Watching a nature show of some type the other night on National Geographic channel or some such, the field worker was hauling around some considerable audio equipment, among them a huge microphone (macrophone?) covered in what looked like the hide of a sheepdog. I’ve noticed mics used in studios seemingly covered in foam or fur also.
What is the purpose of the cover? Would not it muffle sound? Here is one example, if the link works:
I’m a camera guy, not an audio guy. But the covers are designed to allow the mics to pick up the best sound possible. There’s bound to be some loss, but most people wouldn’t notice – and it’s uch better than hearing the wind.
The foam windscreens are designed to be acoustically transparent, similar to material used in some speaker cabinets. I have never used those shaggy things but have to believe they would suck the hi freqs right up.
It’s a compromise. Sound quality of the premier studio type is less important than a reasonably clear, wind-free audio. No, they don’t affect the high freqs too much in my experience, at least for TV news show quality.
The ones used in music studios are a little different, and intended to reduce pops and spitting; wind of another color, so to speak.
Do they make earmuffs like these? Not earphones that cut out sound, but something to cut out wind noise. Silly sounding question I guess, but I always wondered what it would sound like to zip down the highway on my bike – that is, what it would sound like without a seventy mile an hour wind in my ears. Full helmets dampen the noise, but then they aren’t exactly acoustically transparent.
Earplugs are remarkably good at cutting down wind noise on a bike. I’m pretty sure earplugs are Og’s gift to motorcyclists. They’re not acoustically transparent, of course, but besides from the wind and the engine, you’re not going to be hearing anything that you wouldn’t be hearing if you weren’t doing [del]triple[/del] high double digits.
Right. Eons ago I was making films on super-8. This was back when you could still get super-8 film with a sound stripe on it. I had (still have, actually) a very good Elmo shotgun mic. There was they typical foam ball that fir over the end, ostensibly to cut wind noise. Only the desert is a windy place. Didn’t do that great a job. I don’t know how to describe the sound that is recorded to someone who has never heard it. I think the closest I can come is to say imagine that someone is blowing directly into your ear. It’s a low-frequency sound. Sometimes you can hear it on location newscasts. The ‘fur’ gets rid of these low-frequency ‘chuffs’.