Rycote Softie Performance Questions, issues

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gelojtaboada

Member
I just bought a $100 dollar product called Classic Softie made by Rycote...


Ill just start by saying, Im not happy with it. First thing I noticed is that it doestn attenuates wind distortion as promised.

I went out shooting on a fair but not extreme wind condition and it was just pathetic. It was like having just a foam piece on my mic.

I'm surprised because Rycote is the top-notch wind protection brand. Industry standard pretty much...

And I don't doubt their products are made to be the best.

But maybe something was wrong with my softie... Of course I made sure the softie was properly placed on the mic, combed it's pretty softie fur so its nice and handsome.

Here I leave a video test I made unfortunately on a not windy day, but I made some indoor tests simulating wind.

Rycote Classic-Softie Test: https://youtu.be/qzj-u3fbxa8

Let me know what you think about the tests and the results... I'm very sure there's thousands of users of Rycote and the Softie.

I would love to hear your thoughts and your personal experience with this softie.

Thanks in advance!!!
 
BUT - you didn't do any comparisons between the softie on, and off. Your tests are pretty meaningless because we have no way of telling what the windshield was actually removing. With my zeppelins and hairy covers you can still bottom out when the wind hits from certain angles - but the wind attenuation is pretty good - they're just not magic.

Clamp the mic, then do the wafting test, and get somebody to remove the cover while you are doing it, so the gain and orientation remains the same. Then we can compare.
 
Hi Paul, and thanks for the quick answer.

I think its obvious that the softie makes a big difference against a naked mic. But I'll re do the tests with and without the softie when I get home.

And, my concern is: It's very noticeable that the softie is not attenuating wind on any of the tests I made, considering that a very soft ammunt of wind is generated by my mouth and the flapping.

Theres noticeable distortion, do you agree??
 
The distortion is simply over level in my opinion, based on what I heard, and I rather thought the wind reduction was working - your gentle breath managed to ripple the hairs quite well, and your mic would have made some horrible noises with the same wind direct to the body. The softies are not miracle workers and inside they seem very similar to scouring pads - plenty of airspace but not close foam, then the hairy outer surface. Zeppelin covers have the big still air space inside, with the mesh on the basket grid, with the hairy cover to take out the wind's energy.

All these covers will still blast with a 30 mile and hour breeze on axis - if you hold your mic without any windshield system, and make phutting breaths into the end, it's easy to make pretty nasty noises that hit the end of the meter scale hard. If you stick the softy on, then it's still possible to overload the system in strong wind. Some of these nasty noises are actually the mic preamp overloading with the really strong blasts.

Sticking a shotgun mic into a 30mph wind flow is going to make this kind of noise - and any wanted sounds will be so small next to the wind that they probably won't be usable. All these gizmos reduce wind noise, and if you repeat the test with and without the softie, I'm certain you will hear how much it's doing. It may just be not as radical as you expected. If you spend a great deal of money on a full Rycote or Sennheiser system it will be better than the softie, but not by huge amounts.

Remember that 30mph is Beaufort force 6 - one below a gale!
 
gelojtaboada said:
Ugafan, which is it what? Please specify, and don't post if you don't intend to be helpful.
Click to expand...

on one hand you're saying it makes a big difference, on the other hand you are saying it's not attenuating wind on any of the tests. so.. WHICH ONE IS IT? :cheesy:

if you're not happy with the product, i would suggest returning it and getting something else. from reading their website, rycote claims up to 25 dB wind noise reduction with the softie. with the blimp and windjammer it is up to 50 dB. so you may have to upgrade to get the kind of reduction you are looking for.
 
^truth.

Gelo, your statement was contradictory so no foul by Uga.

I use both softies and a blimp made by Rode. The softies are great to a point, especially since they are lighter and more compact. but if you are in a breeze, a blimp is needed.
 
Also, you may find that the velocity of your blowing from up close is higher that you imagine. Try a fan from farther away. In my experience if it is blowing much over 10-12kts, you will want a blimp.

