Which boom pole / shock mount combination do you prefer?

Terry_Lasater

Terry_Lasater

All about the Caption
Curious to see which boom pole and shock mounts people here prefer and why.

I have a Gitzo pole (circa 2004?) and a few shock mounts. One is a Rycote, the other a B&H (Pearstone?).

I've owned a few different shotguns but mainly use a Rode NTG-3 and an Oktava MK-012.

One reason I am asking this is that I'd like to know which pole and/or shock mount users find to be the quietest or have the least amount of handling noise.
 
My experience:

If you use an internal cable model, they will make more noise if not fully extended. I have both an internal and external cable pole, and for quiet I prefer the external. For ease of use, and internal with side exit is really nice. Of course the lightest poles, carbon fiber models, are really nice. But my shoots are usually pretty short, so aluminum works OK for me and keeps the costs down. I have preferred K-Tek poles, they just seem really bullet proof.

Grant
 
ggrantly said:
My experience:

If you use an internal cable model, they will make more noise if not fully extended. I have both an internal and external cable pole, and for quiet I prefer the external. For ease of use, and internal with side exit is really nice. Of course the lightest poles, carbon fiber models, are really nice. But my shoots are usually pretty short, so aluminum works OK for me and keeps the costs down. I have preferred K-Tek poles, they just seem really bullet proof.

Grant
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I know many that use K-Tek Poles. Other good brand are VDB, PSC, Loons, and Ambient.
 
My experience is that the carbon fiber poles are lighter and have less handling noise. I've used both and prefer the carbon fiber, but the one I own is aluminum, it's what I had and it works well enough. If I was booming for a living I would spring for the carbon fiber.

I have heard nothing but praise for the Rycote Lyre suspension. Haven't used it yet but it's the #1 think on my upgrade list.
 
Rycote Lyre suspension mounts. The new K-Tek Nautilus is certainly worth consideration.
I use K-Tek internally wired carbon fiber poles. Lighter, quieter (and more expressive) than aluminum. Depends on the your budget and needs.
 
I like k-tek and VDB, but I've heard good things about PSC and want to try one. Externally cabled, as I'm not very good with internal (though I've yet to try straight cables), and if you live in a cold country, then carbon is a must.

For shockmounts, I like cinela and rycote lyre. I'm very curious about the new nautilus.
 
Rick R said:
The new K-Tek Nautilus is certainly worth consideration.
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Why?

My understanding is that it doesn't work very well - if you tap it it just keeps on bouncing around.

I'm guessing they were trying to get around Rycote's patents, but came up with something that looks good but doesn't do the job properly.

A shockmount should prevent handling noise getting to the microphone, but it should not resonate or bounce the mic. around.
 
John Willett said:
Why?

My understanding is that it doesn't work very well - if you tap it it just keeps on bouncing around.

I'm guessing they were trying to get around Rycote's patents, but came up with something that looks good but doesn't do the job properly.

A shockmount should prevent handling noise getting to the microphone, but it should not resonate or bounce the mic. around.
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It's best not to guess and actually use things. There are LOTS of Nautilus mounts out there being happily used by their customers. Every single microphone mount out there bounces the mic around. That's how they work. It's also best to test mic mounts how they are going to be used in the field. When I put a mic in a mount at the end of a boom pole, I don't tap it. If that is a test of the performance of a mount, then it isn't a proper test.

Regarding patents, every manufacturer has to look at other manufacturer's patents to make sure they don't infringe of existing patents. Some manufacturers do just enough to get around existing patents, others try to design things from the ground up. The latter is the route K-Tek took, and to insinuate otherwise (which you've done a couple of times now) is insulting to me and it gets tiring. I know you are geocentric in terms of your preferred manufacturers. I think that rather than "guess" at something it would be best to remain silent on a topic of which you have no knowledge.

In terms of which mount and boom pole are the "best". The answer is "it depends". Every person is different. Some people will love mount "A", and others will hate it. In my myriad of trips to hundreds of movie and tv show sets over the years, and talking with as many production sound mixers, I've come to the conclusion that you can't rely on others for the answers to this question. Every person has their own booming technique, which means a shock mount in the hands of "boom op A" is going to behave differently in the hands of "boom op B". This is just how it is, no matter how many charts you look at or who you want to believe, the best thing to do is get your hands on the products that interest you and try them out. Rent them if possible.

It's the same with the whole "internal coiled cable" thing. Some people have issues with it, others don't. It's up to you to decide which works best for YOU, regardless of what others say.
 
Terry_Lasater said:
Curious to see which boom pole and shock mounts people here prefer and why.

I have a Gitzo pole (circa 2004?) and a few shock mounts. One is a Rycote, the other a B&H (Pearstone?).

I've owned a few different shotguns but mainly use a Rode NTG-3 and an Oktava MK-012.

One reason I am asking this is that I'd like to know which pole and/or shock mount users find to be the quietest or have the least amount of handling noise.
Click to expand...

