A mounting system having a base plate, multiple mounting apertures adapted to releasably hold a man-portable equipment item, and non-invasive fasteners for attaching to a structure without damaging the structure. The encoder includes a low-frequency encoder configured to quantize elements of a part of the parametric spectral representation that correspond to a low-frequency part of the audio signal. The dampener extends inferiorly from the inferior surface of the base and terminates at a dampener inferior surface. An open hindfoot collar is disposed on the foot portion proximally with respect to the forefoot collar such that a portion of the rear heel surface of the wearer’s foot is exposed therethrough.