Hiding Lavaliers

The art of burying a lavalier microphone is just that... an art. It seems that each and every situation is different and what works one day fails miserably the next. There are however some basic starting points that one can build from. First off, understand that there are two types of sound emanating from these situations. The first is acoustic sound driven by the normal interaction of the clothing with itself and with the body. An example of a sound headache would be a nylon jogging suit. That's an extremely noisy garment that you can do very little about. The second type is rustle. This occurs with the clothing rubbing over the surface of the microphone and cable. This is where your technique comes into play.

Start by getting into the habit of securing a small coil in the microphone cable several inches below the mic head. This will greatly reduce the rubbing transients along the cable itself. Sadly we quite often have very little time to wire folks so being prepared is a great benefit.

Creating small air pockets can be very useful in securing a rustle free rig. Women have a natural space in the breast cleavage area which greatly reduces the challenge in wiring them. One note to look out for with women is the silk on silk wardrobe. A silk / satin bra combined with a silk blouse can make for a very long day in the field.

For the longest time I was using the Countryman B6 lav but have shifted to the Sanken COS-11 to carry most of the load. Clearly the B6 is much smaller but over the years I've had quite a few of them fail.

The tricks to successfully bury a lav. Practice.... practice.... practice! My personal starting point is to find a sweet spot on the clothes and let the mic ride along with the garment. With the Sanken I use the rubber mount with top stick toupee tape to secure the rig with the other side fitted with a piece of mole skin to mitigate any rubbing contact.
 

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