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Boom pole wrap?


bcopenhagen

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So I'm trying to decide if I want to wrap my new short pole in bike handlebar tape (as my other one is), or just leave it clean.  It's a 12' Ambient QP480 that I'm eventually going to cable up externally.

Anyone have strong opinions for or against wrapped poles?  Both listeners' and users' opinions are equally valid.

Thanks,

Brian

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I think you'll have to wait for someone who actually uses a pole with external cable to weigh in here. I am not sure how that would work. Is the wrap supposed to keep the external cable quiet? If it is to keep handling noise, sliding across the pole surface quiet, I don't know how you slide your hands along the pole in any case when the cable is wrapped around it. I will be interested to see what others have to say.

-  Jeff Wexler

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I think you'll have to wait for someone who actually uses a pole with external cable to weigh in here. I am not sure how that would work. Is the wrap supposed to keep the external cable quiet? If it is to keep handling noise, sliding across the pole surface quiet, I don't know how you slide your hands along the pole in any case when the cable is wrapped around it. I will be interested to see what others have to say.

-  Jeff Wexler

I still have one externally cabled pole that only I use (boom ops hate it).  I made it up many years ago; I wrapped a very thin cable around the pole when it was extended and anchored the cable at each joint w/ tape.  You keep the cable quiet by spinning the stage to take up the slack, so that when they are all tight the pole is actually quieter than an internally cabled pole can ever be, since there is no slack at all to bounce around.  When you retract the stage the cable goes loose, so you spin the stage to coil it back around the pole.  I taped the cable straight down the last, outer stage, and anchored it at the butt.  There is an added benefit that the cable length between the pole and whatever it is plugged into doesn't change.  The thinner type mic cable gets a memory pretty quick, so it works pretty well--the pole I described was my hard-doc pole for many years--lots of fast ins and outs of stages and such.  But I've gotten used to the internals, and especially internals w/ a connector at the operator end are just a lot less hassle than my old externally cabled poles, so that's what I mostly use now.  I should say that my former boom op Gary (the Immortal) Dowling always insisted on externally-cabled poles (cable completely loose except right at the mic mount), even for very long poles w/ big shotguns on the end.  He had several hand tricks he used to keep the cable tight while booming very complex scenes.  He felt that the internals boned him too often with uncontrollable rattling, but booms have improved a good deal since he retired.

Rereading the original post, I actually think Brian was asking just about having cloth tape on the last stage of a pole, for grip, rather than asking about internal vs external cabling.  I prefer clean myself, since the tape gets messy pretty fast w/ sweat etc.. But I see a lot of poles w/ tape, esp doco guys, so it must work pretty well.

Philip Perkins

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I'm not sure if this addresses the same issue but I'll pass along a technique used by a boom operator I work with occasionally. Dean Thomas has the practice of slipping a wrist sweat band on the base section of his poles. (Tennis section of your local athletic supply store. And this is different, of course, from the tape for a racquet grip) That provides a grip that can be noiselessly slid along the pole, permitting movements to lengthen or "choke up" on a pole as the needs of the scene require. I expect that tape wraps on the pole would conflict with that practice.

David Waelder

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  I still have an old LTM aluminum pole which has heat-shrink tubing over the last section or stage. I replaced it once when it got torn up a bit and it took about a half hour to shrink it with the heat gun. I think it makes a nice looking cover and I like the way it feels. A little bit expensive for the large heat-shrink tube but was worth it.

Bob

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Guest Ken Mantlo

There are times when you have to do a hand-slide during a take and the smoother the pole the easier it is to get away with it unheard.  I personally would hate one wrapped up but to each his own.

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These are all great snippets of insight.

Jeff, the external cabling is a technique I absorbed from Nelson Stoll, whose boompoles I've learnt to use.  It is as Phil describes it, with a cable that spirals around the extended pole and is locked in place at either end.  I've swapped emails with a poster here who mentioned they thought it was an east coast technique, but hadn't seen it much on the west coast.

Like Phil, I've borne witness to the frustrations of boom ops who come to work with me and have to wrap their head around this technique.  But once you learn to use it efficiently it is quiet and neat.

As for the grip tape, I've heard a number of convincing opinions why to leave it bare.  I especially like the tennis wrist band idea.

That relates to another idea I've been brainstorming:  to come up with some other material (foam? fabric?) to put on the pole that would significantly reduce handling noise.

Keep the ideas coming...

