Awesome insight! Another method that I've found useful is whenever I have a cam hop, I'll strap an IFB transmitter to whatever monitors are in video village and feed the monitor audio into it (usually a headphone jack/3.5mm). Because wherever the client is watching the monitor, the camera department's Teradek (or hardwire) will be carrying the hop's audio as well through SDI. Wherever there's video, there's audio!
Really appreciate this video! I work in film instead of commercial/advertisment, and I have an older set of Comtek IFB. Almost every client has given their receiver back and either asked for a direct feed from my recorder, or they'd say nothing and leave it by my cart due to lack of clarity
Yeah I know a lot of mixers keep some nicer IFB on hand for those situations. Last film we worked on the director hated the comtek and we gave him a G3 instead. Do you have the 216 or the 72s with the crystals?
If I was in the USA, with the crowded UHF spectrum I'd go for the IFBlue in the 941 spectrum, would run my hops and feed to the Boom Ops in the same band too. What people usually do for when video village / clients that are ages away is set up a base station near to them, and transmit to a UCR411 that then feeds into a transmitter that broadcasts to them locally. Yeah even Mixers I work with who use Comteks will go with that hop setup. Anyway, Comteks are fine, definitely understand why you can prefer it for being handed out to those in the peanut gallery. However keep some higher quality ones around as well! For your own people in the Sound Dept, for the camera hop, and for any VIPs (Director / Script Supervisor / etc ) who have a ear that appreciates the better quality.
Hey David! Thanks for watching and taking the time to write this comment. These are all great insights and suggestions. I keep several Sennheiser IEMS on hand for sound team and VIPs, but for scalability and ease of use I’m comteks 100%. The IFblue looks like a solid option as well. That is a great idea about using lectros to relay to a base station elsewhere on set. Still building out the kit and with my relatively minimal amount of gear on hand, I have definitely run super long XLR remote transmitters to solve this problem haha. The UCR411 is much more elegant. Always like learning how other people tackle these challenges. Cheers!
@@nicolasfieldsoundservices yup, is great working with other mixers and learning about the ways they do things, and the internet turbocharges that ability to share the knowledge and learn from others! (I've got a little micro UA-cam channel myself, over at "Sound Speed!" but haven't updated it in ages) Good to hear you haven't sold off all your IEMs, thought it sounded like you had. It really is a nice way to get the best out of everything by mixing and matching to get the strengths of each. I'm kinda similar-ish, in that I have a bunch of dirt cheap comtek clones which I pull out if I ever need to bring out dozens of headsets to a shoot. But got 10x IEMs, so 95% of the time those IEMs with my IFB T4 transmitters going at a beefy 250mW is all I need to be happy with :-)
Great video, thank you. What do you recommend if the sound recordist wants to send a stereo mix from his recorder's line out and transmit it to the Director (who'd have a stereo receiver and headphones)?
Sum the mix to mono ;). why does the director need a stereo feed to begin with? Where I’m at it’s a very unconventional request. To answer your question you would need to assign your stereo L and R to two different outputs on your recorder/mixer and use a Sennheiser stereo IEM transmitter and receiver.
Thank you for the insight. I'm still on the fence between the two. In my area, it's a mix between Lectrosonics (way out of my budget range) and Comteks. One thing I don't get is that all the transmitters that seem to go with the Sennheiser EIM systems are racks that need 12V power and xlr inputs, not battery powered small transmitters like Comtek and Lectrosonics. May I ask what your transmitter setup was back when you used Sennheiser? I'm going to be a one-man band, shooting out of my bag. Thank you. Subscribed. :)
Hi Jeremy, it’s possible to use any G series bodypack transmitter with the IEM series receivers as long as they operate within the same frequency band (listed on the back of each unit). I believe the reason these rack mounted transmitters are so popular and ship with IEM receivers is because they offer higher output power for longer distance transmission in mono mode. They also feature the ability to attach external omni or sharkfin antennas to improve range and stability of transmission. For these reasons you’ll often see them on cart based setups. If I were you I’d take a peek at the 2023 Comtek option P7 transmitter with the new base load whip antenna, looks pretty ideal for what we do! Thanks for watching and subscribing.
