Rules for Hanging Mics?

[albinotuba]

Hi All,

When hanging mics above peoples' heads, what kind of precautions do you usually take? Are most of you putting the weight of the mic on its own cable and using fish line to aim it, or are you using rope or steel cable? Do you usually have a rigger take care of it, or do you allow the sound or recording team to do it themselves? Do the rules that apply to rigging large pieces of scenery also apply to mics, or do you relax your standards because of how little mics weigh?

Thanks!

 

[Footer]

A piece of mic cable can easily support a mic, especially like a 451, 391, 81, etc that you usually use overhead. If you are going to be hanging something heavier like a KSM 32 then you should probably use tie line or mono filament to take the weight. With this type of thing you just need someone that knows how to do it right... if that is a classicly trained rigger... great. Not saying the sound guy can't do it...

BTW, there are no rules that say how to hang scenery. There are standards in the industry we somewhat follow, but due to the nature of the business there is no definitive rules.

 

[museav]

It depends on what microphones you are addressing. Some are intended to be flown overhead and are designed specifically for that purpose so that they do not require any supplementary support. Then there is if you are using a Decca Tree or other mounting system where the mount itself is supported or flown. But those situations are is a bit different than hanging just any handheld or other microphone off an XLR terminated cable.

 

[themuzicman]

I'm going to do whatever it takes to get the job done safely and in the best interests of audio quality for the show. I'm currently working on a play with an array of 12 hanging microphones above the stage, all are 8' off the ground. They are just hanging by their XLR with a wrap of electrical tape between the connector and the XLR. Granted they are tiny little system mics that are built to hang. I've hung SM58's as well, though they are never ever ever my first preference to hang -- you really want something designed and built with hanging in mind just to get good sound out of it. You see rock and roll guys swinging SM58's around by the XLR if it gives you any idea how good the connector can be -- if you're really paranoid put a few good wraps of e-tape around the mic and connector.

If you really cant get the proper aim you want with your mic, and it is a larger mic you can use fishing line or something to bridle it, never really done that but I can see it being useful should it not be in the way of a light that'll want to melt it. Like I said, I try to use the proper tool for the job so I don't get in to hanging mics that aren't purpose built to hang. If you're being super picky about the entire thing, you could get the chinese finger trap metal sleeve you put around snakes for strain relief and put that on the end of a microphone to suspend it. Or you could just tie a good glove hitch with some rated hemp rope if you're really worried.

But seriously, as long as you aren't doing anything dumb this shouldn't even be a question. I've never had a rigger do that kind of work, I prefer to let audio do audio.