Friday, 11 March 2011
Microphone Accessories - recording, home recording
I have been into audio recording for a while now, and always wanted to get a pop filter, but never did. Always looked at the and said, how does that make a different. Well I finally opted for the Nady MPF-6, as it seemed like the name was well known and there was positive reviews. So let me say that Im sorry I have not bought this sooner. It really works well, it still passes very good quality of your voice, and any words that have that blowing effect is not picked up. In general it will cut down about 70% of any words that generally cause a spike in the wave form to be normal. It will make for much easier post editing.
The gooseneck design is sturdy, the clamp works excellent, used it on a Samson spider mount but clamp to most circular stands easily. I use it with a Samson CO1U microphone, very very please. One complaint is the screw that holds the gooseneck part to the clamp arm depending how you move the gooseneck will cause this to loosen, this is the only fault I have with the design, not major, but could have made that a more solid piece as I am not ware why one would ever need to loosed or adjust that park of the mount. Nady MPF-6 6-Inch Clamp On Microphone Pop Filter
It works fine. Comparing my vocal recordings before and after, you can tell the difference with the absence of those annoying vocal pops. It clamps onto any mic stand and you can contort it the way you want.
After reading the reviews I chose this POP filter over the other obvious choices. It works very well and mounts on my proline mic stand easily. One of the better POP filers out there the gooseneck holds its position fine unless of course you bump it.
I didn't know much about pop filters except that I needed one. Having never shopped for one before I was unaware of the variety of types and quality. My local brick & mortar shop offered a 6 inch pop filter for $27 and it looked pretty simple. I paid about $16 for this one. The low price made me wonder what I would find in the box. I decided to try two different types of pop filter. After reading many product descriptions in this category I chose this Nady single screen type and a double screen type from Musicians Gear. I received this one first. When I opened the package, the screen mesh part of the filter fell out of its frame. I found that the frame could not be tightened enough to hold the screen mesh securely in place!! Not a good first impression. I made simple shims out of scissor cut pieces of rubber band and was able to reassemble the filter in a way that allowed it to stay together well. I figured for the price I got what I paid for. The gooseneck is substantial and holds the filter in place nicely. The gooseneck can be removed from the mounting clamp which is another cost savings to the manufacturer but can be useful to the user who doesn't need or want to use the clamp. The clamp is OK and is identical to the clamp on the second filter I bought. I thought the rubber "bumper" on the tip of the screw that secures the clamp to its mounting point was a bit small and too "squishy". Again, one gets what one pays for. In the end, this pop filter mounted with little trouble, seemed secure and provided the needed service. The screen mesh frame seems fragile to me and can fall apart easily. This is definitely a consumer product meant for a stable, unchanging installation. It is not a "professional" quality product and would not survive one trip outside the studio.
This is a solid pop filter, especially for the price. I bought it to use for my StevePavlina.com podcasts. My first couple podcasts were done without a pop filter, and I noticed some popped p's. With the pop filter the pops were greatly diminished. The gooseneck seems to be strong enough to hold its position, although it's probably easiest to simply adjust the height via the clip.
Though I've only had the Nady MPF-6 for a few days, it seems to be a quality product. The clamp holds tight, and it seems to be big enough to fit a variety of mic boom stands. The arm is long enough to get it positioned easily. It's cheaper (price-wise) than the other pop screens I've scouted, and does a good job; probably as good as the [insert local music store]'s $30+ pop screens.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that the arm isn't quite rigid enough for the screen, so the screen has a tendency to slowly fall from the position you leave it. But, after a little adjusting, it stays in place fairly well. I would still buy this product again.
I'm not a professional so this review is not aimed towards those who work with high end audio gear for a living. If you're a beginner to mid-level audio enthusiast, this product will work well for you. Why do you want it? Because speaking or singing close to the mic tends to cause a rush of air which often results in a "popping" sound when recorded. Certain sounds such as "p" and "sh" could also lead to clipping during recording. A good pop filter will capture the energy of that rushing air or diffuse the sounds of certain letters. You may also want a pop filter if you are recording anybody who might spit saliva while they are talking or singing. This is much more common than you think and saliva can actually corrode a mic. The Nady MPF-6 will help with all of these problems. You just have to remember to keep some space between the filter and the mic.
The filter is a round frame with two layers of material acting as the filter. You could probably make one but if you're setting up a home studio then you have more important things to do with your time and it would be more cost effective to just buy it.
The gooseneck is easy to use and stays in place exactly where I need it to.
The last component is a clamp. I currently use it on the mini stand that came with my Blue Snowball mic and it works very well. The clamp is adjustable so it can also be used with other mic stands. Overall, this is a great product and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to my friends. - Home Recording - Microphone Accessories - Microphone - Recording'
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