@@nicolasfieldsoundservices Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. You know, the last shoot I helped out on where they used Comteks was for National Geographic/Hulu and all the Disney execs used the Comteks without complaining about the audio quality not being perfect. They also at times had video village super far away and behind walls where I know the Sennheisers would have dropped out. I think you made my choice easy. Best of luck to you, Sir! Thanks again!
IMO there are often compromises to be made but I think the Comteks ease of use really clinches it for myself and clients regardless of sound quality! Cheers and hope you have a busy year
UHF spectrum is getting very crowded and Comtek just makes sense. At this point a Comtek PR-216, Lectrosonics IFBlue or a Sennheiser IEM all cost about the same per unit (approx. $425 USD). Comtek does seem the most user friendly and flexible though. They're also a great company to deal with when you need customer support or repairs.
Thank you for this I’m in the market looking for good IFBs with both decent range and quality. I’m wondering if you have used Lectrosonics IFBT4 and what’s your thoughts on them. Also your G4 was it EW IME G4-C with the big (cart based) transmitter ) ?
@@praisepayne5666 IFB T4 is amazing but expensive. Excellent quality and output power up to 250mW. The Sennheiser I use is a G2 system. Both rack mounted and bodypack style Tx. The Rack mount G2 is only 20mW, but allows a remote antenna. The bodypack is 30mW. The newer G3/G4 rack Tx are 30/50mW switchable. If you look for older models you can find a couple with 100mW output power. Both of these will crowd your talent wireless spectrum. Comtek won't.
Awesome insight! Another method that I've found useful is whenever I have a cam hop, I'll strap an IFB transmitter to whatever monitors are in video village and feed the monitor audio into it (usually a headphone jack/3.5mm). Because wherever the client is watching the monitor, the camera department's Teradek (or hardwire) will be carrying the hop's audio as well through SDI. Wherever there's video, there's audio!
Another benefit of this is that anyone can also hear the synced audio while playback is going from camera
Smart! Thanks for the insight into your workflow!
Really appreciate this video! I work in film instead of commercial/advertisment, and I have an older set of Comtek IFB. Almost every client has given their receiver back and either asked for a direct feed from my recorder, or they'd say nothing and leave it by my cart due to lack of clarity
Yeah I know a lot of mixers keep some nicer IFB on hand for those situations. Last film we worked on the director hated the comtek and we gave him a G3 instead.
Do you have the 216 or the 72s with the crystals?
Thank for this. Super informative
Thanks for watching :)
Thanks
No problem!
If I was in the USA, with the crowded UHF spectrum I'd go for the IFBlue in the 941 spectrum, would run my hops and feed to the Boom Ops in the same band too.
What people usually do for when video village / clients that are ages away is set up a base station near to them, and transmit to a UCR411 that then feeds into a transmitter that broadcasts to them locally. Yeah even Mixers I work with who use Comteks will go with that hop setup.
Anyway, Comteks are fine, definitely understand why you can prefer it for being handed out to those in the peanut gallery. However keep some higher quality ones around as well! For your own people in the Sound Dept, for the camera hop, and for any VIPs (Director / Script Supervisor / etc ) who have a ear that appreciates the better quality.
Hey David! Thanks for watching and taking the time to write this comment. These are all great insights and suggestions. I keep several Sennheiser IEMS on hand for sound team and VIPs, but for scalability and ease of use I’m comteks 100%. The IFblue looks like a solid option as well. That is a great idea about using lectros to relay to a base station elsewhere on set. Still building out the kit and with my relatively minimal amount of gear on hand, I have definitely run super long XLR remote transmitters to solve this problem haha. The UCR411 is much more elegant. Always like learning how other people tackle these challenges. Cheers!
