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Gear question: Protecting Zepplin and shock mount while backpacking

Subject: Gear question: Protecting Zepplin and shock mount while backpacking
From: "Greg Simmons" simmosonics
Date: Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:51 pm ((PDT))
George Paul wrote: "I have a Sennheiser zeppelin for my stereo MS mic,
and a white furry coat (whatever it is called). Am taking this
backpacking, with Sound Devices MP-2 mixer preamp, and other gear
(tipod, cables, recording device)."

What kind of backpacking are you doing?

I regularly take my equipment on treks in the Himalayas where I am
likely to be travelling on local buses, rickshaws, jeeps, dugout
canoes, elephants, small planes and similar, along with actually
trekking with it for days on end.

For this style of 'backpacking', I carry all of my recording gear in a
separate daypack that allows me to keep it with me at all times,
rather than being thrown on the roof of a bus, the cargo hold of a
plane, or the leaky end of a canoe (i.e. the heavy end) with the rest
of my stuff.

Many backpacks come with a detachable daypack, which is ideal for this
purpose because you can attach it to the backpack for hiking from camp
to camp, and take it off for forays out of camp and into the
wilderness (and also when taking transport, as described earlier).

I carry a Schoeps MS rig in a small Rycote windshield with windjammer,
along with a Nagra V, headphones and a small Manfrotto 001 Nanostand.
All of this fits into a Targus sports backpack, which is small enough
to keep on my lap at all times. It is stored and pre-wired in a such a
way that I am ready to record in less than 30 seconds, which is
important for me because I like to capture spontaneous moments -
anything from a bird singing on the trail to a musician boarding a
local bus and singing for his dinner.

The Rycote sits on the top of everything else in the bag, so it has no
packing weight to contend with. It is the last thing to go in, and the
first thing to come out.

I find that with this approach the Rycote is strong enough to protect
the microphones and shock-mount inside it. I usually carry the furry
windjammer in a ziplock bag to protect it, unless I know for sure that
I'm going to need it that day, in which case I leave it on the Rycote
and cover the whole thing with a small zip-up bag that was originally
designed for compressing a down jacket into, but happens to be
precisely the right size to cover the Rycote and protect the fibres of
the windjammer (assuming I don't get them caught in the zipper).

The system is not perfect, but nothing has broken yet. On long bus
journeys I often put the bag on my lap. This provides a convenient
thing to slouch over and nod off to sleep while also keeping its
contents safe from thieves. Sometimes, after doing that, I find that
one of the hemispherical ends of the Rycote has partially popped out
of the rim due to my weight leaning on the bag, and I have to
'negotiate' with it to get the mesh back into place. No major drama;
it's nothing a spot of glue wouldn't prevent, and I am usually
grateful for the sleep...

- Greg Simmons




"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg

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