Very windy conditions - no noise
by Art Pittman
on
Aug 20, 2008 at 1:03:08 pm
Within the past two weeks, I have seen two national news broadcasters do live shots in VERY windy conditions. One was in the Florida hurricane and the other was on the Great Wall in China, where flags in the background were almost horizontal. The Florida reporter was using a wireless handheld mic and the China reporter was wearing a wireless lav. Neither mics had any extra "fuzzy" or "dead cats" on top. So how is it that the audio was crystal clear with no interference from the wind? And what can I learn from this that will help with my productions? Thanks in advance!
Re: Very windy conditions - no noise by David Jones on Aug 20, 2008 at 4:00:53 pm
That's funny you sould mention those; I saw two national broadcasts last week, as well: one from the hurricane and one from the olympics, both in VERY windy conditions, and both were horrible. The guy in Florida was using a RE-50 and you could hardly understand him. The girl at the olympics had a lav, where the wind was causing all kinds of noise.
Anyway, to your question; there are a couple of possiblities as to why you didn't hear any wind: one, the reporter was positioned so the wind wasn't (for the most part) hitting the mic. I've actually been able to achieve this before, but it usually isn't fool-proof. Two, the sound person (probably at the last minute) decided to boom it with a shotgun mic, blimp, and windjammer just out of frame. They just kept the lav on the reporter or, in the case of the handheld, just told the talent to keep holding it.
What can you learn from this to help with your productions? Don't always believe what you see :o) Be prepaired.
Re: Very windy conditions - no noise by Rodney Morris on Aug 20, 2008 at 6:40:30 pm
The RE-50, when new, can withstand lots of wind without overpowering wind noise. As they get older, the foam windscreen under the metal grill begins to deteriorate and wind begins to creep in. I've used a fairly new RE-50 in a tropical storm with wind (50 - 60 mph) and rain pelting us and it never complained. Putting a person's back to the wind usually helps also.
As far as the lav goes, I can pretty much guarantee there was a shotgun out of frame. Networks get freaked out when they don't SEE the mic with the reporter on a live shot. I've been in situations where it was windy and I knew there was absolutely no way the lav could be used. But as soon as transmission went up and the studio saw no mic, they began asking "where's the lav!?" You can try to explain but it matters not...
The lav is often the backup, and sometimes not even plugged in, to the shotgun - especially if it's outdoors.
Re: Very windy conditions - no noise by Art Pittman on Aug 21, 2008 at 1:21:23 am
Thanks for the responses. There may or may not have been a boom on the shot from China - I can't remember. There definitely was not a boom in the hurricane shot - the reporter was at least thirty feet from the camera and it was easy to see no other techs in the shot anywhere close.
Re: Very windy conditions - no noise by Ray Palmer on Aug 21, 2008 at 3:33:08 pm
Ty,
What a hoot you are. I enjoyed your guitar solo this morning.
Is there any end to your talents?
To quote Tim Conway on "Mad About you".
"I am a preacher and I can fix a boat".
Re: Very windy conditions - no noise by Stuart Nimmo on Aug 27, 2008 at 12:40:08 pm
It has to be said that I've seen this just once on French television in absolutely impossible hurricane conditions. The sound was actually too clean, perfect in a way that would not have been achievable even with a boomed rifle mic up the back end of a raccoon. I was so amazed that I even looked for the obvious C/K which was silly because the reporter's hair and clothes were being almost torn off him and yet it looked too real to have been post synced. I have never forgotten or understood it, I wish I did.
