I just wanted to follow up on my previous thread here https://homerecording.com/bbs/equipment-forums/microphones/transporting-brand-new-akg-414-plane-393915/
I have just made the transatlantic trip from New York to Paris with all of my equipment = 2 brand new AKG 414 stereo pair set plus a brand new Focusrite Clarett Pro 4 pre arriving unscathed.
I wanted to share for future persons.
Being said this IS NOT A FAILSAFE system.
As we know the TSA especially in JFK are not exactly delicate with sound equipment, and I have seen too many that missed their flight because of carry on and one too many questions.
I used the checked baggage option to avoid this.
This is perilous as we know often bags are lost, things stolen or missing on arriving.
My reasoning is if you have insurance for the equipment and you don't need it right away (which was my case) and it is lost of destroyed you can always replace it. So therefore this is not a good method if you need to record straight away on arriving.
So I unpacked the soundcard to make it less big, then put lots of bubble wrap and even one of those plastic air cushion protecting the controls on the front panel. The microphones were in a sturdy case and of course have foam inside to protect the microphones. Even so I double wrapped the case in bubble wrap. I put this in a large suitcase (cloth suitcase) which has a compartment underneath the main part, with rigid sides and protected by the handle for the suitcase which runs under the compartment where i put in the equipment. I cushioned even more so with bubble wrap.
And perfect arrived here, with no TSA hassles or explanations that the microphones were not grenades, or to have to power up the equipment.
As I've seen many people worried about this kind of thing I hope this testiominal helps.
I have just made the transatlantic trip from New York to Paris with all of my equipment = 2 brand new AKG 414 stereo pair set plus a brand new Focusrite Clarett Pro 4 pre arriving unscathed.
I wanted to share for future persons.
Being said this IS NOT A FAILSAFE system.
As we know the TSA especially in JFK are not exactly delicate with sound equipment, and I have seen too many that missed their flight because of carry on and one too many questions.
I used the checked baggage option to avoid this.
This is perilous as we know often bags are lost, things stolen or missing on arriving.
My reasoning is if you have insurance for the equipment and you don't need it right away (which was my case) and it is lost of destroyed you can always replace it. So therefore this is not a good method if you need to record straight away on arriving.
So I unpacked the soundcard to make it less big, then put lots of bubble wrap and even one of those plastic air cushion protecting the controls on the front panel. The microphones were in a sturdy case and of course have foam inside to protect the microphones. Even so I double wrapped the case in bubble wrap. I put this in a large suitcase (cloth suitcase) which has a compartment underneath the main part, with rigid sides and protected by the handle for the suitcase which runs under the compartment where i put in the equipment. I cushioned even more so with bubble wrap.
And perfect arrived here, with no TSA hassles or explanations that the microphones were not grenades, or to have to power up the equipment.
As I've seen many people worried about this kind of thing I hope this testiominal helps.