Steve House
Veteran
Especially since one of the best / most effective shockmounts on the market today is the Rycote Invision series which sells for just under $70, going DIY for a mount with so-so effectiveness just makes no sense at all.
boompole on a budget?
- Thread starter JayR
- Start date
Especially since one of the best / most effective shockmounts on the market today is the Rycote Invision series which sells for just under $70, going DIY for a mount with so-so effectiveness just makes no sense at all.
btownproductions
Well-known member
I realize that you can get pretty good shockmounts for fairly cheap. The only point I was trying to get across was if you have zero budget, making a temporary shockmount for under $10 does make sense, since it does work (albeit not as well as a $50 or $70 one) until you have some extra cash to pick up a proper one.
For example, when I made mine; I was completely broke. I don't make films for a living yet, and my winter job doesn't pay all that well, so I'm building a kit while living paycheck to paycheck right now. So every penny counts. If I can make something for next to no money to get me by for the time being, I will. And why not? Since I didn't have the extra money for a proper one, isn't a diy one for around $8.50 a lot better than using no mount at all? :undecided
I have the 3 section Testrite pole, so I can only comment on that. Like I said, it's not nearly as sturdy as the Rode 10' pole I also have. When you tighten the collets on the Rode, the entire pole is like one rigid body. When you tighten the collets on the Testrite, if you wave the pole around, you can get some wiggle.
But ...
The Testrite pole is really light. Plus, it was so cheap. I understand it's limitations, so I'm just more careful when moving it around.
The Rode was just too heavy for some of the simpler things that I wanted to do.
-R
JordanBlock
Well-known member
Google images returns pics of that mic and shockmount. I can't find a great shot of the shockmount, but it looks like it would just screw onto the boom. The only problem is that it doesn't look like you can adjust the angle. You can, however, pick up a little adapter from your friendly neighborhood music/audio store.
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Noiz2
Sound Ninja
OK Brace your self.... I've made shock mounts, actually I use some modified Rycote shock mounts right now. I also have a painters pole which I machined an end for to connect to the adapted Rycote shock mounts. I've also made Zeppelin's and one was used to record FX for Titanic. So you don't need to get too defensive. Now why would I make those things when I could buy them? Well I wasn't broke but close when I started making the zeps. The ones I made were/ are MUCH more effective in extreme wind than the Professional ones I now own. They probably are not as transparent and they weigh a lot more but they worked really well. I modified the Rycote's because they didn't make the kind of mount I wanted (in one case) and they had changed the design in the other case. The boompole is not great. It's light and works fine but it does not collapse very much. I'm using it for FX and I don't have to work around interiors with it, it's mostly to give me a few more feet of safety with dangerous recording situations. I also have a smaller "professional" pole. If I boomed for a living I would be out there spending the $$ for a nice carbon fiber pole, but I don't use it much so I''l spend the $ elsewhere, though $75 for 12' that collapses down to 3' is looking like a winner even for my rare uses.
My point is that "professional" has a lot more to do with what you do with the tools than what tools you do it with. A big gotcha with that statement is that IF your working and making a good rate and you have to work around other people, you have to look professional. Even if you have tuned your painters pole so it's better than a "real" boom pole (just for arguments sake, I don't think that is actually doable) you still can't show up on a set with it unless your reputation is so HUGE you can show up with anything. It's like wearing a white shirt at IBM. The blue shirt is just as effective but show up with it and you will be sent home to change.
So you can make quality equipment and the upside is you know where the weaknesses are and don't have to discover them on the job. But if your making a living it's often not cost effective and you have to be mindful of the situation and expectations.
Cheers
SK
Steve House
Veteran
If you're going to try to land paying gigs, yes it does matter and showing up on a set with the DIY kit can be a very big negative when it comes to getting hired back again. So in that sense, it's NOT better than not having one at all. For good or bad, image matters in an industry whose entire existence is based on display of image. As I once saw in a clithing store window "To get where you want to be, you must look like you're alrready there." The Rycote mount I mentioned costs less than the cost of the gasoline I'm burning just to get to work on my day job today and tomorrow - when you put it into perspective with the other costs of doing business, that's so cheap that showing up at a gig with less than a professional kit makes no sense at all. Sorry.
btownproductions
Well-known member
I know exactly what you guys are saying, but as for right now it still doesn't apply to what I'm doing, since I'm only doing this as a hobby right now and am not trying to land any paying gigs. But yes, I competely understand where you're coming from as far as looking professional and having the proper tools and what-not while you're at a paying gig. I'm in no way trying to discount what you guys are saying about buying the proper equipment. Maybe I should have left more details as for my reasons for not seeing the point in spending the money on it at this point. But I'm not going to continue to argue an endless debate on here lol.
