The Rycote S-Series Windshield is a great way to prevent noise caused by wind, and at a great price! In this video we have a shootout between the Rycote and Rode blimps. rycote.com/products/s-series_kit/
The Rode appears to do a much better job at reducing wind noise. It would be cool to see a frequency display to show what frequencies are producing the sound pressure. I love the little statue "assistant" that appears to be supporting the fan in the first shot. He's lying down, so I assume he's a union worker...LOL. I also like the fluffy couch pillows. Maybe a shag carpet would have been a nice touch. Thanks for your videos, Chad. Always well done and very informative.
Very thorough test! Thank you for doing this. One additional thing you may want to test for is how the windshield affects the timbre of the sound and/or does it affect any particular frequency range versus the mics sans shield. Typically the high frequencies suffer a bit with the muffs. Ah just read that someone else had a similar question below.
Well, I'm a fan of the Rycote Lyre system for sure. I really hardly ever use blimps, as for the most part I am a one man band. The lyre support is in their blimps, but I also have it on my camera mounted mic support, as well as on boom's in my studio. The material lasts long(forever?) without breaking down like rubber rings. For most things I use the Rycote Miniscreen with the Windjammer. Cheaper, and better wind suppression than their softie. Comes in the Universal Camera Kit too.
Another dimension to add to this test would be HF response. A blimp may have better wind performance, but at a cost of lost highs. A casual listen to L and R channels individually seems to reveal that the Rycote has a tad more high frequency in speech sibilance, where the Rode sounds a tad more muffled to my ear, but that could be the positions relative to the speaker. Interesting test!
Great video! Really informative! Quick question. I'm interested in buying the S Series blimp, and I was wondering if I should also buy a Rycote Softie. Also, how is hte build of the blimp itself? is the mesh kind of cheap, or does it feel pretty sturdy?
That's funny Dave! Yes, some shag carpet would be pretty swank, and very good acoustically. I do think the Rode does a better job overall. On the other hand, I like the size of the Rycote. So it depends on what's happening outside as to which one I'll choose.
Chad - Glad you didn't take offense to my comments (no interior redesign necessary, but maybe your next blimp review could include fuzzy dice). Yep, the Rycote is a bit smaller and less intimidating for the talent than the Sasquatch looking Rode blimp. As the Rode's fuzzy cover can be removed, I'm thinking that may help the audio a bit in less demanding environments. Between the two, do you have a preference for how the mic and cable are supported?
I dont get why this video does not have a lot more views than 285 - as always, great work Chad, you've helped me a lot purchasing the right gear in the first try! The big dealbreaker here is the weight: the Rode is 755 grams, the Rycote is 540 grams - might not sound like a lot, but the Rode is 40% heavier, which you can really feel when wiggling it around on a 4 metre long pole.
That's pretty impressive handling of wind on both blimps. Do you notice any attenuation of high frequency sounds using the blimps for things like bird calls? (compared to no windshield)
I haven't tried to record birds. I imagine that there would be some slight attenuation. You won't notice it with people talking or louder birds near the mic. Birds in the distance may be attenuated, but it's a balancing act between that and wind rumble. With the Rode blimp you can remove the furry, which means you can have one level of protection with just the blimp, and for heavier wind you can use the furry.
The ring area definitely concern for me personally. Of definitely made some sort of additional Velcro or rubber band furry addition for where it's screws together. I own rode blimp and like it a lot. Good review though definitely
The ring area doesn't affect anything. Wind can't go through it, and it's not blocking the capsule. What's more of a factor IMO is that the fur is shorter than the Rode's. Still, the S-Series is pretty nice. No complaints. The differences are marginal.
it seem decent just the ring in the middle is causing the windnoise but its not too extreme, you should had also shown one without the blimp how much windnoise they both cleaned out.
