I posted this as a separate thread, but also want to post it here. Lately, I’ve been trying out the sound recording rig in the photos below and thought that I’d share it. For those who are interested, the separate thread is at
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=110655The photos were taken tonight while recording the sound of my neighbourhood’s daily 7:00 p.m. appreciation for health care workers, especially those at nearby Elmhurst Hospital, which is now New York’s centre for treating Covid-19 patients.
That was a “wild sound” recording, but this setup will also work when using my Pocket 4K and Sound Devices MixPre together to record both video image and sound. In addition to a slate, I have a 4’/1.2m cable to send time of day timecode from the MixPre to the camera. I purchased the cable to use for recording sound from a bag. It works with this setup as well, but I think that a longer cable would provide more flexibility. I’m aware of the jam sync boxes on the market, but I don’t feel a need for one. A cable is easier, faster and a lot less expensive.
It’s very easy to manoeuvre this rig and to adjust the height of my microphones, and the rig is particularly useful when recording stereo with two microphones spaced apart (called A-B Spaced). To me, that’s the ideal way to record stereo sound if the added bulk isn’t an issue. In the photos, the mike separation is 40cm/16”, but it can be as much as 64cm/25”. Indeed, I’ll do this recording again tomorrow with wider spacing.
The tripod/monopod part of this setup will also be excellent for recording with a full windjammer/zeppelin. In that instance, I’d sling the recorder over my shoulder, or park it in a bag. That would avoid stress from the windjammer, which I use in stronger wind, on the recorder’s top and bottom 1/4”-20 connections.
The rig consists of:
Short tripod (Really Right Stuff TVC-32G)
Monopod (Gitzo GM4542)
Audio recorder (Sound Devices MixPre-3 v.2, Anton Bauer NP-F976 battery)
Stereo bar (Grace Design Spacebar, 66cm/26”)
Two microphone clamps (Schoeps SG 20)
Two omnidirectional microphones (Schoeps CMC6 preamps, MK2 capsules)
Two wind protectors (Cinela Léonard)
Headphones (Sennheiser HD 25, right angle connector into the MixPre)
The monopod’s top stud is reversible - 3/8” or 1/4” - and the 1/4”-20 end is used here because that’s what the MixPre accepts. Foot removed, the bottom of the monopod is screwed to the tripod’s 3/8”-16 stud. The XLR microphone cables are 3’/1m long and have a right angle connector at the recorder. The red bongo ties secure the cables to the monopod to prevent cable noise. As the photos show, I had the tripod legs at a fairly steep angle; that’s inattention, and tomorrow I’ll set them wider.
In the photos, the mikes are angled a bit upward because most people cheer from apartment windows. I can change the angle of the mike clamps with a flat head screwdriver, but it’s much faster and more precise, with no need for a screwdriver, to change the angle of the stereo bar.
To make cable management cleaner, I record to channels 1 and 3, which are on opposite sides of the recorder. I just want two audio files, one for track 1 and one for track 3, so I tell the recorder in settings not to make a third file that combines tracks 1 and 3. I use the MixPre encoder, rather than the less precise mixer knobs, to set gain for each mike.
Next recording? My local subway station is now so deserted that I’m considering going to its outdoor, elevated platform to record the trains in A-B stereo. Pre-pandemic, this was a busy station above a busy street, resulting in a lot of background noise. Background noise is particularly problematic when using omnidirectional mikes, which is what I want to use and A-B stereo calls for. Making a good stereo recording will be far easier now, particularly with a rig like this.
Trains generate so much low frequency energy that it’s necessary, unless one uses a low cut filter or a compressor/limiter, to test levels with a few trains before recording. I don’t want to linger, so this is a situation where I’ll test with one train, set levels roughly, and use the MixPre’s 32-bit feature. This means that I won’t need to use the recorder’s low cut filter to reduce low frequency energy, or its compressor/limiter to prevent clipping. The result should be a full stereo image that preserves the sense of presence that low frequency sounds will bring to the recordings.
A word about planning... To get forecast and current weather conditions, wind speed in particular, I use the U.S. National Weather Service’s data for Central Park and LaGuardia Airport. I get this information from an app for pilots called ForeFlight, but the same info is available for free on the National Weather Service web site. Right now, Monday is looking good.
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