Large Microphone Windshield – An Alternative Approach Part 1

Once again this year, many of my field recordings have been spoilt by wind rumble, despite using ‘dead kitten’ style windshields over top of those pointless foam shields normally suppplied by the microphone manufacturer. So enough is enough; I have decided it’s time to invest some energy into constructing a purpose built shield to protect my tripod mounted tandem Rode microphones used for mid-side-stereo recording. The two microphones in question, a Rode NT1A and Rode NT2A form quite a formidable pair. These tend to be used as semi-portable equipment, not likely to be carted too far on foot, but once set up on-location can happily sit recording for hours on end. I have taken the plunge and purchased an off-the-shelf Rode blimp for my other handheld XY stereo microphone, the NT4; so no problem there.

So back to the windshield for the tripod mounted pair of microphones – no ready-made ones available, and if there were,  it’s likely the cost would be exhorbitant, given that the single Rode blimps cost £199.

In my opinion the best form of wind protection (the same method used by the Rode blimp referred to above) is achieved by providing a dead air gap around the microphone itself without isolating the microphone element from the sounds to be recorded. This may be achieved by moving the microphone away from the windshield cover where any wind which does (and will) permeate the cover is at a much lower velocity than it would have been had it been in close proximity to the cover. Unfortunately the ‘dead kitten’ which is slipped over the microphone casing is in actual contact with the microphone where any permeated wind flow is at a much higher velocity, which is enough to give rise to wind rumble in all but light breeze conditions.

So lateral thinking at play here:

What’s readily available, a suitable size, has holes, is circular, is fairly robust, does not dent and is reasonably of light weight -  it’s a plastic waste paper basket which if you haven’t got one available, can be readily picked up for about £2.

So that’s the bin, and it’s got to fit over the two microphones shown below (but not the long shotgun)

 

Back to the bin. You can see the three holes drilled in the bottom, the central hole takes the tripod bracket bolt and the two larger outer holes take the microphone mounting thread.

The two shots below give you an idea how the Rode microphones are mounted on the tripod bracket and also the component parts, but will not require the small cross bracket which originally held the shotgun microphone. I will just concentrate on using the two microphones shown.

The next four shots show the tripod bracket being fitted to the basket. 

So this is how the windshield stands fitted to the tripod bracket.

Next I sourced a cover from an old plastic food container shown in the two shots below. The cover will serve two purposes (1) It will make the top of the windshield more rigid and prevent having a large area of unsupported fabric which could flap about in the wind. (2) provides some form of rain protection to the microphones.

The lid is attached by drilling through both lid and top edge of bin and inserting 8no split pins evenly spaced around the lid to enable subsequent removal if required. Next shot shows split pin  inserted but not opened and bent out, as it all has to be dismantled for paint spraying in a less conspicuous colour.

 

 

Part 2 here

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