I use the same mics a you.
Boom is aluminum from Rode, suspension (for indoor/Oktava) Rycote Lyre Mount,
the NTG3 lives in a Rode blimp, that also comes with a nice suspension (not as good as the Lyre though, but quite workable).
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'm not in immediate need at the moment but I do intend to change/upgrade this part of my sound equipment in time for some projects this summer.

For what it's worth... I'm asking which boom pole / shock mounts people use and why (ie their opinions). I'm not a newbie asking which is "best". So, getting a response about how it is subjective and/or a boom sounds different in each ops hands isn't really helpful. I mean, couldn't the same be said of lots of topics? And, if so, why bother asking for opinions if the responses are ambiguous distinctions of individual users?
 
Terry_Lasater said:
Thanks for the replies.

I'm not in immediate need at the moment but I do intend to change/upgrade this part of my sound equipment in time for some projects this summer.

For what it's worth... I'm asking which boom pole / shock mounts people use and why (ie their opinions). I'm not a newbie asking which is "best". So, getting a response about how it is subjective and/or a boom sounds different in each ops hands isn't really helpful. I mean, couldn't the same be said of lots of topics? And, if so, why bother asking for opinions if the responses are ambiguous distinctions of individual users?
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That's kind of the point. It's good to ask what people use in terms of finding out what gear is out there, but it really is a subjective thing. Just because someone uses boom pole "A" with shock mount "B" doesn't mean it is going to work for you. It is important to know that everyone works differently, and it is a fact often dismissed by those that say "this product is the best" when you can turn around and find 10 people that will tell you the exact opposite, no matter which boom pole or shock mount it is. This is why I ALWAYS stress that people try things out before they buy. If you purely want to know which mounts and boom poles people are using, then the answer is "all of them". Every boom pole currently being manufactured by all the manufacturers is being used and every shock mount designed to go with a shotgun microphone is being used. If you are doing an informal poll to see which products show up the most, then you will get a mish-mash of answers from a very narrow group of people.

Contacting a pro audio dealer would be a good start. They know what sells and what doesn't and they deal with customers on a daily basis, so they hear the complaints of products and can help steer you in the right direction based on your budget and needs.
 
I don't think it's quite as bleak as David paints it. You asked what people use and why. The why should help put the what in perspective.

For instance while I'm sure Azden makes some mount and there are people who use it I sincerely doubt any serious users use it. There are a hand full of companies making decent pro audio field production tools, and then a large swath of consumer junk.

All mic companies sell mounts, but very few sell ones that really work very well i the field. I bet if you took a real survey of film production professionals 90% are using one of three companies, maybe four.
 
Postmaster said:
Boom is aluminum from Rode [..] (not as good as the Lyre though, but quite workable).
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Similar setup here. RØDE 10ft boompole with the PG2 pistol grip. Not the best, and certainly not comparable to the Lyre ones, but works well both on the pole and handheld situations.
For the price, it's a good bargain for both.
 
Noiz2 said:
I don't think it's quite as bleak as David paints it. You asked what people use and why. The why should help put the what in perspective.
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Thanks for that and for your input.

It seems his interest in posting in this thread was to respond to what someone else posted. When he bothered to address my original post, he misunderstood thinking I was asking "which is best?".

Oh, well...
 
Terry_Lasater said:
Thanks for that and for your input.

It seems his interest in posting in this thread was to respond to what someone else posted. When he bothered to address my original post, he misunderstood thinking I was asking "which is best?".

Oh, well...
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I was addressing someone else, mostly. I also wanted to address the "this product is the best", which some people do all the time. I know you didn't ask for "what's the best", but I guess I was just trying to get an FYI out there for when someone inevitably days "product 'x' is the best".

In terms of what mount and pole I use...well..when I'm shooting videos I use the stuff we make since I have it right here in hand, so that's to be expected and I like it.

In the past, I've used not only K-Tek boom poles but I've used Ambient boom poles when I was a freelancer. Both are great. Both are solid. Ambient makes a fine product and I don't have a bad word to say about their boom poles and the guys at the company are cool and we are actually good friends. We hang out all the time at trade shows. I've always been a HUGE fan of Ambient's other products as well, especially their master timecode generator.

For mounts, I've always been a fan of the K-Tek KGPS long before I worked at K-Tek. It worked well for me, especially when I was doing car recordings for video games. I now use the Nautilus. I have a Rycote Invision for my Sanken CS-1 as well as a Cinela. I don't use either of those.

I've also always been a fan of the PSC Universal mount. It does a good job for not a ton of money. I usually preferred that mount with my Schoeps CMC41 or Sennheiser 416.

For stereo recording for specific Schoeps setups Rycote makes some fine products in terms of shock mounts and wind screens. The only other company that does windscreens and mounts for bigger stereo setups is Cinela, but I've never used their products for those applications since I haven't done that work in a while and when I did Cinela didn't exist as a company.
 
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