We've got wind and pop prevention underway so lets share some info on cost effective shock mounts.

There's gotta be a better mousetrap and we all stand to learn something new.

My old standby, the AT8415 is still my on camera and boom mount for my shotgun. It's $50 at B&H.

http://www.audio-technica.com/prodpro/addinfo/8410a-15.pdf


The best deal for Canadians right now is the Sabra Som. It's $50 at most US outlets, yet for some reason it's $40 canadian at Long and McQuade (that's $32 US) What I like about the Sabra, apart from price is it's versatilety and adjustability.

http://www.sabrasom.com.br/ing/SSM1.htm

Here's a link to a few more:

http://www.trewaudio.com/catalog/subcat119.htm

The two from PSC seem to be reasonable but I haven't used them.

I've used the 8415 extensively, but I haven't tried the hot-rod version of the bands that are offered elsewhere. It's supposedly a marked improvement.

The Shure ring-type suppension squeaks under heavy movement, I think it's more for stationary use.

I have a couple of the lightwave mounts for specific mics. You can also cheat these as needed for slightly different diameters.
They are quiet and very stable since the rubber pillars are relatively short.

For a compact solution at a reasonable cost I think the PSC small at $55 (B&H) is probably hard to beat.

The Beyer ea86 is only $30, but you can't vary the angle of the mic so if you want to shoot level and mic a sound that's up or down you're out of luck... of course you shouldn't have your mic on-cam anyway you bad boy!

I was going to MAKE a shock mount utilizing a raquet ball! Hee-hee! Laugh it up! The only reason I bailed on that is 'cause all I can think to call it is the "Blue Ball Mount"... and that don't sound good.

The other thing about the BBM, as we'll call it, is that you still need a moveable yet solid, anchor point.

B&H has what's called a mini-ball-head that can be mounted on camera and it's only $20... you could then use a washer to screw the ball down into the mount through a nice big 1" hole you made in TOP of that ball. What holds the mic? The appropriate diameter hole at either END of the ball. Voila'... cheap rubber isolation shock mount.

Why not do this? 'Cause a PSC is only $55... or a fixed ea86 is only $30 and you WON'T get laughed out of the shoot.

My plan is to get the Rycote rubber ($48 at B&H) and use that to support the mic while I engineer a mount to the camera... It'll look good, you'll see.

Isn't it funny how some of the stuff for our little hobby is such a blatant AR? Make your own presumptions of what "AR" is... but think "prison".

Sometimes things are pricey 'cause they're worth it... sometimes they're REDICULOUSLY high 'cause where else are you going to get it?

The Sabra Som is more adjustable than the others and two can be ganged for longer and heavier mics. For my purposes it's cheaper and gives very good isolation. The shock mount can only do so much and then we are troubled by the mic cable. To go the whole 9 yards with the mounts, cable isolator, gag and cover we are well over $300 and that's just for a pencil.

The K-tech and light wave are very well put together, they're also very expensive.
http://www.mklemme.com/pole/ksm.html

http://www.lightwavesystems.com/products/minimount/default.htm

So what do you think is the best shockmount of this type?

1) K-Tek
2) LightWave
3) Rycote

In the cheaper ranges we have:

1) AT
2) PSC
3) LTM
4) Beyerdynamic

I'm leaning towards the Rycote only 'cause I already have Rycote gear and I can get just the "boot" for under $50.

In the past I always imagined that the K-Tek would be the best, but I have no basis for believing that.

For the on the cheap considerations: I just ordered this little number.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=298919&is=REG

Windtech makes it. Lots of rubber, for $10USD I figured it was worth a shot.

He shoots... he misses. The windtech SP-20, probably has its uses; shock mount for a boom pole is not one of them. At least not without some modification.

The unit would probably work well to isolate a mic from the vibrations of a nearby kick drum. It does not eliminate mild handling noise. In fact the clip portion can slide on its rubber mounting, creating a noise of its own. I'm playing with shims that might eliminate this movement and keep vibrations isolated in the rubber.

All in all my crossed rubber band style mount works better. It is designed for longer mics and won't work with the 012 and wind protection, so I'll look into the others listed here.