So I'll just say FOR NOW my boom pole and shock mount is all I need, I can get anywhere from 4' to 12' and it's light, quite sturdy and gets the job done for under $50. Once I decide to move on to payed gigs, of course I'll upgrade. But not today anyways haha.
Wow, I've never seen so much negative feedback on a small DIY project on this forum before, most people are encouraged to get creative. Sure showed me
Rippie
Veteran
I have countless REAL shockmounts for my mics, and im STILL on the search
for the "perfect" mount (that isn't the ridiculously high priced cinela which im still concidering for 1 of my schoeps).
The point of a shockmount is to reduce handling noise as much as possible.
If your mount doesnt quite work up to that level, then you might as well just
be sticking the mic in an SM57 mic clip and go for it.
The point I was making is do you value your time?
You had to think up your idea, you then had to go find the parts..
come home..and make it. Im guessing a few hours involved?
Even if you were only "paying" yourself 10 bux an hour.
you're up to over $40 bux.
For $50 you could get a PSC that I would think would be slightly better.
For my schoeps which is by far the highest handling noise mic I own
I always seem to reach for the PSC.
In the end with all that said, if you're happy with it..great.
Realize it might sound like people are giving you crap, but if you look at the posts with an open mind you can see people are just trying to enlighten you/help you with things you might not have thought of.
btownproductions
Well-known member
I know I said I wouldn't get back into this again, but I had to. I know what you guys are trying to tell me, and I'm not discounting that at all. But I did pay under the price of a psc mount for my entire boom and mount setup, which is the only reason I found it viable. Don't get me wrong. I've said it a couple times in this thread already I think, I AM going to buy a proper shockmount once I have some extra cash. The main thing I was trying to say I'm happy with is the lightbulb changer pole I'm using for a boom, which cost me $40, is extendable in 3 sections from about 4' to 12' and is lightweight and fairly rigid. The shockmount was just something I threw together in a few minutes and a couple of bucks to get me by for the time being.
It didn't take me a few hours to think of the plan... I went to the hardware store 5 minutes from my house in hopes to build a boom pole, saw the light changer, bought it. Decided to check the plumbing section downstairs because I've heard of abs shockmounts before, and found the piece that was about the right size with the o-rings right next to it. I already had the mic holder for the hinge, so I was all set in about 5-10 minutes. Add on an extra 25 or so minutes to cut the abs to shape and stick the bolt in the end of the boom pole and I was set. Hardly a waste of valued time...
Trust me, I scoured the web for proper boom poles and mounts before doing this for a good month or so beforehand. I've already decided on the Rycote mount before I started making this. But I've got a few more things on my shopping list ahead of it, so what I have now will do just fine until then. As for the boom pole. I find what I've thrown together works excellent so far, so I don't see myself paying $300 plus any time soon. Those fishpoles mentioned earlier in this thread are another cheap viable option, but until someone tries them and says otherwise, I honestly don't see them performing all that much better than what I already picked up for $40.
I am interested to hear how they perform though if someone on here has used them as a boom before.
It didn't take me a few hours to think of the plan... I went to the hardware store 5 minutes from my house in hopes to build a boom pole, saw the light changer, bought it. Decided to check the plumbing section downstairs because I've heard of abs shockmounts before, and found the piece that was about the right size with the o-rings right next to it. I already had the mic holder for the hinge, so I was all set in about 5-10 minutes. Add on an extra 25 or so minutes to cut the abs to shape and stick the bolt in the end of the boom pole and I was set. Hardly a waste of valued time...
Trust me, I scoured the web for proper boom poles and mounts before doing this for a good month or so beforehand. I've already decided on the Rycote mount before I started making this. But I've got a few more things on my shopping list ahead of it, so what I have now will do just fine until then. As for the boom pole. I find what I've thrown together works excellent so far, so I don't see myself paying $300 plus any time soon. Those fishpoles mentioned earlier in this thread are another cheap viable option, but until someone tries them and says otherwise, I honestly don't see them performing all that much better than what I already picked up for $40.
I am interested to hear how they perform though if someone on here has used them as a boom before.