DR200s and SAC - China Grove NC, Aug 16-27

[BrentEvans]

Tonight was the third night of Back to Bethel camp meeting, and the DR200s are doing very well. I've put together a quick highlight video, and I'll probably be putting up the whole service at some point, but that will be "sweetened" with the multitrack audio recording. This video is just the camera mic, so you can get an idea of what the DRs can do.

System Setup:
My mixing, effects, and processing are done in Software Audio Console. SAC allows me to do some really neat (to me, anyway) processing tricks. For instance, only the music is fed to tops and subs crossed over. All vocal, speech and choir mics are sent to the DRs full range. This results in a fuller bodied sound, especially from male voices, and keeps the vocals out of the subs, which reduces rumble and tightens up the low end of the music.

What you are hearing is the output of 2 of 4 DR200s, and 2 ported 15" subs. 2 of the DRs are inside, 2 are outside on each side of the arbor (you can see the setup in the choir clip). The arbor is about 50'x100'. Sound is very even no matter where you are, all the way out to the parking lot. The stage is very isolated from FOH, so there are very few feedback problems until volume gets very high. Monitors are a custom Coax 12 design, and a couple of hot spots. Nothing special, but they work.

During the choir clips, you are hearing all PA. There is no acoustic volume from the choir. 5 CM30 suspended mics are there... hidden behind the beam.

Vocal mics are a new set I found from GTD Audio, their 788-H units. These mics compare very favorably to Sennheiser EW135s - they sound identical with no EQ, and are very similar to the Shure ULX in form factor. The dynamic capsules are nice and present. Handling noise is very similar to Shure or Sennheiser units. For less than $200 per pair (they come in a set of 2), this is nothing to dismiss lightly. They hold up well under a loud vocalist, and take to many vocal styles very nicely. I'll write about them some other time.

The preacher is wearing a Sennheiser ME2 lav mic, which is an omni capsule. With the Lav, I can achieve volume of well over 90db at the FOH position (about 50' from stage front) this is where the camera is, BTW) with no feedback.... unless he climbs a speaker stand. Nobody has trouble hearing.

We got multiple compliments on the sound tonight, from several people who are hard to impress.

I'll try to take a few more videos throughout the meeting. I couldn't be happier with what we have here! It's an awesome experience to work with such great gear, and it's even better to know that paying for all of it didn't break me!

EDIT: Video Finished uploading

[Doug Hart]

Excellent !!!
Thanks Brent !!!

[BrentEvans]

Here's a video with the multi-track mixdown placed in. This will provide a better idea of the sound of the GTD mics. There is no EQ on the mics, just a tad of verb.

[Haysus]

Brent are those your mics? The price seems to good to be true. I can't find any polar pattern charts. Nice job on the gig . Did you use SAW to record?

[BrentEvans]

Brent are those your mics? The price seems to good to be true. I can't find any polar pattern charts. Nice job on the gig . Did you use SAW to record?

Those are the GTD mics. I wouldn't expect any advanced charts from them. They're an import company, apparently, not real audio guys. They do have a good product here though.

Record and mixdown was done in Reaper. The clip roll was camera audio.

[Doug Hart]

They do sound good, but it's impossible to tell for sure on my little computer speakers.

I've been burned too many times by cheap wireless mics and am very hesitant to try it again because of that.
My Dad had a couple of Nady wireless mics and they were junk. The church has a couple of cheap Peavey wireless mics, and they too are junk. The cheap Shure wireless mics that I've tried sounded pretty good, but the handling noise was pretty bad.

I say all that to say that my Dad is looking for a new wireless mic for his group. This looks like something that might be worth a try. The price is closer to what he would like to spend, rather than the $500 mics that I have suggested.

Do you know anything about the other models they offer? Like the 622H?
Also, do you know anything about their return policy?

[BrentEvans]

The 622s are not diversity. The G-100, G-200, G-622, G-788, and G-900 series share the same transmitters, but the 788s are the best deal - 2 diversity receivers in a 1RU metal box.

Doug, these really do sound like the Sennheiser EW-135 systems, and the build quality is equal to or better than Shure PGX. Handling noise is comparable to many Shure, AT, and Sennheiser systems. They have a good feel and weight - these aren't cheap units like Nady or VocoPro, and they are excellent for the price. The only complaint I have with the company is that they're a little hard to get in touch with. I had one unit was DOA, but they replaced it very quickly, once I got them on the phone. The trick is to call between 1 and 4 PM EST. I think they would have just shipped me a transmitter had that been all it was, but I had a receiver out too, so they did require me to return the old unit. They shipped the replacement unit the day after they recieved the return, so I'm happy. I consider the DOA to be a minor inconvenience that could have happened anywhere. In fact, I just had the exact same problem with NewEgg last week (bad motherboard). GTD even credited me back the difference for the units going on sale after I purchased (at my request).

The warranty is 1 year, if I remember correctly, and I think I read somewhere on the site that it was either 14 or 30 day return policy. They sell replacement transmitters for $40 or so, so accidental damage isn't really that much of an issue. It would take quite a few replacement transmitters to make up the cost of even a single Shure PGX unit, let alone a Sennheiser EW135.

As far as the company itself, they seemed decent enough to do business with. Just realize that they are a Chinese imports business that seems to have ties with a good OEM, and they are not audio experts. It's pretty clear than English is not their first language, but we had no trouble doing business. They seem to be interested in having happy customers, and they have almost a 5000 positive rating on Ebay. I'd buy from them again, and will probably be doing so in a few weeks, with a colleague who is replacing all his mix'n'match handheld wireless with these units. My colleague has done electronics, pro audio, broadcast, studio engineering, and so forth for over 30 years and has a Class A radiotransmitter license (he worked for years as a station manager), and he's impressed with them. I trust his judgement as much as I trust my own ears, and both of them say go for it.

[Doug Hart]

Sweet... I passed the information along to my Dad. He seemed pretty interested in them.
Thank you Brent for the info

[BrentEvans]

More video...

The Wensil Family... one of my favorites.





Still uploading this one.. should be up shortly.

[producerd]

I will stick my 5 cents into conversation about these GTD mics. I got them too. Not a bad thing after all with only one problem with a mute button. Almost the same as on older PGX series. The singers just like to turn them off while performing. Concerning patterns, it actually sound weird off axis. But gives a nice sound when used by the professional. Another problem is not a good filtration of "pop" sounds, and they go beyond 100HZ, so turning on hi-pass filter does not always help. But there is a possible workaround for all these problems. The thread for a head is exactly the same as on SM58 wireless head, but some resoldering on the socket board will be necessary to make the contacts match.
The mute button fix I posted in this blog:
http://www.erg-blog.com/gtdaudio-review
I made a review (6 of them) on this thing, so you can check it out if you wish:






So pretty much a nice DIY project