Bryan, what would be a good shock-unit that slides into a hot-shoe for the Apex 191?

I didn'tforget about it Frank. I was trying to find the most cost effective that would fit on a camera.

They're both $40 at B&H but I was wondering if they'd be too long

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=108256&is=REG

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=194397&is=REG

the AT 8415 would be better but it's bigger , $50 and it needs a $10 adapter to fit a camera shoe.

The Sabra Som is only $40 canadian at Long & McQuade and it would do the best job. It's a tad large and it would need the AT adapter $14 can $10 US.

http://www.sabrasom.com.br/ing/SSM1.htm

Martin, I ordered a K-SSM (K-Tek) from Trew Audio. John was an excellent guy to talk shock-mounts with... He actually wanted to push me to the larger K-Tek, but finally decided that maybe I should try the smaller one first. I'm glad he did. This thing rocks!

Realize that it's a small, milled-out bit of aluminum with a minimalist design for $109... Compared to other companies I'd actually deem this a pretty damn good value! With an AT hot-shoe adapter and a 3/8" bolt (about 1" long) it also becomes an excellent on-cam shockmount. The little adapter is only about $14 or $10 from B&H...

I'm gonna' have to send one of you guys a picture of my cam with this thing on it. The design of it made it possible to STILL use my Rycote parts so that I can now do on-cam audio with: 1) single hyper or cardioid perched over the center of camera 2) dual mics with cardioid caps in standard stereo configuration OR in ORTF configuration 3) one mic hyper, one omni or cardioid for "double system" approach within the camera... mean having a choice of mics AFTER the shoot 4) one mic pointing forward and one pointing REAR for run n' gun perfect narration of events...

Ok so the above paragraph is a little corney and many of those uses won't happen too often AND we ALL know you should never use mics ON-CAM... whatever... the pictures are still funny as hell.

You'll look at them and think, "Hmm, maybe that COULD work..."

Ok, the point is... the K-Tek is sweet... and it's the cheapest of the pricey mounts.

Thanks, Bryan. I copied and posted your last post on the other audio thread at the MX forum, since a few of use there are interested in this---a good mic solution of MX/PV/ Pana cams.

Matt,

Thanks for the info. I actually just emailed Trewaudio, right before I read your post, asking if the SSM would be appropriate for my microphone.(012)

So does the mount come with the swivel arm in the picture?

I'd love to see your setup, if you want to send me a pic.

Martin

Yes, it does... like I said, this thing is tiny, but awesome...

I'll email you right away.

Hey great thread, just what I needed since Matt just gave me a rockin' great deal on a Rode NT3 :-) and I need something to show it off with.

For the NT3 i'd suggest the AT 8415 or the sabra Som. It's too heavy for the KSSM.

It's a nice mic.

Hey Michael... the K-SSM was developed primarily for the CS1 which if you look at one you'll see it's body is just the last 2" and the rest is the interference tube... The K-SSM is made for really small mics.

Something like the AT or similar is what you will want. I hope you realized that the NT3 is a "handheld sized" mic.

The Oktava that I got this mount for is TINY... only about 3/4" by 4" or so...

Perfect. I'm getting the Sabra Som for the NT3. Yeah I did research it thoroughly, that's why I jumped when you put it up for sale!

And that's my 300th post.

Question:

I have noticed that for small mics the rubber bands are crossed over the mic in the shock mount.

1. Are the bands supposed to be crossed over both horiz. and vert.?

2. In the AT8415 would you cross the bands for a large microphone, 1.25" diameter?

Crossing the bands isn't mandatory. If you get a mount that fits a lot of mics you'll find that it may not hold a small diameter mic as well as a large one... then you cross. If you put a tiny mic in you may need to cross both axis, but I doubt it.

From my experience with band type mounts I only crossed the horizontal ones when needed and the verticle ones mainly kept the mic in the center of the mount.

If you had a very small mic in a horizontal only band mount, like a PSC, and you didn't cross the bands you may have the mic shift off center in a rapid movement...

If you have a particularly heavy mic you may need to cross both bands if you want to boom that mic.

