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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: okietaper on August 23, 2005, 07:20:23 PM

Title: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: okietaper on August 23, 2005, 07:20:23 PM
I have seen a lot of pics with umbrellas covering mics in the rig pics.  Some of the pics are on cloudy days and some are not, so I wonder http://what the umbrella is for?  If it is raining then would the rain hitting the umbrella make the recording lousy?  then if it is sunny are the umbrellas just to protect teh mics from the harmful UV rays?  I know this is probably a total newbie question, but that is exactly what I am.

Thanks
Cary
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: okietaper on August 23, 2005, 08:00:58 PM
I use SP C4 mics and they are silver.  Should I not be concerned with this given their color?

Thanks
Cary
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Krispy D on August 23, 2005, 08:08:32 PM
cary,

I don't have any where near as much experience as a 'taper' as many, if not most on this board but I've lived my whole life around pro audio and in my experience you should have no fear of running your c4's for eight hours of 100 degree festie sunshine.  If your mics were glossy black and large diaphram I might hesitate, but really relax have a good time and +T for calling yourself a n00b ( me too )

Kris
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: willndmb on August 23, 2005, 08:24:59 PM
i never thought about sun and mics being a prob combo
good to know and think about
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Krispy D on August 23, 2005, 08:31:09 PM
there you we go again, man I gotta  change my avitar... ;)
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: admkrk on August 23, 2005, 10:45:27 PM
we had probs with a 4011 in blazing SoCali sun. It started declining in output strength. As soon as the heat let up, for the second set, the problem went away.

in s.cal(la area anyway), i'd be more woried about what the sun is "blazeing" through than ol' sol itself. i know it hurt my eyes the one time i was there.  :P
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Krispy D on August 23, 2005, 11:56:39 PM
ya, your prob right.  Sun is prob a bigger factor in So cal than it is in other parts of the country  here in NE it's less sun to wory about as much as humidity.  I was taping Pencilgrass (check em out) in early August in CT and when I checked my levels on the JB3 half way through the set i had a ton of condensation behind the screen.  It kinda freaked me out!!  but didn't seem to have any effect.  After letting the unit sit on the back of my imac for a day everything was dry and workin' fine...   recrdings came out great as well.
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: stigs on August 24, 2005, 12:00:20 AM
i was thinking about adding something like this to my rig, what do you use? those novelty umbrella hats?
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: bhtoque on August 24, 2005, 12:04:36 AM
you can get a stroler umbrella at most toy/baby stores. They have clamps so you can mount it right to your stand.

JAson
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: stigs on August 24, 2005, 12:06:24 AM
you can get a stroler umbrella at most toy/baby stores. They have clamps so you can mount it right to your stand.

JAson
AH great idea never thought of that!

+T
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: jdh263 on August 24, 2005, 12:51:35 PM
wal-mart has umbrellas that are made for those folding chairs that work great for covering mics.

they can be found in the sporting goods section for about 5 dollars
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: JAH on August 24, 2005, 01:22:00 PM
nice things about the tours-r-us strooler umbrellas is they are a good size in diameter unless you have guns but, not too many guns these days....




edit...did he say strooler ;-)  boy, I say boy needs a spell check...
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Busman Audio on August 24, 2005, 02:21:50 PM
The wal mart umbrellas are called Chair brellas and they are great and easy to use, they even detach from the clamp so you can leave them off unless it rains then quickly insert them on the pole when needed.
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: tonyvt on August 25, 2005, 04:57:33 PM
Umbrellas work great until it really starts to rain hard and then you end up with a tape with annoying rain pitter-patter. I have had resonable success
putting a towell on top of the unbrella to dampen the rain sound. This usually works out well until the towell gets soaked and starts to get heavy.
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: ScottT on August 29, 2005, 10:31:43 AM
I paid around $10 at ToysRUs for a Radio Flyer umbrella.  Works great!

