems like that. I think I'm going to hold off on buying anymore Azden gear until I see if this starts happening to me. :?

ishootparties: The link below will best explain the difference between UHF and VHF. The bottom line is that they both have their good points and bad points. As far as your question goes, I think I'll leave that up to you. The article associated with this link will help you make your decision.

http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/site/af9d127e26abf498/index.html

RAM

Posted 5 years ago #
ishootparties
Member

:'(

Thanks for that article. I'll stick with the vhf ones I ordered and see what happens. My first wedding video shoot is 7/9/6 ...

P.S. My name is Kimberly ;)

Posted 5 years ago #
ishootparties
Member

Hi Guys,
my 7/9/6 shoot fell through. However, I have another scheduled for 7/22 and one on 7/29. Yesterday I shot my first "love story" and it went very well!

I used the vhf wireless mic, and it worked great! We were in an outside park, then by the lake, then on a rooftop - I mic'd them 1 at a time and the sound was great on both, at all locations.

Just thought I'd share the experience. :)
I will probably order a second wireless, but how do I connect the two to my camera? Also, how does the camera record sound from 2 mics? 1 zoom, and possible 2 wireless? Help guys ...

Posted 5 years ago #
compusolver
Member

That's what your mixer is for - to take multiple audio sources and mix them down to two channels for your camera's stereo input jack. Be careful though. According to the specs, that mixer comes with a STEREO-to-MONO output cable. This is NOT what you want! You want STEREO-to-STEREO. Otherwise it will all get mixed together and Left and Right channels will be duplicates, making it impossible to independently adjust and clean audio in post.

Also, note that the third input gets mixed to left and right channels. This is also not what you want. When used this way, I recommend putting the father of the bride on this channel and keeping the volume level down to zero until he's ready to say his piece, and again to zero right afterward.

Posted 5 years ago #
Video-maniac
Member

Kim,

I'm not sure what type of camera you have but if you can plug in a stereo mic in and control both channel's volumes seperatly, you might want to try use a "Y" connector that has two mono female ends to a single stereo end. You would just plug each of your receiver's outputs into each mono plug on the "Y" connector and then your camera should see two channels representing each wireless mic. Of course a mixer will work too just like "compusolver" said but if you are just using 2 mics and you can control the volume on each channel from within your camera, a "Y" pigtail configured with the right jacks should work too and it's a lot cheaper.

RAM

Posted 5 years ago #
ishootparties
Member

Thanks guys! I will try it with the "y" connector. This mixer thing looks intimidating :-//

Posted 5 years ago #