I have a remote audio recording dilemma....

computermillerj

New member
Hi Everyone! First post here and just starting to get into the audio world, please help me with my lack of understanding!

I have been involved in tech for a long time, but just starting to venture into the audio recording world. I am looking to upgrade our church recording equipment. Our current setup is such that we are renting a building so we need something that is very portable and easy to setup/take down. This means that the recording and the speakers really need to be battery powered. We currently have a Sennheiser ew100 that is starting to get out of date. I currently cannot find this model online, but if anyone can find info that would be super helpful. It is very similar to this "Sennheiser-EW-112P-Omni-directional-Microphone" but just an older model.

To save on costs, since the ew100 is still working, I would like to use this to record, then at the back of the church plug an ipad into the receiver to record and live push that audio to several wireless speakers that will be used in an adjacent room (nursery and dining rooms). We are not super concerned that the audio quality is "pro level" but it would be nice if it was decent quality.

When I started looking into this it seemed that this cable "Saramonic Locking 3.5mm Female Connector to Apple Certified Lightning Output Cable Camcorder Cable (LC-C35)" was exactly what I needed. I thought I could pair this with several of the JBL Charge 3 bluetooth speakers. This cable will work and I am able to record on the iPad, but there is no audio output to the speakers. The only option on the recording software (Recorder Plus) is the ipad speakers and even that doesnt seem to work. I have tried about 4 more recording apps with similar experiences. They are setup to record, but not play what is being recorded live as well from what I can see.

So I am back to the drawing board and open to suggestions on how to setup a portable recording and speaker setup. It would be nice if we could still use the ew100 and the iPad, but if there is another alternative I am open to suggestions.

Thanks!
James
 
I'm sorry to say this - but I've never heard such a daft, unreliable and quality compromised idea in my life.

The facts seem to be that you want to use the first generation Sennheiser system, and that, at least, is a decent product. If it's faulty, that's different but the receivers are decent quality, and the mics are replaceable.

The speakers are great to connect to your phone and get some music, but they're just not the product tom use for an audience. You can also only have two! For stereo. They're just not made for what you want. Bluetooth also has very unpredictable latency issues - not the thing to use for pa if you want the sound to actually keep in sync with a persons mouth!

You can record with iPads - many people do, but they're ` bit tricky to make do what you want - the ins and outs are not really designed for wha you want to do. The other thing of course is connectability - if you plug an input into it, then that only gives you the headphone output to go to your speaker system, and the software you pick will either let you do that or not??

If I have understood you correctly you have one person with probably a clip on mic, and you want to record it and then also send the output to a number of speakers in different rooms. We could do this loads of ways, but I'd never consider using an iPad and a bluetooth domestic waterproof speaker - and you still need 240V for the radio mic, or have the ability to put together a batter and charging system.

The question is do you want to do it properly, or not? If you want to do it properly we can help - with cables and other kit - but of you want to spend no money and create a nightmare to run, then your plan might work. Those bluetooth speakers are just not made to do what you want - bluetooth has a terrible range, so getting into the next room might be impossible. You really need a serious rethink. A church local to me has a bodged up system and it screeches and screams on a whim, and sounds simply terrible. Their excuse - we have no money. The video of my grandson's baptism is not meant to be funny as the sound cuts in and out, and it clicks and pops. Yours will probably make people laugh too. Everyone nowadays is a hi-fi expert. odd delays and echoes, bluetooth dropouts and crappy sound quality are just not what people want nowadays. Sadly, decent audio also needs looking after. I've not seen any system that works without effort from somebody who knows about sound.

Do you really have to use battery power? You'll look pretty silly when it dies half way through a service. Mains power is not really much extra work.
 
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