do i need a *good* or EXPENSIVE pop shield?

bbill335

i've got a cascade fat head which i like the sound of very much! i'd like to try it for vocals on demos and stuff, and understand not to sing directly at it (so as not to damage to ribbon), but would i benefit from a more expensive pop shield than my current £5 one? would it be safer for the ribbon? 

Whistler

So long as the fabric in your £5 one is a fine nylon mesh like in a pair of tights or stockings you will be fine. You want the fabric to shield the mic from explosive sounds - ie. the puff of air when we say or sing p, b and t - but not to start absorbing high frequencies as T-shirt material will.

An extra thing you can do is sing slightly past the mic instead of directly at it, as if you wanted to sing to someone standing behind the mic by singing around it.

Winny_Pooh

Ribbons are so coloured anyway that a budget one is fine for wind gusts, only go for the fancier ones (hakan p110) if you are working with more accurate mics. 

octatonic

Ribbon mics are usually fragile and can be damaged simply by blowing into them.
I would use something more than a £5 pop shield myself with most ribbon mics.
I have a couple of Shure pop shields that I use with my AEA ribbons.

It is less of an issue with condensers, but I would err on the side of caution with a ribbon.

bbill335

octatonic said:

I have a couple of Shure pop shields

are those the ~£40 ones? 

octatonic

bbill335 said:

octatonic said:

I have a couple of Shure pop shields

are those the ~£40 ones? 

Yes.

bbill335

worth the ~£30 extra on a basic one?

octatonic

bbill335 said:

worth the ~£30 extra on a basic one?

It is really your call but yes I think it is a worthwhile expense.
Ribbon mics are fragile things and an hour of a tech's time is well beyond what you would spend on a decent pop shield/
Same goes with mic stands fwiw.

It always astounds me when I see a good quality microphone on a £20 mic stand.
It is a disaster waiting to happen.

bbill335

i've got a couple of gravity stands, which feel secure enough for the mics i have (the fat head is the most expensive). 

thanks for the info. will have a think

bbill335

so i got one o them shure ps6 pop stoppers. cost 40 of my god damned pounds. the gooseneck and attachment are very nice, no complaints at all there. however, the shield itself is the thinnest, grandma's-stockings nylon. not at all the "four layers of blah blah engineering blah" i was expecting.