Audio-Technica PA & Live Sound

What I like most about these headset mics is the overall quality and their pick-up pattern. I've used these with a singer / flute player and both picked up fairly evenly and with a well balanced sound. What I dislike is that the windscreen "fuzzies", as I like to call them, fall off easily and are annoyingly easy to lose. Also, they are on the expensive side when you have to replace them. I use these with a local theatre group as well as with live musicians and they perform well with both. However, a big drawback is this; because they are ultimately so close to the mouth when someone screams or yells they will distort. They have a fairly high SPL rating for such a tiny little condenser but if you have people lacking in mic control or who are unused to this kind of mic expect to have issues. The advantages with these are quite good however! Obviously mobility should be taken into account but these mics have a very well balanced frequency response and end up sounding alot warmer and richer than the old lavalier mics. Also the choice of color is a huge factor for theatre groups. You can get these in a creame color that blends very well on stage. These may look as though they are easily damaged but they are actually much more sturdy than they seem. The stem can be repositioned and bent alot more than you might assume before you really mess them up. Also the earpiece is adjustable as well which is good for little kids or those with funny ears! Of course, I'm not tempting you to try to tweak them until you break one, I'm just letting you know that you can feel relatively confident with their lifespan even if you are dealing with a group of untrained high school kids wearing your 200-250$ mics! Just keep an eye on those windscreens! Another downside is that you simply must keep these clean! In any performance under stage lighting people will sweat and around the ears these things will get icky! Just keep some diluted rubbing alcohol around and wipe them down good after each use. No one wants to have someone else's ear sweat attached to their face! Price wise I'd say that these are right in the reasonable range comparatively. I'd say that these stand up fairly well with most other wireless headset mics that I've used that are within this price range, so I'd feel OK suggesting these to a friend.

I purchased the ATW-3110D wireless system at a local music shop for $350, primarily so I can gig with a reliable true diversity wireless system for my guitar. It is very reliable and easy to use. The LCD screen is bright with all the information required diplayed in an easy to read format. It has 200 selectable channels and is true diversity. The batteries in the transmitter last over 8 hours! The antenna of the transmitter is not the kind that just hangs down, however it is flexible and replaceable. It is solidly constructed of metal and rack mountable. I like this system. There is a little sound degradation as the batteries begin to wear, but that is true of any system. However, the overall sound quality is excellent. There is no noticeable noise and the instrument tone is extremely clear. I would highly recommend this system. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com