wind vs railway intusiast

[irishrailways52]

picture this. you are traveling behind 073. you are thinking to yourself this sounds great however when you go home and look at the footage the sound of wind renders the sound useless. I was wondering if anyone knew if there was a way of dealing with this issue. I have seen some people using this sort of a microphone on there cameras and was wondering if anyone hear has experience with these and do they work in reducing the wind sound whilst preserving the sound of an 071 in notch 8. thanks

[Broithe]

That kind of wind-muff can be very effective, you will usually see TV and film crews using them in outdoor locations.

Even then, though, they have limitations and hanging them outside of a swiftly moving vehicle may defeat them.

However, there is no great necessity for the microphone to be on the camera, you could locate it in a nearby, but somewhat sheltered, place, while the camera itself is out in the slipstream.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Broithe
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[Sean]

is the current microphone the built in one or an external one?

In the current recording if the wind noise isnt too bad you could try adding a high pass filter to the audio track however this may also affect the noise of the locomotive if you need to use it heavily.

to be a bit more surgical about it, run the audio track through a spectral analyser and then use an EQ to pull out the frequencies where the loudest wind is occurring, again your milage may vary.

of course if the noise is BAD then your only solution will be to go and record again with the mic sheltered.

I have software capable of doing all of the above if you havent got a clue what im on about. id be happy to take a a look for you.

 

hypothetically speaking, if you had a portable digital audio recorder separate to your camera you could place it in close to the locomotive and sheltered from any wind but focused on the prime mover as @Broithe suggests. this would free you up to record the video from anywhere on the train and you could also use a second microphone and deadcat plugged into your camera with the gain turned down and have it pointed down or backwards. ie not directly into the wind. this mic would record the general atmosphere and the sound further back in the train like the rumble of the coaches as they go along. you would then syncronise the sounds in your video editing software and the final audio track would be a mixture of the two that you will have slightly more editing control over. this would sum together to make a very nice overall sound but may be overkill and would require 2 people to carry out properly.  

[Broithe]

Another advantage of having the microphone off the camera is the avoidance of picking up 'mechanical noise' from general handling, operating switches, focussing motors, etc.

[irishrailways52]

thanks for the advice. unfortunately I do not have two people to operate a microphone. the idea about having a separate microphone is a verry good one though. 

1 hour ago, Sean said:

is the current microphone the built in one or an external one?

In the current recording if the wind noise isnt too bad you could try adding a high pass filter to the audio track however this may also affect the noise of the locomotive if you need to use it heavily.

to be a bit more surgical about it, run the audio track through a spectral analyser and then use an EQ to pull out the frequencies where the loudest wind is occurring, again your milage may vary.

of course if the noise is BAD then your only solution will be to go and record again with the mic sheltered.

I have software capable of doing all of the above if you havent got a clue what im on about. id be happy to take a a look for you.

 

hypothetically speaking, if you had a portable digital audio recorder separate to your camera you could place it in close to the locomotive and sheltered from any wind but focused on the prime mover as @Broithe suggests. this would free you up to record the video from anywhere on the train and you could also use a second microphone and deadcat plugged into your camera with the gain turned down and have it pointed down or backwards. ie not directly into the wind. this mic would record the general atmosphere and the sound further back in the train like the rumble of the coaches as they go along. you would then syncronise the sounds in your video editing software and the final audio track would be a mixture of the two that you will have slightly more editing control over. this would sum together to make a very nice overall sound but may be overkill and would require 2 people to carry out properly.  

the current one is internal

[Broithe]

You could, perhaps, conjure up something a bit less insane-looking than this.

https://www.instructables.com/MICROPHONE-HAT-hands-free-recording/

As long as the microphone is reasonably secure and out of the immediate blast, you wouldn't need to employ an assistant, glamorous or otherwise.