Serious Question - wireless mic setup for stripper

[dedmeet]

So, here is the premise. I have some friends who do 20s-30s era Vaudeville and Burlesque shows where most of the acts are vintage striptease. Usually starts with full period outfit and ends with pasties, g string, and sometimes garters and hose - and that is it. One performer sings, but, in most venues, her voice does not carry the house well enough. I am trying to devise a discrete way of micing her vocals and getting them in whatever house system is available. Venues and sound systems vary widely, so I cannot offer too much specifics. I was hoping one or more of you may have had a unique solution to something like this.

No, there will not be pictures. This is a family forum, after all.

[Dogoth]

On Broadway they sometimes place mics in performers hair (sometimes called wig mics). Not the best placement but it IS discrete. As to where to place the transmitter??? I wonder if it would be possible to mod one of those guitar jack RF transmitters and disguise it as jewelry or something like that. That's about the smallest transmitter I can think of short of surveillance stuff (this might be a good place to look - spy shops :-).

My .02

[dboomer]

Usually starts with full period outfit and ends with pasties, g string, and sometimes garters and hose - and that is it. One performer sings, but, in most venues, her voice does not carry the house well enough.

And anyone cares?

There is a very small Sennheiser body pack that could be hidden in her hair.

[Pro Sound Guy]

Only in her hair ?

[cappttenron]

Which hair? : )

[trevcda]

Not the best wireless in the world and it's not frequency agile, but the transmitter is part of the headset and should do the trick for this application:

http://www.samsontech.com/samson/pro...7/airline77hs/

[Unalaska]

If your strippers are going full nude and they have to hide the belt pack, rent! (Couldn't resist)

[BlueGreene]

There's a sizable difference between striptease and stripping. In the world of "it depends", this is one of those important details. Just as pole dancing isn't necessarily stripping.

[Craig Vecchione]

No reason she can't use a wireless mic. I'm sure there are ways of working the symbolism it represents into the act......

[Audixmicguy]

Have a look at the Audix M1255BS, hanging micro shotgun. Will only work if the performer is singing solo (no band) Max 10' above performer, performer has to somewhat stay put and the PA has to be well positioned, no monitor. Otherwise the hair mic is the way to go.

[Craig Vecchione]

Have a look at the Audix M1255BS, hanging micro shotgun. Will only work if the performer is singing solo (no band) Max 10' above performer, performer has to somewhat stay put and the PA has to be well positioned, no monitor. Otherwise the hair mic is the way to go.

Burlesque/vaudeville is definitely not a "stay put" thing, so the shotgun mic wouldn't work too well.

[Scodiddly]

If you're made of money, you can do the wig wireless things with either Sennheiser 5212 or Shure UHF-R micro.

[Dogoth]

If your strippers are going full nude and they have to hide the belt pack, rent! (Couldn't resist)

I've seen people use condoms on the mic end (to stop perspiration issues). IMO it messes the audio up a bit (not as bad as you would think though). Maybe this would be a situation where the condom would be used on the other end of the wire (the transmitter end :-).

Just thinking of safe mic'ing techniques :-).

[Scodiddly]

Putting a condom on the beltpack end is very common in theater. Keeps the sweat off the electronics.

[Dogoth]

Putting a condom on the beltpack end is very common in theater. Keeps the sweat off the electronics.

Slightly OT Ya I saw some folks put one of those finger condoms on the actual mic end. At first I was aghast (how can this work at all - sort of like putting trash bags over your speakers in the rain :-). Surprisingly it didn't seem to mess with the audio as much as you'd think (sure some degradation but still usable). They must have been using the extra sheer type (Hmm....... a sonically transparent condom - I gotta look into that, there might be a market ;-).