Are Shockmounts really necessary?

[Deen]

My room is almost like a cell. Almost surrounded by concrete,
and isolated from any sources of vibration.
But one part of the ceiling is separated from the master
bedroom upstairs by 1/4" plwood , dead air of about 2 feet
and uncarpeted wooden floor planks.
My kids make lots of noise when they play. When my wife
walks around in her nighties the floors creek when I'm not even in the room. All that noise does make a vibrating rumble now
that I think of it.

If I can't dish out the 30-40 bucks I think I'll try a home made one. I still think there's more reasons to get one than not to.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[DJL]

Dean, it's always better to be safe than sorry.... if you have shock mounts it's a good idea to use them.

 

[Son of Mixerman]

The question has answers that is situational.

Shock mounts are like bandaids, if something happens you didn't expect, its best to be able to fix the problem and move on. If you don't have bandaids you'll be bleeding on everything. I don't have shock mounts for all my mics, but a plan on getting them gradually as needed, maybe even a spare just in case something ugly happens. You can play guitar without a pick, or an amp. You can do lots of things without having certain parts of the puzzle, but I think its limiting not having those things. If you can afford it, buy it. If you have time build it.

SoMm

 

[cominginsecond]

You can play guitar without a pick, or an amp.

I definitely don't think shockmounts are comparable to a pick or an amp, because without a pick or an amp, the sound is drastically changed. Without a shockmount, the sound is not changed at all, except in very rare circumstances. I guess I keep returning to the fact that I never use shockmounts for the three years I've been recording, and that I've never, ever, ever had a problem.

 

[Treeline]

It's pretty basic, really. Mic stands - like anything else made of steel - will pick up vibrations from the floor and transmit them to whatever is sitting on the top. If that's a mic in a hard mount, then it goes into the mic body and something of it will register. The vibrations that tend to pass that way seem to be low frequencies - like someone walking across the stage, or traffic outside the window. A low pass filter deals with a lot of it, but not all.

If you isolate the mic form any hard connections, as with a spider, or by sitting the thing on a feather pillow, you interrupt that line of transmissions and the noise doesn't get into the signal.

I lucked out and picked up a handful of cheap Oktava shockmounts at five bucks apiece. And I mean c h e e p . Still, even after I had to fix one to make it work, they're great. I even use a spider on an SM57. Look for deals, closeouts, ebay - get yourself a box of 'em and you'll never go back.

 

[Son of Mixerman]

Like I said..its situational.

You can play guitar without a pick, depending on the situation. You can play without an amp... its situational. You can record without a shock mount... its situational. But, if your in the business of recording it might be in your best interest to invest in tools to help you adjust to the situations that arise.
Just because you haven't had problem for 3 years doesn't mean your the ideal case model for global functionality of shock mounts. Your lucky, be happy about it, and let the rest of us who aren't so luck get what we need for our situations.

I have been in studios where ULF translates onto tape if the mic isn't properly protected from it. My studio is on a 12 inch thick slab and I need shock mounts because city buses 2 block away rumble my LDC's. If I had not had the ability to walk over to a closet to pull get the correct shockmount everyone goes home until I do. I can't afford to be dogmatic about how money is spent.

SoMm

 

[tdukex]

Not everybody needs shock mounts. It definitely depends on your recording situation. If you record without them and you notice low-end rumble or other sonic deformalities, then by all means buy and use them. I use the one that came with my LD--just because I have it. But with the dozens of of acoustic guitar recordings I have done with my SDs (without shockmounts) I have never had any problems--except with my playing.

 

[DJL]

So Dean, there you have it, both sides of the story.

So now are you going to try and save money and just wait to see if you ever need a shock mount the hard way... or play it safe, and use shock mounts?

Do we tell our kids not to waste their time using a rubber until they know for sure they should have used one?

 

[cominginsecond]

If I were you, Dean, I'd wait to see if you have any problems before you waste your money. If you do, you should make buying a shockmount a priority. If you don't, forget about it.

The first track you hear that has the problem, get a shockmount. Report back if and when that happens.

 

[cominginsecond]

But, if your in the business of recording it might be in your best interest to invest in tools to help you adjust to the situations that arise.

True, but most of the people here can afford to retrack a track or two over the course of a year. I can see why pro studios would use them, because they don't want to piss off clients.

My studio is on a 12 inch thick slab and I need shock mounts because city buses 2 block away rumble my LDC's. If I had not had the ability to walk over to a closet to pull get the correct shockmount everyone goes home until I do. I can't afford to be dogmatic about how money is spent.

That's why you need a shockmount. Your situation is probably in the minority. That's why I feel it's not worth it to buy an expensive shockmount until you experience a problem.

 

[cominginsecond]

Do we tell our kids not to waste their time using a rubber until they know for sure they should have used one?

There's a big difference between retracking something and knocking someone up. There's also a big difference between the cost of a rubber and the cost of a shockmount.

