Boom Pole, internal cabling systems

C

crot0019

Well-known member
Hi there, I have bought a cheap boom pole that is honestly awful. It was my first audio hardware purchase and a mistake. I have asked people on here about cost effective alternatives. Gitzo and K-Tek seemed to be the way to go. I like K-tek ones but I have heard before that internal cabling systems are sometimes loud? Is this the case? Wouldn't mind getting it right this time.

Also I use an xlr cable with a splitter on the end to plug into both channels of my zoom h4n. Just wondering if there are splittlers on the market that would attach to the internal cabling system of the k-tek boom poles? The splitter system I currently have is attached to a 6m cable and I would obviously like to eliminate this.

Thanks guys sorry about the long post.
 
What did you get and why do you think it is "awful"?

I like my K-Tek and it is a popular choice among working professionals. "Loud" may indicate poor technique (whipping the pole around which is never advisable.)

The internal cable on my K-Tek is terminated in a male XLR in the back end of the pole. You can plug whatever cable, adapter (or even transmitter) into it. You would need SOME sort of cable between the end of the pole and the recorder (or camcorder, or whatever).

Not sure what is the point is of"splitting" the signal and recording on both channels of a digital recorder?
 
For me personal I've used it once because I was using the gear from someone when doing sound for newsgatering. That time I didn't had much problemens and the newsitem could be broadcasted :Drogar-Dum(DBG):

For movie stuff I would disadvice it. A newsitem is only seen once in a lifetime. Movies on the other hand, can be reseen. And it's quite a lot of work to cut out sound of cable inside the boompole hitting the boompole.

But if you're doing things like small interviews, two-men-stuff... it can be very usefull not to be all wired up.
 
crot0019 said:
Also I use an xlr cable with a splitter on the end to plug into both channels of my zoom h4n. Just wondering if there are splittlers on the market that would attach to the internal cabling system of the k-tek boom poles? The splitter system I currently have is attached to a 6m cable and I would obviously like to eliminate this.
Click to expand...

If you want to eliminate your splitter cable, then throw it away. Why would you wan tto record stereo dialog? The human voice is mono; record it in mono. Besides. you're cutting an already weak signal in half when you do that. If you want to record in stereo, use two mics.
 
You can't go wrong with the K-Tek internally-wired poles. If you're on a strict budget, "downgrade" to one of their 5-section aluminum poles from carbon fibre.

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crot0019 said:
Hi there, ... I have asked people on here about cost effective alternatives. Gitzo and K-Tek seemed to be the way to go. I like K-tek ones but I have heard before that internal cabling systems are sometimes loud? Is this the case? Wouldn't mind getting it right this time.

Also I use an xlr cable with a splitter on the end to plug into both channels of my zoom h4n. Just wondering if there are splittlers on the market that would attach to the internal cabling system of the k-tek boom poles? The splitter system I currently have is attached to a 6m cable and I would obviously like to eliminate this.

Thanks guys sorry about the long post.
Click to expand...

"Cost effective" is a dangerous term. Many people use it to mean "what's the cheapest I can get aways with" when it really should mean you're thinking "how much do I need to spend in order to get the right tool to properly do the job at hand?"

Lose the splitter completely. There's no need to record dialog captured on a mono mic to two tracks unless your recorder allows you to set levels independently in order to record a secondary safety track 6 or 8 db lower than the primary track, which I don't believe the Zoom does. Record a single mono track and pan it to the centre in post.

Avoiding cable noise is a matter of practice and care in handling. Try to always work with the boom fully extended so the cable is tensioned at its design length. Trying to work with the boom partially collapsed means the cable is slack inside it, leading to cable slap. If you shoot in a variety of situations, sometimes indoors in cramped quarters where you need a short boom of 8 feet or so to avoid hitting the walls or ceiling and other times outdoors where you need something longer, perhaps between 12 to 16 feet, in order to stay out of the shot, get two booms rather than trying to use the longer one only partially extended when it's too long for the location you're working.

I have a Loon carbon fibre boom that I'm very happy with. Check out their Penta line which is priced comparable to the K-Tek carbon booms at loonaudio.com
 
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Hxd Ped said:
If you want to eliminate your splitter cable, then throw it away. Why would you wan tto record stereo dialog? The human voice is mono; record it in mono. Besides. you're cutting an already weak signal in half when you do that. If you want to record in stereo, use two mics.
Click to expand...
One reason to do this would be to record one channel +10db above the other, such that in post, you've effectively increased the usable dynamic range. I do that with my DVX-100a all the time, but don't need a splitter because the camera can route XLR #2 to both channels.
 
Steve House said:
Lose the splitter completely. There's no need to record dialog captured on a mono mic to two tracks unless your recorder allows you to set levels independently in order to record a secondary safety track 6 or 8 db lower than the primary track, which I don't believe the Zoom does. Record a single mono track and pan it to the centre in post.
Click to expand...
You actually can adjust the levels of the mics and the XLR inputs on the H4n using the Mixer function. - Tim
 
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