In contrast to a lavaliere, a shotgun requires just a little extra package to make it work correctly. On this tutorial, you may find out about stands, windscreens, shock mounts, and extra.
Mic Clips and Mounting Techniques: Methods to Connect a Shotgun Mic to a Stand
Let’s undergo the gear you may have to mount your shotgun microphone to a stand.
Shock Mount
Greater than probably, your microphone got here with a mic clip. If that microphone goes to be on a growth pole that somebody is transferring, you in all probability are going to need to use a shock mount. It is just a little microphone holder, with some rubber bands that isolate the microphone from the rumbles that may be generated from the growth pole.
So in the event that they’re in an everyday mic clip and it is on a growth pole, you’ll be able to decide up the faintest actions within the growth pole. Typically, you’ll be able to even decide up fingers transferring on the growth pole or cable noise. So to assist isolate that, a really primary shock mount is all you want. A primary shock mount will price perhaps US$12. You’ll be able to definitely discover fancier mounts, however I discover a primary one completely satisfactory.
So what do you connect that mic clip to? On the very primary degree, you may get away with a normal microphone growth stand. It is quite common to see on stage and within the recording studio. This isn’t perfect for the shotgun microphone as a result of it is fairly lengthy, so that you do need to get it up fairly excessive. It really works in some conditions, so I wished to say it as a result of I’ve used it a number of instances completely properly, and you could find these fairly inexpensively on Craigslist or at your native music retailer. So it’s an possibility to pay attention to, nevertheless it’s not very versatile.
Increase Pole
This perfect setup for a shotgun microphone is a growth pole. This can can help you get the microphone means on the market. Yow will discover growth poles in lengths from 5 toes to over ten toes, maybe as a lot as twelve toes and in a number of sections.
The growth pole I take advantage of is made out of aluminium, which might be probably the most cheap growth pole materials on the market. This pole solely price about US$150, and it really works very properly—it is light-weight, and it collapses down.
There are many cheap DIY choices on the market, like getting a painter’s pole for about US$30 and an adapter for an additional $10 or $15. Or, as you progress up in value, you get into supplies like fibreglass and carbon fibre, and the primary benefit with these is weight.
You may see some growth poles with an inside cable inside and a few with out. An inside cable goes so as to add to the fee. Should you’re doing lots of run-and-gun stuff—organising quick, tearing down, and operating from place to position—an inside cable might be the way in which to go.
Increase Pole Holder
So how do you droop a growth pole like this? Effectively, you employ a growth pole holder. It is a very crude gadget, nevertheless it’s very efficient. The growth simply sits in it, and when there is a weight on the different finish, it is held down.
Microphone Stand
However what do you connect your growth pole holder and grip head to? Historically you employ a beefy stand, one thing like a C-stand. You will get away with some form of light-weight stand, like an aluminium gentle stand.
However I do warning you to guarantee that it is sturdy. You need to guarantee that there may be satisfactory weight on the stand, within the type of sandbags. I would not put a growth pole, a grip head, and growth pole holder on a $14 stand that I acquired on eBay. You need to guarantee that it is a beefy stand that may truly take just a little little bit of stress and torque, as a result of when that factor is up there eight or ten toes within the air after which boomed out, there’s a fairly good quantity of stress that’s placed on the stand. So this isn’t the world to go tremendous thrifty. I typically put mine on a C-stand and typically a beefier aluminium gentle stand.
Wind Safety
The final main accent class to speak about in relation to shotgun microphones is wind safety. I’ve a windscreen that got here with my microphone, and it slips proper on the tip. It isn’t implausible, nevertheless it’s higher than nothing.
Shotgun microphones are fairly delicate to wind noise—so delicate that once I use this microphone for a voiceover, I put the windscreen on it, even inside. It does not have an effect on the sound too drastically.
Primarily, in fact, windscreens are used to guard the microphone from the wind. Outdoors, you need extra substantial wind safety than the fundamental windscreen gives. You will get one from an organization referred to as Movo that has a much less dense foam on the within and a rubber gasket and a giant furry overlaying on the surface that does a a lot better job of decreasing wind.
The final word in wind safety for shotgun microphones is a blimp with what’s often known as a “lifeless cat” on the surface. The primary concept with a blimp is to offer the microphone lots of safety and shock mounting in opposition to wind.
I take advantage of a home made blimp, which truly has two layers of wind safety. The outer part of fur does the job of decreasing many of the vitality from the wind. Then, on the within, I’ve one other layer of wind safety, after which there is a cage, the identical that you will discover in a business unit, and contained in the cage there’s a shock mount.
I constructed my very own as a result of a business blimp, one thing made by Rode or one of many different large names, would run between $300 and $350, and I constructed two of those for about $40. If you need the most effective wind safety on the market, it should be within the type of a blimp.
Wrapping It Up
So now that you understand about all of the various things you might have to get your shotgun mic working for you, look out for the subsequent tutorial on this collection, wherein you are going to find out about lavaliere microphones.