(http://www.mastermindtoys.com/store/Assets/thumb_images/49353.gif)
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: keepongoin on August 29, 2005, 10:57:51 AM
wal-mart has umbrellas that are made for those folding chairs that work great for covering mics.

they can be found in the sporting goods section for about 5 dollars

put seam sealer on the seams if you are using it for rainy conditions... those fuckers leak.
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: nickgregory on August 29, 2005, 01:54:08 PM
I've never come close to needing an umbrela for anything other than blazing sun. I can't imagine how freaked out I'd be if it rained. I'd be begging for copies, because my gear woud be in the hotel, safe and dry
(HOTEL, not tent,... You know, those things with showers, toilets, battery chargers, maid service, mini bars, restaraunts, bars,..... )
Y'alll that tape in the rain are either crazy or superheroes, and I prefer to think of you as superheroes.

agreed...taping in the rain is not something I have any interest in doing
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Lil Kim Jong-Il on August 29, 2005, 02:02:42 PM
That's wierd.  I've never stayed in a tent that didn't have a mini-bar. ;-)


Has anyone found a 12" - 14" umbrella.  Still no luck here.  I want something that just covers the actives in the ORTF mount.
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: nickgregory on August 29, 2005, 02:04:50 PM
That's wierd. I've never stayed in a tent that didn't have a mini-bar. ;-)


Has anyone found a 12" - 14" umbrella. Still no luck here. I want something that just covers the actives in the ORTF mount.

the umbrella I bought from babies r us...it is a stroller umbrella is around 12''...maybe a little bigger, but not much
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Lil Kim Jong-Il on August 29, 2005, 02:10:25 PM
Thanks, I'll try there again.  The last few times I have tried I've met with increasingly wierd looks and still no umbrella.   Maybe it's a seasonal thing.

yeah, haha.   I googled for small | child | tiny | etc ubbrella and came up with all kinds of wierd crap.
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: JackoRoses on August 29, 2005, 02:11:12 PM
I've never come close to needing an umbrela for anything other than blazing sun. I can't imagine how freaked out I'd be if it rained. I'd be begging for copies, because my gear woud be in the hotel, safe and dry
(HOTEL, not tent,... You know, those things with showers, toilets, battery chargers, maid service, mini bars, restaraunts, bars,..... )
Y'alll that tape in the rain are either crazy or superheroes, and I prefer to think of you as superheroes.
Moke you should of been with us last saturday when it dumped on us.
My gear bag was physically in a stream of water 2" deep and just flowing around the bag.
The umbrella did it's job keeping the mics dry and the bag did it's job keeping everything dry inside.
The bottom was a bit damp but nothing major really. All gear stayed dry. Kudos to the nova magnum all weather series bag.
My friend rolled by and found a 4x4 for me to set my bag on top of.
At least than my bag was no longer acting like a diverter for the river flowing.
I am glad he found it because it kept that up for a bit... Tapinfool can testify to it all, he almost
threw the towel in for the night.
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: nickgregory on August 29, 2005, 02:11:35 PM
Thanks, I'll try there again. The last few times I have tried I've met with increasingly wierd looks and still no umbrella. Maybe it's a seasonal thing.

yeah, haha. I googled for small | child | tiny | etc ubbrella and came up with all kinds of wierd crap.

it was in the section with all the strollers, and on an accessory rack...just ask for a stroller umbrella and they should point you to the right place
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Chris K on August 29, 2005, 02:12:01 PM
got one of these at the cabela's superstore in hamburg...they have them online as well. on sale for $8

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0034130517100a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnString=hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&QueryText=umbrella&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.22&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=umbrella&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp

sorry...here is a tiny url for the above:

http://tinyurl.com/dg23o

Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: nickgregory on August 29, 2005, 02:13:14 PM
got one of these at the cabela's superstore in hamburg...they have them online as well. on sale for $8

