Off topic – talkback question

Forums › Forums › iLive Forums › Archived iLive Discussions › Off topic – talkback question

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • 2011/05/17 at 2:01 am #22781
    Profile photo of BiggsoundsBiggsounds
    Participant

    Ok so this is a bit unrelated, but I’m wondering if anyone has had experience of using standard walkie talkies as talkback.
    I’m talking to a video friend who is keen to get a live DVD production package going as an ongoing thing once Dante lands, and he wants to run talkback to his camera ops without the extra cable runs (and expense of a ‘proper’ talkback system!) – we’ve discussed just using walkie talkies but I’m wondering if the RF from these will be an issue, either for sensitive microphones or wifi streams.
    Any experiences and ideas would be most welcome.

    iDR32 mixrack
    MixRack for iPad & Tweak for iPhone apps
    Asus N61 Laptop (x2 wireless)
    Sennheiser IEM (for PFL)
    Dante card (soon!)

    2011/05/18 at 10:48 am #28280
    Profile photo of abstractnoiseabstractnoise
    Participant

    RF interference from walkie-talkies I’ve come across has never caused me an issue, either with audio (digital or analogue) or WiFi connections. What has caused us issues is the lack of fidelity – such units tend not to be able to transmit/receive full 20Hz-20KHz bandwidth whether through earpieces or through the built-in speakers. This causes significant intelligibility issues, either because the louder gigs overpower anything that the earpieces give us, or because we can’t whisper in quieter staged or speech-based events. Wired comms have always given me a usable experience during gigs. I’ve always struggled with wireless comms in all applications outside of basic load-in or load-out scenarios.

    Work web: https://www.allsouls.org
    Home web: https://abstractnoise.co.uk

    2011/05/18 at 10:54 am #28281
    Profile photo of RexeltwRexeltw
    Participant

    Walkie talikes do work but as Abstract says it is a compromise, get the best in ear buds you can hire/buy to make it more useable. As for interference on mic’s I’ve never noticed it to be a problem even when 20 security staff are in the pit next to the front edge of stage.

    Surely though if you have camera op’s they would have a tripe to lug around anyway so one more XLR for a proper wired comms system wouldn’t hurt that much.

    Just remember kids no matter how good your mixing is you can’t polish a turd…

    2011/05/18 at 2:29 pm #28285
    Profile photo of BiggsoundsBiggsounds
    Participant

    Thanks guys – I’m aware that we wouldn’t be talking hi-fi, it’s more a budgetary issue than another cable run – an investment of a few hundred for w.t. as opposed to a $$$ talkback system! I’ll borrow a system and see how it goes, as you said if it isn’t loud enough (or powerful enough to transmit a normal level voice! No shouting at these gigs!) I’ll see how I go tracking down a cheap talkback.

    iDR32 mixrack
    MixRack for iPad & Tweak for iPhone apps
    Asus N61 Laptop (x2 wireless)
    Sennheiser IEM (for PFL)
    Dante card (soon!)

    2011/05/18 at 9:08 pm #28299
    Profile photo of kentlowtkentlowt
    Participant

    Make sure they work on a frequency that would not cause you issues else where.

    112T/IDR48/IDR16

    2011/05/19 at 2:27 am #28303
    Profile photo of BiggsoundsBiggsounds
    Participant

    Sure, they seem to start down in the 300 range, well outside of my wifi network, so that seems fine. I guess as pointed out the main concern is whether they’ll have enough juice to get over the average gig

    iDR32 mixrack
    MixRack for iPad & Tweak for iPhone apps
    Asus N61 Laptop (x2 wireless)
    Sennheiser IEM (for PFL)
    Dante card (soon!)

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • The forum ‘Archived iLive Discussions’ is closed to new topics and replies.