Pop Filters

Nomad

There is a vague possibility that I might want to sing something, and I'm thinking of getting a pop filter. I have virtually zero experience of singing. I'm aware of proximity effect with mics, but that's about it (things like remembering the words, not to mention remembering to breathe, are things I need to work on).

They seem to vary in price from a few quid to rather a lot. Is there any difference between the various offerings? About the only thing I can think of is that some are described as being double layer, which implies that some aren't.

Are they all much of a muchness, or are there specific ones or specifications that are significantly better?

ecc83

The main criticism levelled at pop filters are that they colour the voice.

The metal mesh types are said to be better than fabric but this...

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb14/articles/hakan-p110-popkiller.htm

Is said to be the dog's danglers. Effective but transparent. However, I suggest you try the "tights over a coat hanger" get out first and judge for yourself!

I made rather a good one for my Sontronics STC-2 some years ago. If we could attach things here I would send a picky!

Dave.

PolarityMan

If you have a decent room and are fairly confident (read: loud) you might get away with a condenser a little further back. the other thing you can learn to do is tilt your head slightly for plosives so you;re not firing air straight at the mic capsule.

In all honesty though I;ve tried with teh tights on a coat hanger set up and its a bit of a pain in the ass. for my next recording project Ill prob jsut bite the bullet and buy one.

Thinking about one of them packs with teh reflection shields as we used one of those to great effect recently in a studio.

Cirrus

I do find pop shields have the effect of making the voice sound a bit further away and also making sibilance more annoying. One trick I like is to tape a pencil directly to the front of the mic. It's a trick I only use with myself though because most other people find it weird performing vocals into a pencil.

Nomad

Never thought of foam. I've just been messing about with open cell foam used for fume extraction filters for soldering...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/solder-fume-extractor-filter-n34ch

The page is dumb - it shows the fume extractor rather than the spare filters, which are about 130mm square and 10mm thick. Bought these ages ago, but can't remember how many you get in a packet (web page omits that as well), but I found a sealed poly bag with two in it, so at least two.

Tried speaking very close to the mic and one layer of foam seems to supress plosives pretty well. Using two layers didn't seem to make a lot of additional difference. Hard to say if there is much effect on other aspects of the sound - I'm not used to singing, and my attention keeps going towards trying to work out what register to sing in.

thermionic

Many large diaphragm condenser mikes seem to come with a foam cover (mine did anyway). Never seen them used in a recording studio but they seem popular in radio studios - must be a reason for this.

A cheap one from Maplin does the job for me. I've read somewhere that ones with two layers work much better, so maybe buy a cheap one and add another layer of hi-fi speaker grille cloth or something? If you're serious about vocals one of those mini vocal booths on a stand look to be a good way to go. Or hang a duvet behind your singer. The pencil trick is well-known - lots of things you can improvise to try and get better results.