Grant
 
The softie is designed and well known by soundies to be useful for mild to moderate wind outside during interviews. If it is blustery you will need a Rycote Windsheild Kit (or reasonable fascimilie) aka Zeppelin.

That YouTube test was not a real world test. Flapping cardboard creating low frequency standing waves, sticking your mic outside a car window at 30 MPH and blowing pencil beams of air at pont blank range into the softie is not a practical test.

Thousands of boom operators on professional shoots have used these succesfully outside and in the wind. They know when to move to a Zeppelin if the wind is too much.

Try putting it on a boom and doing a real-world interview outside and see how it sounds.
 
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To a degree, I blame the manufacturers for giving the impression that you can stick a product on a shotgun and go out into a hurricane and get no wind noise and excellent audio! A bit of magicianship which boom users soon work through.
mics.jpg
EDIT - I've just collected together my shotguns - an Audio Technica 815 in the left one, a 416 in the centre and right ones. The right one is a cheap Indian zeppelin style housing bought on ebay - the other two are Sennheiser 426's. I can't find the hairy cover for the middle one, and the left one has an old fabric cover - made from the kind of material fleece jackets are now made from. One of the Sennheisers got sat on and is a bit wrecked, but still works. The hairy covers take the rawness out of wind that has occasional gusts, the fabric cover doesn't do it quite so well, but is still worth putting on. I'm doing a shoot at a pro football ground on wednesday, and all of these (even if I can't find the hairy cover I've lost) will be fine. If the shoot was at an open field type ground, then I would expect some wind noise if it's above a breeze.

Softies do the best job they can, but the zepplin covers have the still air inside which helps no end.
 
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Lots of variables. The mic's inherent sensitivity to wind, wind velocity, direction, ect. The Softie G1 and 2 are made for low-wind conditions. A Softie Windjammer (overcover) can help a little. For moderate wind, a blimp type system is needed.
Wind can also enter around the connector, switches, ect... and often ignored as the source.
 
I agree with all you guys, there's no doubt that you're all audio technicians and experts, and I really appreciate your help!

I know that test sucked! and it's not a very accurate test, but wind has not picked up lately so I can test it out. And I'm on an editing run now.

I guess I freaked out on how poor it performed the first time I pulled it out to play, and listening to small puffs of air distorting my audio when I blew into it.
 
When I viewed the test video, the worst wind noise came when you blew from the rear of the shotgun, so I'm not sure if that was a leak where the softie went on the mic, or something to do with the mic pattern. Maybe someone else might chime in on that.

Grant
 
Or as Rick suggested may be possible openings in the casing where say a high pass filter switch is or spaces between bits of the casing and so on. The ME66 also has a somewhat elevated high end frequency response which could accentuate the wind issue.

I have two softies that I use regularly a short one for a MKH50 and a longer one for a 416. When I have to do run and gun work outside, it does the trick almost every time. It is incredibly good value when you consider the cost of a full Zeppelin and the impracticality of it, if you are working as a solo operator. I am thankful I have them in my kit.

I move to the full Windsheild Kit/Zeppelin when it is practical or necessary.
 
Softies work great. If the wind is too much for a softie, find another way to help (taking advantage of natural surroundings, or even use yourself or your subject to block the full force of the wind... like having their back to the wind and booming from below for example).

If you can't compensate and the softie can't cut it... you need the full blimp and fur (as Paul stated).

The new Super-Softie? I'm not a fan... that one is between an ordinary mic foam and a regular softie.

Bare mic < stock foam < super softie < bare blimp < furry softie < blimp w/ fur.
 
I have to agree with Mattin about the blimp + fur. To me a blimp is a MUST. I have completely ruined shoots by just using a softie/dead cat and have a lot of regrets about it. Spend the extra $ on a blimp setup and you will be so glad you did. I would even add to his list at the end < blimp w/ fur AND high wind cover...
 
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