Don't kill ALL wind.

[Allan Black]

Watching the US location TV reports of hurricane Irene working its way up the East coast, I see some stick mics being used on locations with wild scary wind blowing. A lot look like omnidirectional Electrovoice RE 50s with the 379 windscreen, which is probably what the TV outfits bought as a package.

I can hear wind plenty of wind noise, and it's not interfering with the voice.

My point is, I think we should HEAR wind noise especially when we can SEE wind blowing in picture .. it'll look unnatural if we don't, and especially if the presenters voice is pitched up. It could look like he's in a cocoon.

So don't kill the wind altogether, it's a part of your production. If you happen to use a blimp which can kill all wind, record some separately to decide later how much and what level to add in, in post.

Cheers.

[Colin McDonald]

Yes I see what you mean and that makes sense.

However, to those of us who have suffered from unwanted wind (if you'll pardon the expression) the issue can be more than rumbles and howls added to the audio. Some inadequately protected mics, depending on their design, can often be completely overloaded by wind and have the desired audio completely silenced for short periods. Sometimes there isn't even a loud rumble to replace it and periods of near silence can result. It is made considerably worse when using automatic gain particularly on less expensive cameras.

I still think you need to be in control of the audio and that's why, not having a specialist mic available, I have invested in a Rode Blimp after finding it impossible to record acceptable audio even in moderate wind on a beach. No more nasty surprises outside on relatively still days when rumbles used to intrude unexpectedly.

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[Kevin Spahr]

Wouldn't your best option be to kill as much wind on the vocal as is possible and mix in the wind noise gathered from another better placed mic so you could avoid the rumble?

[Rick Reineke]

"Wouldn't your best option be to kill as much wind on the vocal as is possible and mix in the wind noise gathered from another better placed mic so you could avoid the rumble? "

--The ambient sound of the wind is one thing, plosive type wind distortion, is another. Adding SFX is not practical on a remote, in the middle of a hurricane.

Yeah, the RE50 is pretty much the 'defacto' reporters mic in the US. Gets more 'air' time than Seinfeld reruns.

[Jon Fairhurst]

For news, I want the person to be intelligible. Does it kill all wind or most? I don't care. But I want to understand the person speaking.

For narrative, I want to kill it all and add it in post. The thing about wind is that it generally sounds bad. It's boomy. It rumbles. It arrives at just the wrong time. By contrast, "good sounding" wind is the sound of wind as it gets split by posts, the eves of a house, etc. We want it to howl with a nice, moving resonance.

I find that recording myself making "wind noise" with my mouth and pitching it way down does the trick. Add a number of layers. Be patient, rather than dramatic, when "singing" the part. Add reverb if you need to smooth it out. EQ notches in it if you need to make room for dialog and music. Also use EQ to balance the highs and lows. It's not perfectly realistic, but can create a nice "wind vibe".

Recording wind naturally is a challenge. You need to find a nice feature that makes the wind whistle where you can shield the mic to avoid rumble. Don't just put a mic outside on a windy day. The other problem is that the day you need to record wind sounds is likely to be calm.

Here's an example of "singing" and layering wind sounds. I used EQ. I don't recall using much reverb.

The Last Outpost on Vimeo

[Chad Johnson]

IMO you need to kill all sound that is wind hitting the mic and making a low rumble. That is not a natural sound. If wind is hitting the trees and making a sound - that is natural, but the sound of low rumble should be completely removed, or prevented with proper wind protection. When I step out in the wind I don't hear a mic diaphragm being pummeled, causing horrific rumble. I hear a "Shhhhhhhhhhh" going through trees.

[Jon Fairhurst]

True. Listening to wind in person doesn't sound like a buffeted mic.

And a naked tree in winter will sound different than an aspen in the spring. For narrative, this gets to the heart of sound design.

For instance, in the zombie short above, I went for a somber, haunting wind sound, associated with the frozen hiker. If this was wind in a park during a romantic comedy scene, I'd want a more playful sound that moves with the characters' hair. In a Mount Everest adventure, it would be the sound of flapping jackets. Note that I stopped the wind sound after the zombie was shot. Good sound design is as much about character and point of view as it is about the space.

So... for news or documentaries, it would be interesting to listen for wind features (flapping jacket, going through the trees or whistling around a sign post) and stand in a place where those sounds get picked up on purpose. Use great wind protection to remove the buffeting sound and the results could be pretty good.

Then again, audiences have been trained to associate mic buffeting with live reporting in wind. When doing a narrative about live reporting in wind, you'd want a recording of buffeting along with a clean recording - maybe ADR - in order to have full control of the experience.