Brian

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I feel wrapping a shorter pole would make it to fat and become clumsy to operate. On the subject of hand-sliding the a fish pole, I

used to walk the pole through my hands, temporarily supporting it with one hand, either right or left, until I reached the desired length or position.

KKS

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These are all great snippets of insight.

Jeff, the external cabling is a technique I absorbed from Nelson Stoll, whose boompoles I've learnt to use.  It is as Phil describes it, with a cable that spirals around the extended pole and is locked in place at either end.  I've swapped emails with a poster here who mentioned they thought it was an east coast technique, but hadn't seen it much on the west coast.

Like Phil, I've borne witness to the frustrations of boom ops who come to work with me and have to wrap their head around this technique.  But once you learn to use it efficiently it is quiet and neat.

As for the grip tape, I've heard a number of convincing opinions why to leave it bare.  I especially like the tennis wrist band idea.

That relates to another idea I've been brainstorming:  to come up with some other material (foam? fabric?) to put on the pole that would significantly reduce handling noise.

Keep the ideas coming...

Brian

I think Nelson is where I got my doco-pole tape-wrap idea from originally too.  The cable on the outside didn't prevent sliding my hand over the pole at all, and the tight wrap meant I could whip the mic around as fast as the windscreen would allow w/o rattle.  But this was more for verite recording w/a shortish pole (in my case, an old "Frog pole").  Gary's technique w/ long poles where the tension on the wrap was held by the boom op was never a fave for me when I boomed, but it was what he liked.  (He didn't like my tape-wrap pole either.)  I still have some of the OLD OLD LTM poles like Bob's with the shrink-wrap stuff on the last stage. That worked pretty well too--I'd redo mine but the clutches in those poles are all gone--no help from LTM on parts either.  (The guy I talked with on the phone claimed they had never made poles like the 4 I have....)

Philip Perkins

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I have been using the same Ambient pole for many years and use the external wrapped cable.My solution to handling noise is the insulation foam that is used around hot water pipes to retain the heat.It is a neoprene foam and needs replacing soon(I've had it a while). It is very quiet while I'm booming with the Schoeps in its small PSC universal mount.It is just on the back section of the pole and works well.When I put the new foam on I will put some white plumbers tape on first to stop any movement over time,and this will give a better grip for the foam.The carbon fibre tends to be quite smooth and slippery as you all know.I and my boom op have tried various things over the years but I think this works best.

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Observational filming/videoing has been my day job for a large part of my sound career, so I have boomed a lot - also spent huge amount of time on studio Fisher booms, but thats another story.

I have a very old VDB (6 ft) & an AMbient (8 ft) (carbon fibre). I only use the Ambient when I have to, the VDB is so light I can use it one handed & often do.

I could never think of covering it with anything - it has spent its life sliding through my hands - it does this easily & makes no noise.

I have used BVS's idea of the plumbers foam on the bottom section for a while. It did work, but I preferred it without

I always use a coiled, fully shielded mic cable from the mixer to the shockmount. I bought my first such cable at LSC in 1982... All my microphones have a short cloth cable from the mic to the handle of the shockmount. When you are constantly resizing the length of your pole - (no pun intended) - you just grab a bit of the cable & stretch it tight. Too easy.

Rob Stalder

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I like the external cable/attached at top and bottom (with velcro tie strips) myself. I've rarely had any noise problems. I just bought an internally cabled PSC Elite pole (very nice by the way) to make the boom op I work with happy. He dislikes the external wrap on my old VDB. In the past for doco work I've used a wrap on the big-end section made of that rubber mat stuff you put in kitchen drawers. Absorbs sweat in the summer, feels good in winter if you must use thin gloves. In a pinch I can remove it from the pole and use it to suppress noise from actors slamming down coffee cups etc. I attach it with rubber bands or those velcro strip thingies. One of my friends uses the neoprene insulation stuff as previously mentioned.  I put a day-glo green tennis ball on the butt end of my old pole to: make it more visible when swinging it in doc situations, let's me rest it on the ground and to keep from sucking dirt in from the bottom cap. I got the idea from a kindergarten class where they put the tennis balls on the feet of their chairs so the don't squeal when they're moved. Grips call these cut-in-half balls "Kermies" (as in Kermit the frog) around here. How about in your neck of the woods? The old VDBs are pretty airtight and they have a little hole in the bottom cap so you can compress the sections. When you extend it it sucks in schmutz.

Chris

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