If you get any shockmount it will only take a few minutes to see what works with your mic.

For what it's worth, I just ordered the AT8415 from B&H. Should be here in a few days and lets' hope it works better than my crappy Beyerdynamic EA86 that nearly had my ME66 swimming in a pool a short while ago ;)

I might post my newbie impressions when I get it.

Aaron

Will the at8415 actually contain the NT3 mic? According to the specs, the NT3 is 30 mm diameter. The AT mount says maximum size mic it will hold is a 28. Any one actually used this combination that knows that it works?

I'm looking at the NT3 very seriously myself, and would like to know which mounts will be big enough to handle it. Any input anyone has on this would be great.

Thanks

The Sabra-Som Mount (www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=272471&is=REG) will work and so should the less expensive Windtech SP-30 (www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=298921&is=REG)

I use the sabra Som and the 8415 and they work fine but somehow i just can't see the wintech being much more than a glorified mic stand.

Jerry
The 8415 and the sabrasom will work great with the NT3.

I have the windtech. It's a great mic clip, but not really a shock mount for boom use. Or camera mount use. Just a good mic clip for having on a stand.

Do you think somone could get away with using the NT3 on a boom pole if you had it in a Sabra-som?

I'm trying to find a mic that I can use on a boom pole with my gl2 without buying an expensive phantom power providing adapter. The NT3 sounds good and fits the bill....but i've heard people say its heavy. I dont care if its a bit "heavy". I just need to know how realistic it would be to use.

The NT3 would work on a boom. I'd be tempted to use an AT 8415 shock mount. They're the same price as the Sabra

just ordered the AT8415 from B&H. Should be here in a few days and lets' hope it works better than my crappy Beyerdynamic EA86So how is that AT8415 compared with the "cr_ppy Beyerdynamic?"

Well, there's no comparison really - it's a totally different class of shockmount. The AT8415 was more expensive that that EA86 of course and so you'd expect better but if I'd have known I would have got the AT8415 from the start. I got the one with the special KTEK bands and those things hold my ME66 with minijammer and foamsock, damned tight. There's no way it's going into a swimming pool now.


Aaron

I probably missed the link, but do you have a link for the AT8415 (with pic and specs)? Thanks.

PS: I think I'll now pass on the Beyerdynamic EA86.

Hey Frank, this is all I have Here (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=300643&is=REG)

I don't have a lot of experience with shockmounts so it probably doesn't take a lot to impress me but the things to think about between the two are.

1) The at8415 doesn't have hotshoe mount, you'll need adapter for that.
2) The EA86 doesn't tilt, it's fixed, so limited on a boom.
3) AT8415 is quite big, and I don't think it would work for very small mics, like the Oktava (I think Matt and Bryan discovered this)


Cheers
Aaron

The AT is a great shock mount and requires a $9 hotshoe adapter
to fit on the camera. By crossing all of the bands you get a very secure hold eeeven on small diameter mics.

You can also pick up a heavier band from AT in their service dept, but moreover, you can cut them from a bicycle innertube and have a stiffer hold for heavier mics. Just watch the width to get them in the slots provided by AT. I've also successfully used Blak hair bands for tighter hold, but they didn't last as long.

Hi Bryan
Thank you for your assistance the other day with microphones and I am glad that I can possibly return the favor. Over at Global DVCDigital (http://www.global-dvc.org/default.asp) they have a very interesting shock mount called the DVC Suspension. They have a rather interesting comparison with photos comparing many commonly used mounts and this unit looks superior. I plan to buy one ($55) , the price is certainly right.
Regards
Dennis Kane

Dennis,

The DVC Suspension is actually a Shure A55HM (www.shure.com/accessories/a55hm.asp?P=acc-shockmounts&PN=Shock%20Mounts). However, instead of going with extra adapters to turn it into a shoe mount I would choose the Audio Technica adapter (www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=details_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku=68160&is=REG&BI=155) that Bryan mentiond before.

I was just gonna ask a question about that DVC Suspension/Shure A55HM. It's also called a ASG shock mount, and it's much much cheaper than 55 bucks on eBay. More like 10 bucks. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3708436423&category=15198