A question of wind and softies
 

I am using an AT 897, an AT 4073A and a Sennheiser ME66 and am having trouble with wind noise when I'm shooting out doors in the high dessert. Can anyone remoned a LOW, and unfortunately I really mean low, cost solution for this? I was looking at buying someting like a Rycote mini windjammer (BH has it for 55.00), does anyone have any experience with this? Does it do a decent job?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Also, does anyone toher than me have an issue with the Sennheiser G2 wireless cameramount causing interfeience with an 897 shotgun mic?

You can always sew your own. I did, for a training project showing cheap ways to accomplish great sound.
Just go to Walmart, buy cheap fur in the longest length. Their "wolf fur" is about 10.00 a yard. You'll need about 6" but I bought a foot just so to not irritate the sales clerk.
Sew a tube that will fit over your 897 foam windscreen. Make sure the fur is fluffed before using it, it will make a huge difference.

Thank you very much, that sounds like a great idea. Do I need to sew it over a hard tube first, or will it be ok to lay it directly on the stock foam?

my 'cheapie' just slides snugly over the foam.
Is it quite as good as the Rycote? No. You'll lose a little extra high end. The point isn't to be equal to the Rycote, but to do this cheaply and still get usable sound.
If it was easy to duplicate the Rycote cheaply, everyone would be doing it.

If you really look hard at any rycote product, they are extremely wqell made. I would say they are almost worth what you pay for them :-)

Yeah try the Rycote Mini Windjammer. I have one for an NT3 and I like the job it does in the canyons of New York City.

I spent a little more for the AT897 and got the Lightwave Miniscreen (softie) but I haven't been able to test it in high winds yet. Looks like it works for both the AT897 and the AT4073.

The miniscreen works great out to about 45 mph winds. We've got a ball park here that also has the standard issue gov't weather station, and we are fortunate enough to be able to read the wind ratings on it. So...works really well for us to test stuff not very far from our studio.
And the mini fits both AT897 and 4073.
on the other hand, for the guy that can only afford the 5.00 and about 15 minutes of cutting and stitching time....the homemade option isn't all that bad. Not sexy, but cheap usually isn't.

Excellent, thank you very much, I really appreciate it. I'm going to mess with fasioning my own, but out of curiosity, does the mini wind jammer fit the 897 and the 4073?

Yes the mini windjammer should fit both. They have the same diameter.

Thanks guys. I am overcome with grattitude. I thought Id be out 150 each.

Well, I am a guy that can afford 60 dollars, so what I'm going to do is by the mini and make one, that way both of my mics are covered. Ill let clients and such pay more attention to the camera with the mini on, so it will look for sure good and I'll see what I can do with making my own. I'm a 6'6" ex cop and finer arts like sewing and such have never been one of my strong points, but I shall give it a shot. I sure do like the price.

Once again thank you. You have no idea how much help reading your posts, past and present, have been over the last few months.

I'm also a bigger than average bear and i've always been good at sewing and such (the rough sh!t as well). My running joke was i could do anything that pleased me and was big enough to kick my detractors squarely in the left gonad ;-)

Now that is a motto I can appreciate and like.

Here's an interesting graph showing the characteristics of fifferent wind shielding devices.

Well, I have made the softie from the Walmart fake fur and it works surprisingly well. I also have a the Rycote mini softie and have a question, do I put that over the stock foam or straight onto the mic without the foam on?

the mini windjammer you put over the foam..the mini softie you put over the mic.


I got an AT897 with Rycote miniwindjammer. I like it. :D