Sneaky move adding this last comment two hours after my response.

 

[DJL]

Dean, please excuse me for a moment.

cominginsecond, I'm not sure what you mean by sneaky..... but, let's say your the engineer and I'm the producer, and my client just did the best take on a song they've ever done in thier life, and like a dumb-ass you didn't use a shock mount when you should have... what would you tell me before I fired your ass?

 

[fonts]

...thanks all, I learned a lot in this thread...

 

[Son of Mixerman]

True, but most of the people here can afford to retrack a track or two over the course of a year. I can see why pro studios would use them, because they don't want to piss off clients.
[/B][/QUOTE]
Ah, yes the difference in our perspectives. While I do alot of my own stuff, I do have clients. My assumtion was that not all homerecordists are not strictly self-recordists.

That's why you need a shockmount. Your situation is probably in the minority. That's why I feel it's not worth it to buy an expensive shockmount until you experience a problem.

I wouldn't say a minority, but its sounds like a nice poll and I can't remember seeing a poll on shock mount usage. It could be educational for me. I don't think there will ever be a consensus though because of the variables in personal situations.
Another possibility on shock mounts is whether or not your monitoring and room is accurate to reveal ulf rumble. I can imagine sending stuff to a Mastering Engineer only to find out you've(not you specifically...anybody really) got alot of stuff hovering around 20hz or lower. I definitley agree with testing the mic to determine whether you have a problem before purchasing any gear as a homerecordist.

So how many people here do a systematic test of the mics to see how it picking up.

Wanna run a poll?

SoMm

 

[acorec]

SHockmounts are like fuses. Until a problem comes up, both do nothing to help you. Pros always use them because 1 take can cost thousands of $$. I use 'em because I have them. Home reccers are home reccers. If you don't use them, then don't use them. Pros will always use them.

 

[cominginsecond]

Pros always use them because 1 take can cost thousands of $$.

I agree that pros always use shockmounts, but can you explain to me how one take can cost thousands of dollars? I'm not following.

 

[Son of Mixerman]

I agree that pros always use shockmounts, but can you explain to me how one take can cost thousands of dollars? I'm not following.

Im not sure thousands, but a few thousand may be more like it. When you have a 5 grand a day facility, rented instruments, hired musicians, secretaries, producers, engineers etc. It stacks up pretty fast. Some tracking engineers charge over $500 per hour on top of the producer who is getting $5000 grand an hour. Insane isn't it. Figure most albums that only take 4 month from womb to tomb can cost upwards of a million bucks getting to premaster. Its not uncommon for studios to be running a $20,000 per day rate.
So if you have to track down a spider for an "artist", people could be sitting around and the meter is still running.

SoMm

 

[cominginsecond]

Im not sure thousands, but a few thousand may be more like it. When you have a 5 grand a day facility, rented instruments, hired musicians, secretaries, producers, engineers etc. It stacks up pretty fast. Some tracking engineers charge over $500 per hour on top of the producer who is getting $5000 grand an hour. Insane isn't it. Figure most albums that only take 4 month from womb to tomb can cost upwards of a million bucks getting to premaster. Its not uncommon for studios to be running a $20,000 per day rate.
So if you have to track down a spider for an "artist", people could be sitting around and the meter is still running.

SoMm

I guess I didn't interpret acorec's comment as being about waiting to buy a shockmount. I interpreted it as the cost of retracking one take, which could last from 10 seconds to 10 minutes.

$5000 an hour! Man, I need in on that racket!

 

[acorec]

I agree that pros always use shockmounts, but can you explain to me how one take can cost thousands of dollars? I'm not following.

Pink Floyd. The Wall. Enter 1979. Dave Gilmour recorded the solo to "Comfortably Numb" many times. Finally, he used his 1954 Strat to do his solo. That 1 last take cost $1500. He had three engineers, Abby Road studios, the producer and many more on the payroll that day. Yes, 1 hour can cost this much. Imagine, after all that, if the engineer did not use a shockmount and something went wrong? Remember, a recording like the Wall costs well over a million $$ to record, let alone mix and master.

 

[Deen]

O.K.,

this is my plan guys. I 'm only eyeing three mics the SP B1,
the V67G and a Behringer B1. I'll be buying the Behrieee
first because it has a distributor here. This would be my first
LDC and I'm nervous of the chances of having to return it.
It has a spider so I'll use it. But i'll be getting an SP-B1 because
it's soooo cheap. It has a clip so I'll use it . With my limited budget
I think it's best to try it first. If I can get away with it FOR NOW
why not.

BUT, just because I'm a hobbiest doesn't mean I don't want to do things perfectly like the pro's are doing. It's like having a Hardcase
when a soft case can do in some cases. So I'll definitely get one
sometime in the future, wether Homemade or for 34 bucks, both for Shock-protection and Vibration Isolation.


Nice to have you in this thread SoMm.

This has been a great thread guys thanks.
It's been a pleasure reading through all your posts.