Birdcage around mic? What's that?

[3rd&4thT]

Just saw a new print of Bert Stern's famous film "Jazz on a Summer's Day," shot at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. This movie was the daddy of "Woodstock," "Monterey Pop," "The Last Waltz," etc.

Around the mics (mostly but not exclusively C12's), Columbia Records fitted a large metal enclosure like the major bones of a birdcage, or maybe a storm lantern. There was no mesh, so the sound was presumably unaffected, but the housing prevented the performers from getting too close. (Only Louis Armstrong had a mic without one.)

I've attached a photo of the outrageous Anita O'Day between bouts of scat singing.

Does anybody know what the official name of this ingenious invention was? Was it proprietary to CBS or generally available, is it still in production, and if not, why not?

Thanks,
3rd&4thT

[John Willett]

It just looks like a Heath Robinson cage to stop her getting lipstick on the mic.

[ETM Dude]

My guess is its to prevent this from ever happening again...

PIXFTW » Blog Archive » How does one fail so hard?

[3rd&4thT]

Originally Posted by ETM Dude

My guess is its to prevent this from ever happening again...

Cute picture. Is that why they call it Beat Detective?

Actually, "Jazz on a Summer's Day" added 20 years to the career of Anita O'Day. High as a kite or not, it's a helluva scat solo.

I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to build a home-brew version of the birdcage to keep mic-abuse to a minimum.

3rd&4thT

[Kyle S]

i think that thing is just a light bulb cage. i think you find those things in carriers and destroyer type places. i know ive seen them before in older buildings. if you look closely it appears to be taped loosely to the mic itself with cardboard as an insulator. any contact with that thing would carry noise straight into the mic.

all i can think of is whats been said, keeping people's mouths off of it. but what a strange tactic.

beats me.

etm dude - wish i was that i5.

[big country]

interesting I have never seen a bird cage for a mic

I know they use bird cages to keep large objects
out of storm drains

[big country]

it would be great tool for OH (flying drum sticks)
OR
for setting a space limit

[dannygold]

Not sure it would work live, but a lot of people use pop filters to keep singers the fuk back from the mic. In fact that's PRIMARILY why i use one.

[Remoteness]

IMO, this is the coolest filter of them all...

[Shadow_7]

I second the light bulb cage thought. Quite common on military bases and such. Keeps the rocks thrown by the lawn mowers from breaking the lights. It's quite obviously taped to the mic as well.

[audiothings]

youtube video of the performance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1V3n1u0JI8

[MATTI]

After watching that I got it -it´s for protecting the mic from her hat

Matti

[Brent Hahn]

It looks sorta like the homemade pop filters NYC guys used to make from 1/4" pancake hubs, long machine screws, and pantyhose.

[big country]

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

I second the light bulb cage thought. Quite common on military bases and such. Keeps the rocks thrown by the lawn mowers from breaking the lights. It's quite obviously taped to the mic as well.

indeed looks like a light bulb cage ...

what kinda mics are in your avatar?

[big country]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

IMO, this is clearly the coolest filter of them all...

I think some try to steer clear of to much fine mesh

[3rd&4thT]

Originally Posted by audiothings

youtube video of the performance!
YouTube - Anita O'day - Sweet Georgia Brown & Tea For Two

That "Tea for Two" in the second half remains incredible no matter how many times you watch it. There she is, dressed up like Doris Day, and circling Mars.

3rd&4thT

[Shadow_7]

Originally Posted by big country

what kinda mics are in your avatar?

Avenson STO-2's. With WindTech 2114 foam windscreens. With Rycote lavalier windjammers over those. And with some computer velcro cord organizers stacked up on the back side of the windscreens to further dampen, but not eliminate wind noise.

http://home.earthlink.net/~shadow_7/windscreen3.jpg

Probably not as good as 8040's, but rugged little buggers. No qualms about leaving these out in the blazing hot car for a couple days. And no need to take up religion if they happen to get blown over in the wind.

http://avensonaudio.com/sto2.php

[big country]

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

Avenson STO-2's. With WindTech 2114 foam windscreens. With Rycote lavalier windjammers over those. And with some computer velcro cord organizers stacked up on the back side of the windscreens to further dampen, but not eliminate wind noise.

http://home.earthlink.net/~shadow_7/windscreen3.jpg

Probably not as good as 8040's, but rugged little buggers. No qualms about leaving these out in the blazing hot car for a couple days. And no need to take up religion if they happen to get blown over in the wind.

Avenson Audio

have you ever them with a jeckline ?

[Shadow_7]

Originally Posted by big country

have you ever them with a jeckline ?

Not yet. There's not much of a stereo image (OMNI patterned) for my uses, so a jecklin disc would help with that. But as the windscreens would suggest, I record outdoors and they already have a high enough wind profile. despite their streamline shape. A couple of those lightbulb cages might help when it falls over. In the meantime the stereo pair is more of an insurance that at least one mic is pointed in the right direction.

[moracspace]

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

I second the light bulb cage thought. Quite common on military bases and such. Keeps the rocks thrown by the lawn mowers from breaking the lights. It's quite obviously taped to the mic as well.

Even more common in walk in refrigerators and freezers.

[Remoteness]

It clearly looks like a light bulb protector taped or Velcro'd to the mic.

[3rd&4thT]

I hate to think of that hat getting electrocuted.

3rd&4thT

[Frost]

Jazz on a summers day is one of the finest quality audio and video sources from that era. See color little richard like its an 80s remake. Anita Oday's performance is stunning. Thelonious is great, Louis Armstrong has a great performance to end it. Its a great kitschy art film, and musical performances from an era that look and sound far better than they have any right to.

I think the bird cages are to keep peoples distance so they are roughly uniform and far enough away to prevent plosives, kinda like the pencil trick.

BTW: There are some C12's in the movie but most often and the shot of Anita, are U47's.

Frost

[3rd&4thT]

Originally Posted by Frost

BTW: There are some C12's in the movie but most often and the shot of Anita, are U47's.

Frost

Interesting that they should do that. Columbia Records in New York owned over 100 C12s at one time - I wonder what happened to them all.

3rd&4thT

[MATTI]

Slimmer profile for pic guys?

Matti