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Good ORTF (and perhaps NOS) mount/bar?


Jim Feeley

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Yes, I've looked through GS. LOTS of information there; too much for me to absorb right now. Basically, I'm looking for a stereo bar or mount, with preference for bits that make it easy to set up an ORTF and possibly NOS pair. Not looking for a windscreen solution at this moment. Some that I've looked at (online):

 

K&M Microphone Bar but it's pretty bare bones.

 

Rycote InVision Stereo Pair Kit gets closer, but still leaves more work (and room for error) for me.

 

Rode Stereo Bar looks fairly clever (with guidelines for angles, and offset mounts), but has anyone here used it with success?

 

Shapeways appears to have a lot of interesting ORTF stuff, but is there anything (or any designer) there that people here recommend?

 

What else should I consider? No, as great as it undoubtedly is, I'm not going to buy a Schoeps MSTC 64 U. This is more for CM4-level stuff. Maybe Rode...

 

Any thoughts?

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Jim -- Part of the decision depends upon what you want in the way of suspensions -- that'll narrow your choice quite a bit as many of them are designed just to use a basic desk mount clamp and don't include any kind of physical isolation you might need if mic movement is a factor. Naturally, that movement is usually limited, as in most cases you don't want a constantly shifting stereo field, but nonetheless it's a consideration.

 

I recently made my own rig from two existing suspensions fastened together, and designed it to accommodate two Schoeps mics with GVC swivels. Depending upon how I choose to position the mics, I can use it as either ORTF or XY.  Note that I've left the windscreens off to better illustrate the rig:

 

ORTF_Rig.jpgXY_Rig.jpg

 

Here are some notes about the design criteria for this stereo rig. While I already have a standard stereo bar or two in my collection, this unit was the result of some specific needs. It was designed to:

* Mount on a boom pole.
* Use a quick release for speedy deployment. (Ambient QR)
* Be easily pre-rigged.
* Be able to aim down from the side to boom a two person interview with an easily adjustable XY configuration to have each person on-axis but with good mono compatibility.
* Be quickly converted to ORTF stereo format.
* Be able to adjust the boom angle for capturing stereo ambience.
* Allow either hard-wired cabling or use of a stereo plug-on transmitter.

 

Worked great for me as these are suspensions I already had lying around.

 

 

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Hi Jim,

 

I use the Rode Stereo Bar and I like it. It's made of plastic with metal threads (for microphone stands) and there is also an Adapter for 3/8" screws included. The Clips on the microphone clamps can be used to vary the height of the mic and there are markings on the bar are useful for alignement and the distance. As mentioned there is no suspension on it, but on a stand you don't really need it,

 

Greetings

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Hi Jim, 

I've had one of these for my two CMC641. They work great for me for recording a madrigal group in a church and various other musical assignments in which I only wanted a great stereo pair. I occasionally cheat the angle using headphones to get the "space" I'm looking for, but it's nice to have the numbers there.

I can use the B5D covers on the CMC641 and flop the mics in the brackets so the tips are very close together.

 

Although I haven't tried to use it vertically, one end is threaded for that purpose.


https://bhpho.to/3aeEHDK

 Best Regards,

 

Ty
 

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I've done a lot of XY with a Rycote Ball windscreen, 2 MK41s and KC5 cables, on a short boom.  Dialog, as well as a lot of fast ambiance, SFX and single-pair music recording.  It worked really well, was very convenient, the capsules were protected all the time and I could boom shots with actors normally, with just the extra hassle of the 2 KC5 cables running down the boom.   For music ORTF-on-a-stand rigs (like a main pair) the K+M bars are fine, relatively light=good on a lightweight very portable stand like Shure S15.

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8 hours ago, Ty Ford said:

I've had one of these for my two CMC641. They work great for me for recording 
 

I was going to recommend this one, too, but Ty beat me to it. So now I‘ll just second his recommendation. It’s a pretty useful stereo bar, and in addition to ORTF it can also be used (and has markings) for X/Y, MOS, NOS, and Blumlein. 
I like it, but I didn’t remember it to be quite so expensive.

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Jim, a decade or so ago I cut a few templates out of approx 1/8" board to accommodate a few commonly used stereo positions: basically worked out to where the diaphragm would sit at the correct angle/distance cut for whichever mics you are using (in my case my then-new 8040s). Keeping the mic clips just off-tight on the bar slip the template over the mic ends and then tighten and remove. I principally thought of it for quick adjustments 2 at a time (plus a triple) of trickier surround setups - IRT and 5.0 at 72* - but I came up with a multi pattern stereo strip for ORTF, IRT and maybe a couple of others.

 

Intended way back to get a colleague to bring out with me the latter design on a 3D printed strip, with ruler and angle markings for adjustments and quick custom setups but never got 'round to it - patented the idea across America's states first though (oh, damn it! forgot to send the patent!) (... intended also to come up with an adjustable length/rotational angle marked version too but that never happened either ...)

 

Have a go - it wasn't hard to plot or cut and made setting regular patterns very quick.

 

ps, they're around somewhere but no chance I'm afraid of digging them out in the near future to photo ... just various 2" width strips of thick mount board with various 20mm angled notches along it though ...

 

Jez Adamson (proud father to a litter of K&M stereo bars)

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On 3/24/2020 at 7:31 PM, Constantin said:

I was going to recommend this one, too, but Ty beat me to it. So now I‘ll just second his recommendation. It’s a pretty useful stereo bar, and in addition to ORTF it can also be used (and has markings) for X/Y, MOS, NOS, and Blumlein. 
I like it, but I didn’t remember it to be quite so expensive.

My Dear Friend Constantin,
How nice to see you out here. When I saw the cost this time, I had much the same impression! I'll have to find it a nicer storage place for it in my studio! :)

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