wind in ambient

D

d90123

Member
I have tried to record ambient sounds many times now. Traffic, birds chirping. Whatever.

At first the wind really killed it so I bought a cheap deadcat off ebay for my zoom H1 recorder.

Even with the deadcat, if there is even a breath of wind it completely ruins the audio. I do not think i have gotten a piece of ambient that is completely useable all the way through outdoors yet.

Is this common? Or most likely I am doing something wrong, I just do not know what it is. Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
The problem I found with my handheld recorder (Sony PCM-D50) was that the body of the recorder ( particularly any holes for switches and connectors) also picked up a lot of wind noise and the only way to improve it was to enclose the whole device in a deadcat. Ultimately though even this is only partially effective as for effective wind protection you need to create dead air space between the mic and the shield using a 'blimp' with possibly a deadcat on top of it. Other issues concern the mic type and you will find lav mics (omni's) are much more tolerant of wind than directional mics so a pair of lavs with small furry muffs may be worth try. I use a pair of DPA 4060 lavs with some Rycote 'Windjammers' which are pretty effective in a moderate breeze.
 
Basic furry windjammers for handheld recorders are not the most effective. Whie they “fit”, the typical designs of the XY stereo mic arrays cause gaps in the coverage.

I have a Tascam, and a windjammer, and I can get it to work just fine in anything at or below a light breeze. The trick is to seal the back because air movement can circle around and creep in from behind the mics. Use a rubber band to secure the base of the windscreen.

And if you don’t already have them, pick up a pistol grip and a lyre suspension mount. The other thing that creeps in pretty badly on these little recorders, causing low-end rumble, is handling noise.
 
"If you don’t already have them, pick up a pistol grip and a lyre suspension mount. The other thing that creeps in pretty badly on these little recorders, causing low-end rumble, is handling noise."
- For shock mounting my DR-40, I use the mic body shaped 1/4-20 adapter that came with an Zoom H2 and a 'Windtech SP-25 Shockproof' mount (about $!0 usd), which works very well. I tried the Shure A55M shockmount, but the weight of the recorder was too much for it. I have a Rycote Invison-7, but there's no easy way to adapt the recorder to it and the DR-40 is probably too heavy for it as well.
DR40 shock mtnw.jpg
 
The other option that I use is one of those gorilla pod tripods (the plastic flexible things) and then set it up on a table or something.
 
Thanks for the replies! I will definitely give the lo cut switch a try, didn't even realize. And I will do my best to create a seal. I agree what someone said about the lav mics being better, but the actual sound comes off a lot worse unfortunately.
 
IronFilm said:
For all this effort why not just get a real mic and a real blimp.... seems so much simpler.
Click to expand...

Handheld records are incredibly useful for gathering sound effects and ambient sound beds, and they can be protected from wind rather easily. There are times when a large mic/blimp assembly may be impractical due to space, risk of placement, portability, public attention... whatever the reason, this is a tool that has a place in the grand scheme of sound. Why so quick to discount it?

I always have one with me, and it travels even when I’m on vacation. That’s a great way to expand the effects library and I’ve had no problem recording things like a passing subway in NYC with zero wind distortion.
 
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