Q: The new microphone I bought from Sweetwater for my studio came with two mounts for the mic stand. One is a “hard mount” and the other is a “shockmount.” Is there a specific time when I should use one or the other?

A: The only time one type of mic mount would be desireable over the other would be if the mic stand was transferring vibrations from the floor and the mic was picking up those vibrations. In that case, the shockmount would solve the problem.

However, most engineers default to using the shockmount, probably as much because it looks cooler than the hard mount as anything, but also as insurance against the mic picking up any stand-borne noise.