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0034130517100a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnString=hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&QueryText=umbrella&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.22&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=umbrella&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp

sorry...here is a tiny url for the above:

http://tinyurl.com/dg23o



identical design to the stroller umbrella, clamp and arm look identical...stroller definitely has a smaller footprint when opened though
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Chris K on August 29, 2005, 02:18:04 PM
yeah, i checked the stroller umbrealla at babiesRus and it is similar, the babiesRus oine has a quick disconnect, the cablella's version ddoesnt have this. itherwise it looks the same. not sure about size when opened
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: nickgregory on August 29, 2005, 02:25:54 PM
yeah, i checked the stroller umbrealla at babiesRus and it is similar, the babiesRus oine has a quick disconnect, the cablella's version ddoesnt have this. itherwise it looks the same. not sure about size when opened

yeah, the quick disconnect is nice, you can throw it up quickly if needed
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Lil Kim Jong-Il on August 29, 2005, 02:35:20 PM
yeah, i checked the stroller umbrealla at babiesRus and it is similar, the babiesRus oine has a quick disconnect, the cablella's version ddoesnt have this. itherwise it looks the same. not sure about size when opened

yeah, the quick disconnect is nice, you can throw it up quickly if needed


How does that quick disconnect hold up in the wind?

Whatever I get, I'm ripping off the handle and using the LPClaw to mount the umbrella to my stand.

(http://www.latinpercussion.com/Product_Showcase/Claws_and_Brackets/images/lp_percussion_claw.jpg)
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: nickgregory on August 29, 2005, 02:40:09 PM
I have only used it once to date and teh quick discounnect isnt coming undone....now the umbrella acting as a sail is a different conversation
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Chris K on August 29, 2005, 02:42:49 PM
hey man...where'd you get that claw?   ;)
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Lil Kim Jong-Il on August 29, 2005, 02:43:06 PM
now the umbrella acting as a sail is a different conversation

Thats why I want the small one, and also to not block as many people behind me.

When I'm on the lawn (not often anymore) I use tent stakes and bungie cords so that the umbrella doesn't pull the stand over.  Once I had the umbrella rip apart but the stand was solid.
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: Lil Kim Jong-Il on August 29, 2005, 02:43:39 PM
hey man...where'd you get that claw?   ;)

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: okietaper on August 29, 2005, 06:13:08 PM
Now that is one nice avatar, in fact one of the best yet.  Football time is now upon us.  Everyone to your corner and come out swinging, and may the sooners land on top!

Cary
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: kindms on August 29, 2005, 07:43:06 PM
I've never come close to needing an umbrela for anything other than blazing sun. I can't imagine how freaked out I'd be if it rained. I'd be begging for copies, because my gear woud be in the hotel, safe and dry
(HOTEL, not tent,... You know, those things with showers, toilets, battery chargers, maid service, mini bars, restaraunts, bars,..... )
Y'alll that tape in the rain are either crazy or superheroes, and I prefer to think of you as superheroes.

Man taping in New England and upstate NY if you dont have an umbrella and aren't willing to deal with some rain then your not gonna do much taping in the Summer.

The weather at festivals up here changes every ten minutes. The gathering of the Vibes is the perfect example. Blazing hot humid sun and then total down pour, Repeat :)
Title: Re: Umbrellas covering mics?
Post by: admkrk on August 29, 2005, 10:54:45 PM
I've never come close to needing an umbrela for anything other than blazing sun. I can't imagine how freaked out I'd be if it rained. I'd be begging for copies, because my gear woud be in the hotel, safe and dry
(HOTEL, not tent,... You know, those things with showers, toilets, battery chargers, maid service, mini bars, restaraunts, bars,..... )
Y'alll that tape in the rain are either crazy or superheroes, and I prefer to think of you as superheroes.

Man taping in New England and upstate NY if you dont have an umbrella and aren't willing to deal with some rain then your not gonna do much taping in the Summer.

The weather at festivals up here changes every ten minutes. The gathering of the Vibes is the perfect example. Blazing hot humid sun and then total down pour, Repeat :)

sounds like fla.   for the most part we seem to get blessed on the outdoor events though   8)