From selecting the right microphone to choosing outboard gear such as preamps, EQs, and compressors, there are many factors that can help you achieve the best possible sound in your studio. But there are several frequently overlooked accessories that can also have a major impact on your sound. In this article, we’ll examine some of these unsung but useful studio tools and discuss how to achieve better finished tracks.
Pop Filters
One of the simplest recording gadgets is the humble pop filter, whether a foam filter, a suspended stretched fabric, or a metal screen, positioned between the vocalist and your microphone to block plosives – those percussive P and B sounds that cause annoying low frequency bumps. While the first pop filters were little more than nylon pantyhose stretched over a coat-hanger wire, even the least expensive commercially available pop screens out there today do a significantly better job at blocking plosives without attenuating the high frequencies on your vocals.
Pop Filters at a Glance:
An inexpensive way to upgrade the sound of your vocals
Reduces or eliminates offensive plosive P and B pops
Washable metal pop filters have minimal negative sonic impact
Portable Vocal Booths
Portable vocal booths are shields made from acoustic absorption material that sit behind your microphone and prevent sound moving past the mic from reflecting off of the surfaces of the room and reaching your microphone later than the direct sound. In a perfect world, we’d all have professionally designed studios with perfect acoustic treatment, but for anyone who ever needs to turn a living room into a tracking room or a bedroom into a vocal booth, a portable vocal booth is an excellent accessory to own.
Portable Vocal Booths at a Glance:
Acoustic absorption you can use without expensive room treatments
Reduces reflections and noise to clean up your sound
Delivers better isolated sound in any space where you record
SHOCK MOUNTS
Microphones are sensitive to vibrations. The vibrations produce an unnatural low frequency rumble in the microphone. In location sound, these vibrations are caused by handling noise from holding the boom pole. The slightest movement will induce handling noise, so the microphone must be placed in a shock mount to help isolate the microphone from the boom pole or mic stand. Shock mounts reduce handling noise, but do not eliminate the noise completely. Therefore, the microphone must always be handled gently.
Sometimes, the mic cable is the source of handling noise. Although the microphone may be suspended in a shock mount, the mic cable is connected to the microphone, which can transmit bumps and thumps from the cable. To correct this, leave some slack near the mic connection to help reduce handling noise.
There are three general types of shock mounts:
Rubber Bands
Suspended Mic Clips
Rubber Suspension
WIND PROTECTION
Microphones are extremely sensitive to wind noise. The microphone’s diaphragm is designed to respond to movement in air pressure. Wind is essentially extremely low-frequency sound waves at massive levels of amplitude. The effect is an extremely undesirable distortion of the diaphragm. It is absolutely imperative to protect the microphone from wind noise.
There are four types of wind protection for microphones:
Foam Windscreen
Furry
Windshield
Blimp
Unfortunately, there are no industry standard terms for these types of wind protection and the names are interchangeable between manufacturers. There are, however, distinct features amongst these types. The following will give an explanation and examples to clarify the differences and applications for wind protection.
Foam Windscreen
A foam windscreen is the most basic type of wind protection. The foam is placed over the microphone and reduces plosives and minor air movement. This air movement can be caused by airflow from a vent or fan as well as the actual movement of the boom pole itself. Plosives are sudden bursts of air that are produced by the mouth during the use of certain consonants such as “P’s” and “B’s”. Wind foam is most commonly used indoors and provides the least amount of wind protection of all the designs. Wind foams should never be used outdoors.
Wind Furry
A wind furry is made from artificial fur and slips over the microphone or wind foam, adding greater protection. Miniature versions of the furry are designed to be used with lavaliers. They offer the maximum amount of wind protection for a lavalier mic, but at the expense of making the mic more noticeable on camera. Different manufacturers use different names for their model of wind furry: Fur Windsock (K-Tek), Furry Windjammer (Rycote), and the Dead Cat and Dead Kitten (Rode).
Blimp
A tubular housing unit made from a combination of plastic and special fabrics, resembles the German dirigible and is often called a blimp or a zeppelin. A blimp consists of an outer shell that slides over a shock mount typically on a pistol grip. The pistol grip can be used to hold the microphone by hand (seldom done in location sound, but useful for sound effects recording) or mounted on the end of a boom pole. Labeling the pistol grip of a blimp with a piece of white gaffer tape can help identify which microphone is loaded inside. The blimp provides the most superior wind protection.
Windsock
A windsock is essentially a large, custom furry tailored to fit a specific model of blimp. They have many nicknames, my favorite being Wookie Condom. Different manufacturers have different names for windsocks as well: Wind Muff (Sennheiser), Dead Wombat (Rode), and Windjammer (Rycote). Heavy-duty windsocks like Rycote’s Hi-Wind Cover offer even greater wind reduction in extremely windy conditions. Some sound mixers will place a foam windscreen over the mic inside a blimp for additional protection if a Hi-Wind cover is not available. Remember to remove the foam windscreen at the end of the day. A colored piece of gaffer tape can help signify that a foam windscreen is in use inside the blimp.
Anytime you put something in front of the microphone, no matter how thin, you will lose high frequencies. Wind protection will reduce some of the high frequencies your mic would normally pick up. This loss of high frequencies may be unnoticeable, but as a rule of thumb, you should only use blimps indoors when absolutely necessary. A microphone should never be used outdoors without wind protection.
RAIN PROTECTION
Rain is another element that a microphone might encounter. Using a boom pole in the rain will require some additional protection for the microphone. You can use hog’s hair or other homemade rigs to stop the rain from hitting the blimp and making noise. Hog’s hair is applied over the top of a windsock. The windsock itself will become soaked. Some sound mixers will place a non-lubricated condom over the microphone before mounting it in the blimp. This will ensure the rain doesn’t damage the microphone.
Avoid pointing the mic directly at the ground, as this will amplify the sound of the rain hitting puddles below. If the project is a film production, the scene will probably be replaced with ADR and your audio will be used as a guide track. Don’t assume this, however. Still try your best to deliver a clean audio track. A Rain Man is a special blimp covering that will keep the microphone dry and the dialog relatively clean, but the boom positioning can be a bit tricky. The typical overhead position might not work as this can block raindrops in front of the actor. Another problem is water buildup, which can form heavy streams of water from the end of the blimp in front of the actors. This is not as noticeable in heavy downpours, but will be more noticeable in light rain.
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