DIY Metal Popscreen

[illacov]

Ok currently the group Im in has been using a DIY metal pop screen, with pretty good results....the price was considerably cheaper and requires a little time and effort and about 24 dollars worth of materials. Heres the deal

If you own one of those Shure or Raxx Popper stoppers (19.99 for the Raxx, 29.99 for the Shure) you may have realized that you can removed the nylon covered hoop and the retaining ring still remains. Well I had an old one were the nylon had a run in it and I was at the hardware store and they sold
Aluminum Screen Door material by the square foot, if you can see where im going
the stuff was like 88 cents a square foot which is pretty darn cheap.

What I did was take 6 squares of doubled over (12 layers)aluminum screen door material (vinyl stuff may work too but its not METAL) large enough to fit inside the hoop that the nylon was originally on with some excess so i could fold it over instead of exactly fitting it.

Then i basically stacked the aluminum squares in a criss cross pattern, basically making the squares resemble a ruff star of david pattern one on top of the other over and over again. I kept checking how many layers would be necessary to stop a plosive so i put the material (stacked) right up to my hand and said as many p and b words i could think of and kept stacking until i felt nothing from a plosive come through..

You may want to use 8 squares of doubled over (16 layers) instead of six depending on the material you get your hands on, either way its dirt cheap so keep stacking away! Eventually i put the squares on top of the inside hoop and then used a pair of pliers to screw shut the retaining ring to squeeze around the inside hoop with the aluminum on it. I needed to put some weight on the inside hoop so it didnt slip out from the pressure of the retaining ring. Its best to shut the retaining ring with the popper stopper front side up.

But when i was done i had a metal pop screen with some excess material going beyond the roundness of the hoop. So i trimmed it (be careful very sharp!!) so that none was hanging out anymore and then covered the sharp ends of the material with black duct tape since it matched the color of the hoop.

When i recorded i noticed that I had gotten a totally different sound out of the pop filter...something i liked very very much.

Now the upside is..you can switch back and forth between nylon pop filters and the DIY metal one, because they unscrew right from the gooseneck on the mic stand and you can change it up like you would a microphone capsule!!

Great sound!!

Instant difference however you could try to use the metal one for only certain tones and the nylon for others i guess its almost like an acoustic guitar in that regard!!


Try ACE Value or True Value the stuff is dirt dirt cheap!!!
Peace
Illumination