proper attachment of shockmount
 

Dear People,

I've got a question here... ok I've got a Audio Technica AT815b, basically its a long shotgun. I've also got the shockmount AT8415 (rubberband thingy).
The thing is... to attach the shockmount to the mic and have it balance properly, you've got to even out the weight on each side of the mount, and to do that means you have to take off the foam windscreen that comes with the mic as it takes up 2/3rds of the length of the mic and the mic will be unbalanced if I attach the shockmount to the 'unfoamed' portion.
Now... the mic is really sensitive to wind noise and without the foam, its just asking for trouble. Is there a workaround or is the thing just badly designed or did I buy the wrong shockmount?


Thanks!

Adrian Seah

ps. I've realised that on the Audio Technica website, all the pictures of the mic I've seen with the shockmount are without any form of wind protection.

Adrian,
what you need is a zepplin, a big foam casing that goes over the mike and shock mount,
check out this link, see the super screen link:

http://www.lightwavesystems.com/

Thanks Rik,

that means more money to be spent......*sob*...... any experience with the lightwave superscreen or windmaster? Anyone?

Adrian

I do not have the "Superscreen" but I use Lightwave's "Miniscreen" with my Sennheiser ME66. Since the Mini only covers the business-end of the mic I use a Sennheiser pistol grip shock mount which grabs the back half of the mic.

The Mini does a very good job of isolating wind noise from the mic with very little muffling of the action sound.

I was just looking thru the Lightwave website... but no mention of how to purchase the stuff, no pricing as well (for miniscreen, superscreen etc). I was wondering where you go about buying these products, zgc doesn't seem to carry them, nor does B & H. Where did you get yours and how much did you pay for it... I feel terribly poor now... seems like there are endless 'essentials'!

BTW, this forum is FANTASTIC

Adrian Seah

It's been a while but I think I bought mine from Markertek, a humongous a/v supply shop. (http://www.markertek.com/) They have a rather klunky site but it's absolutely crammed with good stuff. Their catalog is really fun to browse. They're a top-notch outfit geared mainly toward professionals.

I honestly don't recall what I paid for my Mini Screen.

Adrian,

I'm not familiar with that shockmount you mentioned, but in general, shockmounts have to be able to deal with lopsided
microphones. Most all shotguns are going to have much more
length (and weight) on the "business" end. It's possible that you ended up with a shockmount designed for studio mics. Those are usually pretty cheap, while the shockmounts for mic booms are fairly pricey (and often have a pistol grip). You might consider fishing weights and very stiff rubber bands or something as a work-around. I'm not sure how well that would work.

As I'm sure you're aware by now, a full zepplin will cost you several times what you paid for the microphone. Lightwave's miniscreen is a decent alternative for all but real gale force winds if they make one for the AT815b.