Wireless from the Mixer to the DR100 and T2i

[IndyP]

Hi everyone,
I’m recording video in settings such as a theater/church/school/etc usually with a stage or platform at the front  and upstairs balcony at the rear. To do this I will be using a Tascam DR100 external audio recorder (containing two XLR inputs) along side my camera with  an attenuator cable going from the line-out of the recorder to the mic-in of the camera for the purpose of synching in post. I need to be able to move around while doing this. I have a Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic which is not suited for this purpose and thought a decent stereo mic would be a good solution so I went to a local store to check some out.

However, the audio salesman told me that no mic would be a good choice in such a situation and that my only alternative was to get the microphones closer to the subjects being recorded. I am unable to do this, though I generally don’t have a problem being allowed to take a stereo or mono feed from the mixing console located in the balcony. I could run a 100ft long or longer XLR cable from the balcony down to the lower floor and use another person as a cable puller to follow me around while I shoot video footage, but this is not practical, neither would I be allowed to do so, which leads me to my question.

Is it possible to capture a live feed from the stereo/mono XLR outputs of the mixing console into the Tascam DR100 audio recorder using a wireless system? Normally a lavaliere mic and transmitter would be located on the subject, with the transmitter sending a signal back to the receiver located and hooked up to the mixing console where the audio can easily be recorded.

I asked the audio salesman at the store if it were possible to reverse the process. In other words, the transmitter would be hooked up to the mono/stereo live feed on the mixer sending the live feed back to the receiver which I would carry with me in the same way I would carry a field mixer which would feed the signal into the DR100 recorder.

A couple of questions came with this possible scenario.
1.  The receiver would have to be battery operated. Is their such a thing?
2.  The salesman said the transmitter could be hooked up to the mixing console but it would be a balanced signal (coming from the mixer), dropping down to an unbalanced signal (going into the transmitter), back to a balanced signal (from receiver into recorder).
If all of this were to work, how much would the signal quality be affected going from balanced to unbalance back to balanced using a wireless system?
3.  There is also the possibility that their is a mic that would yield acceptable results in such a situation. Is their?

I’m sure there is a decent solution to this problem and probably equipment now available that would do it more efficiently that I am not aware of, so some solid input would be much appreciated.


Thanks

[Malcolm Debono]

We use the setup you're talking about at weddings. The audio guy mikes up every source possible into a mixer with 2 outputs: an audio recorder and a Sennheiser transmitter (G3). The receiver is then mounted on the main camera (the one used for speeches etc.) which is connected to the camera through 3.5mm cable. If you're going for this setup, remember to check with the audio guy at the venue to make sure you're not using any of his frequencies.

Alternatively, you can avoid the wireless lav since they're expensive, and get a decent on-camera mic. I use the Rode VideoMicPro. You can then record the feed from the mixer directly into your Tascam recorder and sync everything in post (e.g. with Pluraleyes).

[IndyP]

Thanks for your input Malcolm, however, I need some clarification.

Your first suggestion requires the audio signal to be fed directly into the camera via a 3.5mm cable. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is an unbalanced cable, a (so called) bottleneck at the connection “In” of the camera. Though this may be a fairly good solution, I was looking to feed the audio directly into the XLR inputs of the DR100 recorder, with the same signal being fed to the camera via an attenuator cable.

Regarding your second suggestion. I had thought of using the Rode Video Mic Pro until I was told no other mic would give any better results than the Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic which I already have, and found to be no good in these situations. Again, maybe I was misinformed.

Also, if I am not using a wireless system, how do I capture the feed from the mixer into the Tascam recorder other than running a balanced cable from the board to the recorder, (which would not be practical)? If I can record the feed from the mixer directly into the Tascam recorder without doing this not only would my problem would be solved but I would not need an on camera mic such as the Rode Video Mic Pro because I could then feed the same signal into the camera via the attenuator cable.

What am I missing here?