are softies really good
- Thread starter Moseph
- Start date
The effect of a blimp/furry on sound quality is minimal, but if you do any shooting outside, it's essential for blocking wind noise. Wind noise is not something that can be fixed in post, so without a good furry, you may not be able to get good sound. It's not really an optional kind of accessory.
SMuir
Well-known member
We use softie shock mounts on our foley mics, but I prefer the modular suspensions for boom work and field recording. Mind you, the softie shock mounts are quite light, effective, and inexpensive.
As Barry said, the softie windjammer (aka. the "gorrila condom") does a great job in even high winds. Without some kind of extra wind protection, even a tiny breeze will slice through that foam windscreen like a hot knife through butter.
There are a number of competetive products on the market, but Rycote's tend to be among the most effective. The softie windjammers are great because they're inexpensive (compared to a full zepplin kit), and can be combined with a variety of different shockmounts.
Zepplin-style systems, on the other hand, are more difficult to mix-and-match among different manufacturers (although I've fitted my old-style Rycote windscreen with a shiney new Sennheiser suspension cradle). Zepplin systems are a bit more flexible, though, since you can opt for the bare windshield, the high-wind cover (a kind of fabric sock for light to moderate winds), a windjammer, or even both the high-wind cover and the windjammer (for crazily high wind speeds).
Both the softie windjammers and zepplin windjammers are pretty close to being accoustically transparent, with only a tiny bit of hig-frequency attenuation. When switching to interiors, you can simply swap it out for a foam windscreen, but that will likely be more for weight than for the sound alone.
As Barry said, the softie windjammer (aka. the "gorrila condom") does a great job in even high winds. Without some kind of extra wind protection, even a tiny breeze will slice through that foam windscreen like a hot knife through butter.
There are a number of competetive products on the market, but Rycote's tend to be among the most effective. The softie windjammers are great because they're inexpensive (compared to a full zepplin kit), and can be combined with a variety of different shockmounts.
Zepplin-style systems, on the other hand, are more difficult to mix-and-match among different manufacturers (although I've fitted my old-style Rycote windscreen with a shiney new Sennheiser suspension cradle). Zepplin systems are a bit more flexible, though, since you can opt for the bare windshield, the high-wind cover (a kind of fabric sock for light to moderate winds), a windjammer, or even both the high-wind cover and the windjammer (for crazily high wind speeds).
Both the softie windjammers and zepplin windjammers are pretty close to being accoustically transparent, with only a tiny bit of hig-frequency attenuation. When switching to interiors, you can simply swap it out for a foam windscreen, but that will likely be more for weight than for the sound alone.