Microphone#Microphone windscreens

A microphone windscreen is mostly a manufactured from porous foam coating for microphones. The wind and pop screen works - in addition to the conventionally used in the microphone box inner foam - against low-frequency sound components verwirbelnder air movement (wind) and human pronunciation.

The issues swirling air movements are relative to consider Microphone: Not just wind in the open air or breathing air shocks generate turbulent air movements, but also moving in still air microphone. Therefore, windbreaks also be used for indoor recording when the microphone is ( eg on a boom pole ) pivoted and moves quickly.

Variants are the fur windshield and pop screen. All directional microphones are very sensitive to wind because of the Druckgradientenanteils. Significantly less sensitive to air movements are pressure receiver, so omnidirectional microphones.

Foam windscreen

The often trained as a sphere or ellipsoid windshield, which is attached to each microphone should avoid when shooting outdoors, that wind noise interfere with the absorption. With microphone recordings can already easily breeze too much noise (signal distortion) and DC components (offset voltages) result in the signal. A microphone windscreen allows depending on the design, a wind noise attenuation of the low frequencies from 30 to 60 dB. In support should be switched when shooting outdoors a subsonic filter ( low cut filter or high-pass filter).

In the close-talking microphones, it serves as protection against harmful "pop" sounds. Therefore he is called in conjunction with reportage handheld microphones and pop screen, Plopschutz or Popkiller. Pressure-gradient react at close talking very sensitive to low-frequency pressure waves, as close to your mouth with the pronunciation of front plosives ( [ p ], [ t], etc.) and fricatives ( [ f], [ s], [ ʃ ], [ x] etc. ), affricates ( [ pf ], [ tʃ ], etc. ) occur. Disadvantage, especially a foam windscreen, is a certain damping also particularly high frequencies.

Basket and coat windbreak

A variation of the wind shield is a completely surrounds the microphone, additional basket, which is covered with gauze. This has only a small Höhenbedämpfung, but keeps the wind from reliable.

In general, a large free volume, limited by a gauze cage causes a greater attenuation of wind noise than a smaller one. With very strong air movements can be pulled over this basket additionally a plastic fur coat. In the jargon this is called Windjammer Fur Dog, Poodle, pompom or cat or Deadcat. This also prevents wind noise by the hair damp air turbulence around the basket. Windbreaks with fur are common for lavalier or handheld microphones and are especially suitable for extreme wind conditions. The operation of the wind protection is based on the deflection and breaking the wind so that it can not penetrate up to the microphone capsule.

The required large volume of the microphone can be achieved by a microphone basket, by large-volume foam body or other large-scale structures. In general, the protective effect increased by a coating of synthetic fur.

Pop protection, pop screen

In recording studios windbreaks are most often used as a pure pop protection variant. The microphone is not enclosed here, but it is installed a flat " women's hosiery " membrane in front of the microphone. Such a pop screen consists of an annular frame which is covered with a nylon fabric, which slows down the "pop" puff of air in front of the microphone. A pop screen is usually mounted with a gooseneck microphone on stand and placed about 5 to 20 cm in front of the microphone. There are Popschutze with single or double nylon upholstery. As a positive side effect, they protect the studio microphones from "wet pronunciation".

It is both the spelling pop screen and pop filter consistently ( Germanized from English: pop filter).

Imprint

Radio broadcasters often can be produced and provided to the respective channel logo color striking windscreen shapes so broadcast and your brand is presented striking. In particularly extravagant forms this suffering especially the acoustic quality of the system windshield / microphone.