Posted by: "Rob Danielson"
> I was studying the Rycote and Senn rigs with clips and silicon bands
> that the university owns when I first noticed the VLF resonance
> transfer problem. For this recent experiement, I was hoping the 4"
> diameter housing would create more length/ flexibility in the silicon
> bands. I'm inclined to think there are materials that will
> out-perform the silicon O-rings from Allorings.
Rycote's o-rings are the exact same silicon as that from Allorings,
Sennheiser, at least in all I have, uses buna-n o-rings. Both companies
use o-rings that are smaller cross section than Allorings can supply,
I've not found a source for these tiny cross sections. Rycote charges
way too much to consider them a supplier.
I do not think regular rubber bands are a good choice, but agree there
may be somewhere out there even better material than we have tried. Note
that there is a wide range of material available in the allorings
catalog, and they don't have everything. I've been satisfied with the
silicon o-rings in my setups, most of which use compression rather than
stretch for suspension. There are other suppliers than Allorings, but
for me they have most of the sizes I want and are convenient to deal with.
The bands in your suspension are not the originating source of the sound
you are worrying about. Since, I believe you are setting your rigs on
tripods, have you tried the vibration suppression pads under the
tripods. These pads are used in astronomy to isolate the tripod from
ground vibrations which are everywhere. They certainly make a difference
in astronomy.
Also try different tripods. If you have a tripod that's resonating it's
going to be harder to deal with. It could be why I'm not seeing the
resonance you are having problems with. The tripods I use damp down
their vibrations fairly rapidly, were chosen for this characteristic. If
there is a fair amount of wind the tall tripod can vibrate, but by then
the wind is usually making too much noise for a good recording anyway.
You might try hanging some weight on different parts of your rig to
change it's resonance characteristics.
> As for the clip, my suspicion is that the solid connection to the mic
> still transfers some of the band rubbing/movement. I'll try a
> work-around for that like a foam hanger. Yes, band tension would
> seem to be a big factor as I can greatly lessen VLF coloration even
> with direct band contact to heavy and lighter mics using good old
> #64 rubber bands. Rob D.
I'd think the foam hanger would create new noises, particularly against
elastic banding. The trick, I think, is to have the attachment points
for the elastic banding narrow on both the clips and frame, and balance
the loading so that the elastic does not slide through those points.
Also choose a elastic material that does not creak like regular rubber
bands do as they stretch.
Walt
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