Wire-Lists

TA-5 (“5” for 5 pins) mini-XLR female connectors are the standard lavalier and headset microphone termination for most Lectrosonics transmitters made in the past 30 years. Undoubtedly, if you’ve been at this for any length of time, you’ve experienced a connector getting stuck. And if that happens, your only option is to sacrifice your lav by cutting the cord to dislodge it. Or is it?

Glen Trew, via our Facebook discussion group offered the following strategy, which works regardless of the brand of lav.

According to Glen, there is no need to destroy the cable or connector. Before we explain why, you may want to review our Support article, which explains the inner workings of TA-5 connectors, so you understand what we’re talking about.

With many of us getting back to work, "covid compliance" requires that all staff working on a production to be distanced. Many of you have shared your creative solutions and new working protocols with us. For example, we're hearing that some production sets are becoming their own "quarantine facilities," where staff live and work dorm-style in a sanitized area onsite, with no one new coming in or out until production is over. Some directors will also have only necessary talent on set, and locate the sound personnel and production staff in other rooms or parts of the facility. This need to distance is very much a "figure it out as you go along" world right now.

In our last list, we discussed how to do a solo walk test on set. We also discussed the custom tuning range capabilities of Wireless Designer, which allow you to preplan your set-up, to minimize your contact with the set. So, what do you do when you have to plan to work at a distance from the talent? Enter Dante.

Did you know that Wireless Designer comes with a feature – The Walk Test Recorder - that will allow you to do a walk test all by yourself, with no help at all? It’s a very useful tool, especially for those solo engineers that don’t have a second set of hands and feet to help them with a set up in a new venue, or when their environment limits the number of people that can be in the area at a given time. It’s a way to test RF signal strength and antenna switching, as well as squelching and recording audio.

Even experienced users of Wireless Designer might not know this feature exists, because it is somewhat hidden. In order to see the Walk Test tab at the top of the screen, you have to have a receiver connected and selected from the device list on the left of the screen. You otherwise won’t see it as an option or a feature anywhere else in the system. This screencap shows you where.

Our newest version of Wireless Designer (version 2.0.25) for both Mac and PC comes with some great new features that should save you time, give you new control, plus added convenience that you might not have thought possible. Let’s dive in:

1) Offline Mode

The new Wireless Designer has an "offline mode" where you don't need to be connected to a system in order to start configuring. You can design all of your set-ups ahead of time. Here’s how. Click on any of the images to make larger:

In our recent Facebook poll, many of you expressed interest in learning how to set up transmitter/receivers with recorders in an on-the-job scenario. Last week, we heard from Bal Rayat and Bruner Dyer. This week, we hear from Chris Howland and Steve Morantz.

Chris Howland is the founder of the LA Sound Mixers Group, a long-time Lectrosonics user and has worked on countless film and TV projects. Chris reports that “most of my gain staging is done by feel and the anticipation of the unknown.” The following numbers are his starting points:

From a VR Field Venue to a Sound Devices 688

Line level input settings 
(normal voice and louder performances)

• Field Venue output +08
• Sound Devices 688 input trim at LINE level and -8db for unity gain. Will sometimes push to 0 or 2db for soft speakers.