Blimp High Wind Cover....Plastic Bags

[OzGizmo]

This might be of interest to people in this group.
I do a lot of sporting OB's and wind noise is a common problem on Fx mics.... I thought I would try this....The results are amazing.
Most days I was using a LCF of about 80-100Hz on bad days often go to 150Hz.
What I did was.........
Remove the high wind cover, cover the blimp with 2x VERY light weight plastic bags (from the fruit / veg shop) wrap a single loop of electrical tape to hold it together, then replace the high wind cover.....Done
I can run the mic (Senni 816) without any LCF.
Can't wait to give it a try on my location kit blimp.

 

[Shirozina]

Interesting to see what the attenuation of frequencies would be but even if there is a loss it's likley more than made up for by the lack of LF wind noise. Maybe also try cling film?

 

[Rick R]

I've used condoms on short shotgun mics, and the slight HF loss was a minor tradeoff for keeping salt water off the mic. It never occurred to me to use one for wind.

 

[Paul F]

I would have never thought to put plastic over a blimp for wind reduction. There's no noise from the plastic moving? I like the cling wrap idea. It seems like that would subside my plastic-moving concerns.

 

[OzGizmo]

My original thoughts was 'cling wrap' but could never think how to cover a blimp arrangement with just a single layer....
I then looked at small bin liner bags, but again sealing around the blimp handle was the problem.
Then one day at the supermarket in the fruit / veg section the 2x bag idea (one from each end) came to me.

And no the bag won't rustle provided it had a high wind cover over it, I have since tried it with an interview mic (senni 835) this time I used cling wrapped taped the loose plastic ends down...then a Foamy cover over the tight plastic. And agin success.

I have also done a Zoom H4n with cling wrap.....seems to work on that as well, BUT you must have an over foam / fur cover to hold the plastic so it won't move.

For me this idea actually transforms more than 40 years of TV broadcasting and mic usage outdoors....next tests will be 'cling wrap' over lav mics, then an over cover.....