Topic: seeking advice on a CA-11 mounting setup for open recording

[litmus]

first of all thanks to travelinbeat for providing me with the details of his CA-11 mounting setup in another thread. i've been doing a little research and trying to come up with the best (and ideally cheapest) setup for open recording. would love some opinions/thoughts/suggestions from the experts out there.

i do a lot of stealth recording, but open whenever permitted. for festivals i've usually cobbled some stuff together (standard vocal mic stand, whatever i could find as a horizontal 'stereo' bar, a lot of tape, etc.). i'll be hitting my 6th bonnaroo in june and finally decided to upgrade across the board (albeit on a budget). here's what i've got and then i'll provide some links to what i think might be a good way to complete the setup. goal is to have something flexible enough to run different configs as needed (though i'll probably mostly default to an OTRF setup).

what i have:
- CA-11 cards (w/clips)
- CA battery box
- R-09
- DynaTran AS-303 stand

what i'm thinking about to complete the stand setup:
- stand fitting with 5/8" adapter (http://www.micsupply.com/standaccessories.htm)
- K&M 23550 Adjustable Microphone Bar (http://bit.ly/EINmu)
- windtech SP-20 20mm microphone shockmounts (http://bit.ly/PpTTh)

that's about $50 total with shipping.

i'm sure there are simpler, better, and/or more flexible combinations of things (and maybe even cheaper) to get those tiny mics mounted, shock-protected and aimed in a variety of configs, but those items seemed to pair up to do what i need.

thoughts, advice, suggestions? thanks in advance.

[Belexes]

May be more than you want to spend, but this is nice:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-GNA-3

You can purchase it with a shock mount.  It'll bend into all sorts of configurations.  The only issue is that if the clips are attached to the CA-11's, you may want to hack them off and just use detachable Shure clips.

[Jeremy Lykins]

May be more than you want to spend, but this is nice:
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-GNA-3
You can purchase it with a shock mount.  It'll bend into all sorts of configurations.  The only issue is that if the clips are attached to the CA-11's, you may want to hack them off and just use detachable Shure clips.

I've got that T-bar without the shock mount and it's great, but I would suggest getting the shock mount.  But like Belexes said, you can't use it if your mics have the clips. 

Here's mine:


Or you could do what I'm doing now with my CA-14's.  I've got a single shock mount and I have a 6" plastic ruler that I put in it that I clip the mics to.

[heyitsmejess]

my setup is VERY similar to yours (diff stand), but i really like using it...its incrediably versitile and easy to use/setup in a ton of different configs.

if you are going XY, use one mount, and clip them both to the same mount in the XY config.  other than that, DIN, DINa, NOS, AB, etc etc is very easy for not alot of cash.

[vanark]

I have a similar setup for my CA-11, but use tensimount mic holders.

[litmus]

my setup is VERY similar to yours (diff stand), but i really like using it...its incrediably versitile and easy to use/setup in a ton of different configs.

if you are going XY, use one mount, and clip them both to the same mount in the XY config.  other than that, DIN, DINa, NOS, AB, etc etc is very easy for not alot of cash.

heyitsmejess: when you talk about your setup being similar, were you referring to the proposed setup i laid out in the initial post or to JackDog's setup in the photos he posted? (btw, very nice shots. thanks for posting those)

thanks to all who have weighed in so far. i hadn't heard of the tensimounts, but that looks like it might be something that will grow with my equipment acquistions down the line. anybody else have experience with tansimounts for small mics like the CA-11s? i'll do some digging in the forums as well.

thanks to all who have replied...very helpful.

[heyitsmejess]

similar to yours...i went very low budget getting into the game.


mic stand > stereo bar (have 2 now...one is 17cm, the other is adjustable) > 2-WT-SP20 mm mounts

simply clipped to the mounts, they have pretty good shock protection...sample of falling mic stand

http://www.archive.org/download/rumpkemboys2008-02-23/rumpkemb022308d1t14_vbr.mp3

appx 4:10 in the mic stand falls, and if it wernt for the guitarist mentioning it, you would never know.

i have no experience with the tensimounts, but im sure they work equally as well, if not better!

[shaggy28]

I've been searching for a thread like this forever now. I've seen a lot of different set ups that seem to work great, thanks for the ideas. What type of mic stands do you guys have? I don't know anything about them. I just about bought one at a music store a few mins ago but it had the round plate as the base and didn't seem to go much higher than my head. Is that ok to use or should i try and find one with legs? Also are there different types of mic stands? Thanks for any help.

[heyitsmejess]

i just use a boom-style mic stand....pretty basic.  goes up to appx 15 feet with boom extended.
never had any problems out of it (unless someone hits it, natch)

alot of folks seem to enjoy using a light stand.

[Jeremy Lykins]

What type of mic stands do you guys have? [...] I just about bought one at a music store a few mins ago but it had the round plate as the base and didn't seem to go much higher than my head.

I bought a light stand from my local camera store.  If the ones with the round plate as the base went higher I'd use one of those for sure, but since they don't I use a light stand.  Most tapers run their stands at at least 7 feet, sometimes higher, so keep that in mind when looking for a stand.

[bluesnut49]

What about the R-09?  I'm would appreciate advice on where to mount or place the recorder when using a stand.

Also, I've heard of attaching the 6in plastic ruler to the end of the stand, taping a couple of playing cards on the ends of the ruler and clipping the CA-11's or CA-14's to the cards.  Would the cards serve adequately as shock mounts until I can get the real thing? 

Very nice thread, many thanks to all. 

[mblindsey]

May be more than you want to spend, but this is nice:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-GNA-3

You can purchase it with a shock mount.  It'll bend into all sorts of configurations.  The only issue is that if the clips are attached to the CA-11's, you may want to hack them off and just use detachable Shure clips.

I have this one:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-GNA-2

I just clip my CSB's to it when I feel like running them open.  I have no idea what the clips on the Church mics look like...but, it might be an option.

--Michael

[bluesnut49]

May be more than you want to spend, but this is nice:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-GNA-3

You can purchase it with a shock mount.  It'll bend into all sorts of configurations.  The only issue is that if the clips are attached to the CA-11's, you may want to hack them off and just use detachable Shure clips.

I have this one:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-GNA-2

I just clip my CSB's to it when I feel like running them open.  I have no idea what the clips on the Church mics look like...but, it might be an option.

--Michael

Michael,

That's a cool looking T-mount that should work well for my Church CA-14's with clips.  Do you use it without a shock mount?  How does it connect to your mic stand?

Thanks,

Ernie

[Jeremy Lykins]

What about the R-09?  I'm would appreciate advice on where to mount or place the recorder when using a stand.
Also, I've heard of attaching the 6in plastic ruler to the end of the stand, taping a couple of playing cards on the ends of the ruler and clipping the CA-11's or CA-14's to the cards.  Would the cards serve adequately as shock mounts until I can get the real thing? 

I usually put my R-09 and preamp in a bag on the floor beneath my stand (unless there's a table nearby).  I have to use an extension cable to do that, and they're somewhere around $20 or less. 


I use a 6" plastic ruler (I drilled a hole in the middle and secure it with a regular ol' nut), and you don't really need a shock mount unless your stand actually gets kicked or bumped.  It doesn't happen very often to me, so you should probably be able to get away with not having one for a while (I did for several shows while I was looking for a shock mount). 

(the mics in this pic are the loaner CA-14's and they don't have clips, so I used gaffer's tape to tape 'em to the ruler)

[bluesnut49]

JackDog,

Thank you very much for the good info and pictures!  What kind of stand are you using in the pictures?

Thanks,

Ernie