@@nicolasfieldsoundservices yup, is great working with other mixers and learning about the ways they do things, and the internet turbocharges that ability to share the knowledge and learn from others! (I've got a little micro UA-cam channel myself, over at "Sound Speed!" but haven't updated it in ages)
Good to hear you haven't sold off all your IEMs, thought it sounded like you had. It really is a nice way to get the best out of everything by mixing and matching to get the strengths of each.
I'm kinda similar-ish, in that I have a bunch of dirt cheap comtek clones which I pull out if I ever need to bring out dozens of headsets to a shoot.
But got 10x IEMs, so 95% of the time those IEMs with my IFB T4 transmitters going at a beefy 250mW is all I need to be happy with :-)
@@davidcmpeterson I am already subbed to your channel! Nice to e meet you. Thanks again for the constructive comments
@@nicolasfieldsoundservices thanks! 🙂 I really should start uploading again.... one day maybe
Great video, thank you.
What do you recommend if the sound recordist wants to send a stereo mix from his recorder's line out and transmit it to the Director (who'd have a stereo receiver and headphones)?
Sum the mix to mono ;). why does the director need a stereo feed to begin with? Where I’m at it’s a very unconventional request. To answer your question you would need to assign your stereo L and R to two different outputs on your recorder/mixer and use a Sennheiser stereo IEM transmitter and receiver.
Thank you for the insight. I'm still on the fence between the two. In my area, it's a mix between Lectrosonics (way out of my budget range) and Comteks. One thing I don't get is that all the transmitters that seem to go with the Sennheiser EIM systems are racks that need 12V power and xlr inputs, not battery powered small transmitters like Comtek and Lectrosonics. May I ask what your transmitter setup was back when you used Sennheiser? I'm going to be a one-man band, shooting out of my bag. Thank you. Subscribed. :)
Hi Jeremy, it’s possible to use any G series bodypack transmitter with the IEM series receivers as long as they operate within the same frequency band (listed on the back of each unit). I believe the reason these rack mounted transmitters are so popular and ship with IEM receivers is because they offer higher output power for longer distance transmission in mono mode. They also feature the ability to attach external omni or sharkfin antennas to improve range and stability of transmission. For these reasons you’ll often see them on cart based setups.
If I were you I’d take a peek at the 2023 Comtek option P7 transmitter with the new base load whip antenna, looks pretty ideal for what we do! Thanks for watching and subscribing.
@@nicolasfieldsoundservices Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. You know, the last shoot I helped out on where they used Comteks was for National Geographic/Hulu and all the Disney execs used the Comteks without complaining about the audio quality not being perfect. They also at times had video village super far away and behind walls where I know the Sennheisers would have dropped out. I think you made my choice easy. Best of luck to you, Sir! Thanks again!
IMO there are often compromises to be made but I think the Comteks ease of use really clinches it for myself and clients regardless of sound quality! Cheers and hope you have a busy year
UHF spectrum is getting very crowded and Comtek just makes sense. At this point a Comtek PR-216, Lectrosonics IFBlue or a Sennheiser IEM all cost about the same per unit (approx. $425 USD). Comtek does seem the most user friendly and flexible though. They're also a great company to deal with when you need customer support or repairs.
100%! Comtek system is a great design in its simplicity
Thank you for this
I’m in the market looking for good IFBs with both decent range and quality. I’m wondering if you have used Lectrosonics IFBT4 and what’s your thoughts on them. Also your G4 was it EW IME G4-C with the big (cart based) transmitter ) ?
@@praisepayne5666 IFB T4 is amazing but expensive. Excellent quality and output power up to 250mW. The Sennheiser I use is a G2 system. Both rack mounted and bodypack style Tx. The Rack mount G2 is only 20mW, but allows a remote antenna. The bodypack is 30mW. The newer G3/G4 rack Tx are 30/50mW switchable. If you look for older models you can find a couple with 100mW output power. Both of these will crowd your talent wireless spectrum. Comtek won't.
@@sonicboompole2774 thank you for a quick and helpful response
I will look at comtek also
IFBlue supply them in VHF and 941 band as well , if you want to stay far away from your talent wireless