help me reduce boom noise with oktava

FiddlerMD

FiddlerMD

Well-known member
a couple days ago i did my first shoot w/ the oktava on a boom pole (not actual one - a diy painting pole solution). i know the oktava is sensitive, but DAMN ... i taped the cable to the pole at several location w/ gaf tape and i could hear everytime the boom guy touched the wire.. in the end we figured out the best way to handle it, but is there some better way of reducing/decoupling the noise from the wire/pole?
the mic was mounted in an azden shock mount
thanks
 
yes better boom , better suspension , cloth cable from the mic
gloves and low pass filter above 70hz
maybe better boom operator as well :-)
 
You need to get the k-tek kssm shockmount ($100) with soft bands from trewaudio.com You need a Gitzo 12.5' carbon fiber boom ($250). and what Oleg said! (what is a cloth cable from the mic?)
 
The Audio Technica 8415 with the K-tek suspenders works really well. And the knit gardening gloves they sell at Safeway with the little black rubber dots work really well - hard to slide your hands on the pole with them, you have to move your hands - helps eliminate some of the handling noise. But, bottom line - you get what you pay for. You use DIY equipment, you get DIY sound.

Phil
 
well the boom guy had nothing to do with it.. once he steadied himself, everything was fine.. i was just shocked at how sensitive the oktava is.. also it seems that it wasnt so much the shock mount but rather vibration going down the cable (the cable is canare star quad non-cloth or anything)
 
FiddlerMD said:
a couple days ago i did my first shoot w/ the oktava on a boom pole (not actual one - a diy painting pole solution). i know the oktava is sensitive, but DAMN ...
Click to expand...

Yes, the oktava is a very sensitive microphone.

Perhaps the suggested K-Tek shockmount works fine, but I prefer concentric suspensions like this one:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...s&Q=&sku=313835&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

Pity Beyer seems not to make their standard concentric type anymore, or at least B&H is not stocking it. That was a beauty. I have a pair and it works great with the Oktava.

The problem with elastic mic suspensions is that the microphone should float inside it, and for that you have to pick the rubber band you will be using on a specific mike. Particularly on mics like the Oktava, which has no internal damping and it's very light.

With a Beyer type suspension and thin rubber bands you can shake the suspension/boom lightly or slide your hands over the cable that you won't listen to anything.

In any case you have to be very careful when you are booming with any setup.

Low-cut eq is certainly a must when booming. But the cut should be light.
 
saneproductions said:
You need to get the k-tek kssm shockmount ($100) with soft bands from trewaudio.com You need a Gitzo 12.5' carbon fiber boom ($250).
Click to expand...

i use this with the ocktava along with an inexperienced boom op and have no problems.
 
FiddlerMD said:
i was using this mount
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&Q=&is=REG&O=productlist&sku=225809

i think the bands on it are way too stiff for the oktava,
Click to expand...

The problem with such suspensions, which are very popular and several brands of, is that they depend on the bands being stiff to get a grip on the mic body. So they have to be stiff, which is bad for floating and filtering vibrations through the bands.

If you have a second tube that will hold the mic, then you can tune the bands for your specific mic.

but it works ok when on-camera.

the way i mounted it is, on the bottom of the mount is a 1/4" threaded hole - and i have a 1/4" screw on top of my diy boom pole
Click to expand...

I don't think you are getting all you can get from your Oktava by using it on-camera.
 
Just in case - you do know that unless you leave some slack on the cable (a "half-loop" where the cable hits the mic), you are negating the shockmount. A taut cable will transmit all sorts of vibrations (not to mention prevent you from easily positionng the mic, and putting pressure you don't want on the XLR connection...
 
Hmm, this might sound stupid, but I'm looking for a threat to see how I get the boom mic to actually work on the DVX. I switched the input 1 to line, than switched it to mic, and it still isn't working. Please let me know what to do... I also changed the mic battery 5 times with 5 never before used batteries haha...
 
FutureDVXUser said:
Hmm, this might sound stupid, but I'm looking for a threat to see how I get the boom mic to actually work on the DVX. I switched the input 1 to line, than switched it to mic, and it still isn't working. Please let me know what to do... I also changed the mic battery 5 times with 5 never before used batteries haha...
Click to expand...

Is that the Oktava? You need to switch on the phantom power too, which you didn't mention you did.
 
Where do I find the switch for the phantom power? The switches where the LCD closes? I played with those also, and it didn't work >.<
 
it says +48 volts and there is one for each channel. Make sure the switches on the front of the camera are set to "mic" not "line". You also need to set your inputs from left and right to 1 and 2 (or plug the mic into 2 and set both 1 and 2 to 2). All of these switches are located under the LCD. BTWRTFM

Also don't plug or unplug your mics with phantom power on. It can damage the mic.

Also never blow into or tap on a mic to see if it is on. If you must you can LIGHTLY scratch the windscreen to make sure it is working.
 
I don't think phantom power is the issue, as he's talking about replacing batteries... does the mic have some kind of a switch for phantom vs. battery power?

Also, in addition to much good advice above, you have to make sure the gain dials are at a reasonable level for your mic - start at the "12 o'clock" position if you're not sure.
 
ullanta said:
I don't think phantom power is the issue, as he's talking about replacing batteries... does the mic have some kind of a switch for phantom vs. battery power?
Click to expand...


AFAIK there's no Oktava model working off batteries. Or aren't we talking of an Oktava?

This seems to have become a deafs conversation not looking at each other. :)
 
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