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Re: Homemade Windscreens

Subject: Re: Homemade Windscreens
From: Rob Danielson <>
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 01:09:41 -0500
At 9:57 PM -0700 7/24/05, greg wrote:
>Jerry,
>
>Different types of  fabric can be used for different wind speeds and a lot
>of this has been discussed on this list in the past. For lower speed wind
>thin, sheer fabrics like nylon stockings, that are "stretchy" can be a goo=
d
>choice because they conform to the device used to form the wind baffle (or
>dead air space). Rich Peet put me onto cotton T-shirt material and I have
>found that it also conforms well, and has little self noise. It is also
>possible to find camo colored cotton fabrics that help to blend your
>windscreen in with the foliage around you. For large parabolas I have also
>used soft, stretchy speaker cloth. If the surface is large you have to be
>careful that the fabric doesn't luff, or come loose from the underlying
>structure that creates the dead air space. For higher winds the approach
>shifts to material that is more likely to lose some signal in exchange for
>getting rid of the wind. These "fluffy" fabrics are like the material in
>long-hair car seat covers. The long hair can allow one to record in much
>higher wind so long as the surroundings are not full of noise from the win=
d
>(like pine needles). Rich Peet invented a clever wind screen out of a
>Shop-Vac filter element, foam, and nylon stocking that is amazing at
>blocking wind. However, his design is for short mics that fit in the filte=
r
>element. In this design the filter provides the underlying structure and
>dead air space all in one piece.

In the ready made dept, Dollar Stores now have sheep skin car wash
mittens without thumbs something like this one
http://bavauto.com/fland.asp?rid=3D12616

Has enough form stiffmess that I just taped the elastic wrist band to
the the mic body.  Have not used it in a sheep herd yet.

The Sony ECMDS70P is such a tiny mic, maybe try wrapping ~ 6-7"
diameter circle of long fiber fake fur loosely surrounding both arms
of the "T?"  Like Greg says, allow some dead air space in front of
each capsule and maybe rubber-band the cloth around the post of the
"T." Rob D


>  Regardless of material, look for a fabric
>that does not make self noise when the wind blows across it. If you choose
>your windscreen material to blend in with the rest of your clothing you
>will have more opportunities to move without drawing as much attention to
>yourself. When you are in view of the target you want to minimize the huma=
n
>shape and maximize the blend with the habitat you are in. A windscreen can
>provide a useful mechanism for this as well as the original intent to
>create a dead air space.
>
>Greg Clark
>
>
>At 06:35 PM 7/24/05, you wrote:
>>What kind of cloth works well for homemade windscreens?  I want to make a
>  >windscreen for a Sony ECMDS70P stereo mic
>>
>>Thanks for any suggestions.
>>
>>
>>
>>Jerry Berrier
>>
>><http://www.townisp.com/~jerry.berrier>http://www.townisp.com/~jerry.berr=
ier
>  >
>>
>  >


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________


"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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