Topic: The Perfect Stealth Rig ??

[edtyre]

prob the zipper-sound on volume adjsut, if i had to guess
people also bemoan the LEDs not being disable-able

I disabled mine with gaffers tape

[Niels]

...
The R-07 was going in the right direction - small, light, unobtrusive - but as we know there’s still some Firmware niggles with it currently.
...

Exactly which firmware niggels are you thinking about?

prob the zipper-sound on volume adjsut, if i had to guess
people also bemoan the LEDs not being disable-able

I see. Probably not relevant enough to dismiss the R07 in the context of this thread as a stealth recorder.  It is my experience that the zipper sound on input adjust is something you only notice when sitting with headphones and playing around with the device in a quiet room as I have never noticed it on any actual recording. The lights can easily be taped over, but as the device will often just live in your pocket controlled by your phone anyway.

[Pieteker]

Thought I’d bring this topic some fresh air, as I’ve been upgrading over the years and feel like I’ve finally found what works for me as a perfect stealth rig.

What you see below is a pair of Neumann AK 40 cardioid capsules with nBob cables and Naiant PFAs into a Zoom F3 recorder. It’s a simple set-and-forget rig and very easy to bring into venues. Here in the Netherlands I usually walk in with everything already in place and ready to go.

[robgronotte]

Thought I’d bring this topic some fresh air, as I’ve been upgrading over the years and feel like I’ve finally found what works for me as a perfect stealth rig.

What you see below is a pair of Neumann AK 40 cardioid capsules with nBob cables and Naiant PFAs into a Zoom F3 recorder. It’s a simple set-and-forget rig and very easy to bring into venues. Here in the Netherlands I usually walk in with everything already in place and ready to go.

How big are those mics? Hard to tell from the photo.

[daspyknows]

A Zoom F-3 is not going to get into a locked down US venue a 100%.  A weapon scanner, metal detectors and wand search with an attentive security force with catch that a moderate amount of the time.  I know, I own one and do not use it in those situation.  The perfect stealth rig will sound at least as good and can get in anywhere. 

[jbell]

Not really a fresh topic!  Tapers have been running Nbob cables since 2012.

[Pieteker]

Thought I’d bring this topic some fresh air, as I’ve been upgrading over the years and feel like I’ve finally found what works for me as a perfect stealth rig.

What you see below is a pair of Neumann AK 40 cardioid capsules with nBob cables and Naiant PFAs into a Zoom F3 recorder. It’s a simple set-and-forget rig and very easy to bring into venues. Here in the Netherlands I usually walk in with everything already in place and ready to go.

How big are those mics? Hard to tell from the photo.

The capsules measure approximately 3 cm in length and 22 mm in diameter.

[fanofjam]

A Zoom F-3 is not going to get into a locked down US venue a 100%.  A weapon scanner, metal detectors and wand search with an attentive security force with catch that a moderate amount of the time.  I know, I own one and do not use it in those situation.  The perfect stealth rig will sound at least as good and can get in anywhere.

I'm voting this...

Schoeps MK41 > nbobs > Riotbox > Deity PR-2. 

The riotbox and deity have plastic shells, so the only metal to speak of are the capsules and the nbob collette connectors.  If the deity had two channels of 32-bit float capability, that would be all I could possibly ask for.

[beroti_music]

A Zoom F-3 is not going to get into a locked down US venue a 100%.  A weapon scanner, metal detectors and wand search with an attentive security force with catch that a moderate amount of the time.  I know, I own one and do not use it in those situation.  The perfect stealth rig will sound at least as good and can get in anywhere.

I fully agree with this.
Same in most London venues. For me a reason not to buy an F-3. The R-05 is much more stealth. I almost never tape acoustic things so I really don't need an F3.

Although getting gear in in The Netherlands is easy at most small venues, I almost never walk in with my gear ready (only at 2 or 3 venues).
Better safe than sorry. Also, for stealth video with decent equipment things are still not that easy and probably never will be (wich is fine by me).
Got caught multiple times at "easy" venues doing stealth video (Paradiso, 013, Cirque Royale etc.)

[beroti_music]

A Zoom F-3 is not going to get into a locked down US venue a 100%.  A weapon scanner, metal detectors and wand search with an attentive security force with catch that a moderate amount of the time.  I know, I own one and do not use it in those situation.  The perfect stealth rig will sound at least as good and can get in anywhere.

I'm voting this...

Schoeps MK41 > nbobs > Riotbox > Deity PR-2. 

The riotbox and deity have plastic shells, so the only metal to speak of are the capsules and the nbob collette connectors.  If the deity had two channels of 32-bit float capability, that would be all I could possibly ask for.

The nbob > riotbox combo is probably the smallest and most stealth option out there these days indeed.
I prefer the sound of the Schoeps CMBIs instead of nbobs + babynbox or riotbox but the CMBIs are not super stealth. I yet have to walk thru Evolv with them, avoided doing so for now. 
With Nbobs + babynbox, Evolv is no problem at all.





 

[grawk]

The nbob > riotbox combo is probably the smallest and most stealth option out there these days indeed.
I prefer the sound of the Schoeps CMBIs instead of nbobs + babynbox or riotbox but the CMBIs are not super stealth. I yet have to walk thru Evolv with them, avoided doing so for now. 
With Nbobs + babynbox, Evolv is no problem at all.

DPA 401xgs -> d:vice or pr2, and then there's the kk14->d:vice/pr2

[daspyknows]

Those of us who stealth extensively have a rig that works.  There are common themes though.  Active cables of some sort, no XLRs, either a babynbox, riotbox or device and creative ways to hide it. No one goes in rigged up unless its low or no security and in those cases I think most of us break out better and bigger rigs.  I will use an F-3 if security is wands or less.   I would be able to get an F-3 in most of the time with higher security but I am aiming for 100% success and can't be sure with a bigger recorder with lots of metal and XLRs.

[Gutbucket]

Partly rigged, with recorder and preamp handled separately.  Most of what I record isn't super high security, so I'm curious about more advanced walk thru scanners detecting things like wiring routed under clothing.  I'm using an array of miniature DPA mics which aren't any more detectable than their wiring and miniature connectors, all of which is completely visually concealed. The wiring, mics and small connectors pass wands, walk-thru metal detectors and pat-downs, but I strongly suspect the thin wires running unusual places to flat hard-rubber DPA boundary mounts would easily ping a false color TSA type scan.  Simple to hook up pre-rigged array to preamp/recorder once in, but would not be simple to have to reconfigure the mic array.