I have been looking for an on-camera shock mount and windcover for my Sanken CS-M1, and this led me to look at Radius.
If you are not familiar with Radius, they are a UK-based company. Their founder, Simon Davies, began learning about sound recording and windshields when he was 14 years old, as his mum Vivienne was one of Rycote Windshields’ first employees. Vivienne went on to take full ownership of Rycote from John Gozzard in 1994 and expanded their small family business.
After training as a location sound recordist at BBC Wood Norton, Simon joined full-time in 1997. Simon originally started as a production engineer, then became technical director, and eventually took over full ownership and management of Rycote with his wife Odette (who also just happened to run all manufacturing operations and logistics) until they sold the business in 2018.
There is a ton of experience behind Radius, and I sort of liken them to MID49 as new companies that bring a fresh perspective to their respective fields.
Ok, so now that we have some background about the company, let’s get on with the review.
Radius has a nice feature on its website where you can find the exact products that will work with your microphone. This makes things so much easier, as you don’t have to comb through a myriad of products to find what you are looking for.
In this particular example, I am looking for accessories for the Sanken CS-M1.
Once I click Search, there are 9 compatible products available. Here I can find the RAD-2 Camera Shoe Microphone Shock Mount and the Mini-ALTO 180 Fur Windcover.
Radius also has several different online stores depending on where you are in the world.
RAD-2 Camera Shoe Microphone Shock Mount $99 USD
The RAD-2 Camera Shoe Microphone Shock Mount was designed for use with standard-length shotgun microphones and small condenser pencil microphones with diameters of 19-25mm, up to 250mm in length, with slide-on foam or fur windshields on the front. It is claimed to provide exceptional isolation from movement, handling noise, and other vibrations associated with being mounted on a camera’s shoe mount and cages.
It is being touted as a great microphone shock mount isolation when booming indoors, outdoors, or on run-&-gun shoots.
This Shock Mount was made in collaboration with MID49, who also sell it on their site.
The mount has soft-coated universal mic clips to fit any mic 19-25mm in diameter. All of the components are produced using virtually indestructible thermoplastic elastomers from high-precision injection moulding in an ISO-9000 certified factory. Radius doesn’t use any 3D printing here or machined aluminum.
The Cold Shoe adaptor is machined from solid metal with a compression lock with ratchet lever.
The RAD-2 Camera Shoe Microphone Shock Mount works with the following microphones:
- SCHOEPS CMIT 5
- SCHOEPS MiniCMIT
- SCHOEPS SuperCMIT
- Sennheiser MKH416
- Sennheiser MKH8060
- Sennheiser MKE600
- Sanken CS-3
- Rode NTG-3
- And other similar shotgun microphones
You can also use it with super-cardioid, cardioid, and omni condenser mics when using a slide-on Radius Nimbus Windshield or other style deadcat fur on the front.
Build Quality
The RAD-2 Camera Shoe Microphone Shock Mount is solidly made, and there is nothing that is going to easily break.
Sanken CS-M1 7cm Nimbus Windshield (19/22) $79 USD
The Nimbus Windshield (19/22) is 7cm long and made for the Sanken CS-M1 short shotgun microphone. The Nimbus is a slide-on windscreen made in many sizes to fit shotgun, small condenser, and broadcast camera-mounted microphones. It is designed to reduce up to 25dB of wind noise generated from light to moderate winds, whilst maintaining high-frequency audio clarity.
The specially designed rubber end caps are made in two diameters to fit snugly around 19-22mm or 24-25mm microphones, preventing wind from entering behind the capsule. The Nimbus windshields are also the only slip-on fur windscreens to incorporate small ‘pepper pot’ hole openings on the end caps to reduce air pressure near the capsule. This unique feature is claimed to diminish the muddy or muffled sound that can occur at some frequencies and adds extra clarity when recording with certain microphones. Each Nimbus is made using 25mm length dark grey, acoustic synthetic fur and a porous open cell foam internal core.
The Windshield is hand-made in England from high-quality acoustic synthetic fur with a porous open-cell foam core.
Usability
The RAD-2 Camera Shoe Microphone Shock Mount is easy to use, and it’s versatile enough to be used on a wide array of different cameras.
The cold shoe mount makes mounting very easy.
The universal mic clips and adjustment straps make sure the microphone is secured and it won’t move around or slide. This gets rid of handling noise and other vibrations that you get when using microphones on a camera.
Most importantly, the suspension isolates the microphone from any vibrations and noise.
Thoughts
The Radius RAD-2 Camera Shoe Microphone Shock Mount & Nimbus Windshield is a solid combination. It is a lightweight solution that securely holds a shotgun microphone, while the windshield protects the microphone when working outdoors in windy conditions.
