Rycote Lyre Modular Suspension system
I recently wrote a piece about the Schoeps CMIT 5 U mic that i had used, and made a point about the increase in handling noise i experienced with it. I was then contacted by the ever-helpful people at Rycote who pointed out to me that their latest innovation - the Lyre Modular Suspension system - was designed precisely to deal with this issue, and in fact you can see the Schoeps CMIT 5U mic is the one they have chosen to illustrate the system with in their photos.
After taking delivery of my new mounts i set about replacing the older solid plastic mounts in my suspension. Very sensibly Rycote have gone to the lengths of publishing a guide to replacing older mounts with the newer Lyre system, and so it was a simple operation to select the appropriate replacement. I was also impressed to see that they were able to provide Lyres for their older suspension systems, pretty much back to models from the late 60’s!
Fitting the new suspensions was a simple operation - 2 mins with the Rycote tool to undo the screw holding them in place, and the same in reverse to put the new ones on. The Lyres themselves are solid at the base, with a very soft plastic used for the ‘W’ shaped piece, and herein lies their secret. The plastic is in fact a substance called Hytrel which is a engineered elastomer - a sort of plastic and rubber hybrid that is very strong, very light and very flexible, as well as impervious a to wide range of temperatures.
With these W shapes of Hytrel sitting between the base of the suspension, and the clip that holds the mic in place, they act as an extremely effective shock absorber; with vibrations from the pole being absorbed into them before they can reach the mic.
After fitting them i placed my Sennheiser MKH60 shotgun mic into the mount with a little difficulty - the reason being that the Lyres are so flexible that it can be tricky getting purchase on them. It’s a bit like trying to shove a wet fish into a handbag, or something similar. But once attached i could immediately see the benefits - the mic remains held firmly in place, but the whole Lyre W shape is free to move and flex as needed. I was briefly worried when attaching the mic that i would be too clumsy and break them, but i have since realised that this is very unlikely. They are really tough, and this bodes well - the older Rycote systems relied on bits of solid plastic that could crack (travelling on planes with kit in a suitcase always worried me for this very reason) as well as rubber rings that could potentially snap, and would after a few years dry up and begin to crack. Unless my suspension falls into a wood chipper or similar, i dont see myself needed to replace these anytime soon.
But the real test was how they sound, and i wasn’t disappointed; a few exploratory shakes and swings of the boom was enough for me to realise that a significant amount of the handling noise had gone. I can’t yet put a figure on how much they have reduced this bass rumble, but i often find myself restraining how briskly i move the boom about especially on doccos where it can often get a bit bumpy. I didn’t do that once with the Lyres, and i soon found myself hurling the pole around just to try and get some handling noise! I removed all bass cut from the mixer, and even then was only able to exact a minimal amount of handling noise.
I can honestly say there is a huge improvement for audio as a result of using them, as well as a financial consideration - they are comparatively cheap, and will hopefully not need replacing nearly as much as the previous incarnations. Well done to the brains at Rycote, particularly Chris Woolf. My thanks to Tim Constable too.
— Posted by Matt in Uncategorized | No Comments
