Wireless Booms?

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Wireless Booms? was created by Fred Ginsburg

Hi Prof. Ginsburg

As I've noticed in the professional field, a lot of sound mixers have switch from hard-wired boom to the wireless boom set up, so that the boom operator can move around and between people and equipment with the least worry of tangled themselves up. I've seen people doing it the ghetto way, which is simply attach the boom with a butt plug and call it a wireless set up, I wonder if this is the right way to do it.

So Prof. Ginsburg, do you know of any web site that has the elaborate instruction, or information specifically for the wireless boom? I'd really love to know how to set up, and what type of equipment they use when going wireless.


We boom hard-wired because it is reliable. When you add the wireless aspect, it is better than a lav but not as reliable as hard-wired.

The folks who use wireless booms a lot are the reality show and documentary types -- because they need to be as mobile as possible.

If you do have to go wireless on your boom, you need to use a high quality radio mic....

Do NOT use the butt plugs. They do not transmit as well as the body packs, since they lack an antenna. And depending on the boom you use, there may not be a good way to mount them. Avoid attaching them to the bottom of a pole -- since they will be "rested" on the plug when the operator puts down the pole, or used as an "extension" handle when the operator needs a few extra inches!

Attach the body pack transmitter to the belt of the Boom Operator, and run a short jumper cable from the transmitter input from a Denecke PS-1 condenser power supply, also on the belt. Connect the mic cable from the pole to the Denecke, in order to provide 48vPhantom mic powering. So what you have, in summary, is the shotgun and boompole cable going to the Denecke power supply. The output of the Denecke power supply then connects, via a special XLR input cable (built especially for your specific brand of wireless mic) to the body pack transmitter.
12 years 5 months ago #157

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Replied by Chris Sherwood on topic Re: Wireless Booms?

With a well equipped wireless boom, would that be superior to a radio mic in regards to transmission reliance?
12 years 5 months ago #170

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Replied by Fred Ginsburg on topic Re: Wireless Booms?

No. The wireless portion of the equation has not changed. It is still a radio mic.

All that you have done is to replace the lavalier capsule with a condenser shotgun mic. The shotgun on the boom will pick up a different quality audio than the lavalier.....
but the wireless transmission of the audio signal will still be what it was. The better the wireless, the better the results.

Remember, they call them wireless mics. But all that they really are, is wireless XLR cables!
12 years 5 months ago #177

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