Topic: Indoors; windscreens or no?

[Cobiwan]

Either FOB or OTS, windscreens or no?

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Depends on the venue for me. I go to a few places with strong vents. Obviously I run screens there. Some places tend to be smokey...so I run screens there as well.

For the places I go without either of these I'll usually run without screens.

Reasons I run screens:
1. Windy
2. Smoke
3. Protect caps from damage if my stand gets knocked over.

If in doubt I'll run my screens.

[stevetoney]

I like using them for the rare occasions when a drunk takes down my stand.  The screens help to protect my mics when they hit the concrete.  Its unfortunate, but it happens.

[microburst]

Depends on the venue for me. I go to a few places with strong vents. Obviously I run screens there. Some places tend to be smokey...so I run screens there as well.

For the places I go without either of these I'll usually run without screens.

Reasons I run screens:
1. Windy
2. Smoke
3. Protect caps from damage if my stand gets knocked over.

If in doubt I'll run my screens.

Agree with all the above.  Quite honestly I would rather not run with the screens and don't if any of conditions 1 and 2 are not present.  Since they don't allow smoking in NYC venues anymore, I really only have to worry about condition #1.  Most venues have vents or large overhead A/C fan blades (e.g., Brooklyn Bowl has 15' wide AC fan blades that blast depending on how many people are there) that will be picked up if you don't run screens.  I don't worry as much about condition #3 these days.  Had my stand knocked down once in the early 00's and it really pissed me off but it didn't get me run screens to protect against mic damage from such incidents.  My mics didn't get damaged from that first instance, probably because the floor was hardwood, so I just got lucky.

[stevetoney]

3 or 4 moedowns ago, a fairly well-known taper who I don't think is a ts.com regular was giving some guff because others of us had screens on our mics on a calm day.  The weather turned nasty and by the last day the FOB area was a mudpit, but this person had left his gear sitting during the day while he went back to camp.  A gust of wind knocked his stand over and his unprotected mics took a swan dive into the mud.  Fortunately, it looked like the TLM-170 screens kept the mud from penetrating inside to the capsule. 

[splumer]

I've been in a couple places where air handler noise is an issue. If I feel air movement at all, I use them. I have Dead Muppets for my guns, and universal foam screens for my cards.

[acidjack]

Again, venue dependent. Most venues I go to are ones I go to a lot. Some (Bowery Ballroom) have very powerful HVAC and you are screwed without screens. Others I am 100% sure the HVAC does not blow on my usual setup spot, so I run without.  The trickiest to me is onstage -- likely no HVAC issue, but larger possibility of idiots spilling drinks or knocking gear over. Therefore I always run with screens onstage as well. I always have screens in my bag anyway, since I find them to be a good way to transport the mics safely.

My understanding (and anecdotal experience) is that HF performance is definitely improved somewhat by not using a screen, no matter how "transparent" one's screens are. That said, people unafraid of EQ would seem to be better off using that and protecting their mics.

[Brian Skalinder]

I don't use my honkin' big Shure A81WS indoors, but I do use my DPA UA0896 (or similar, if my mics came with them).  My experience has been that every so often, even if I don't feel air movement indoors, my recording still suffers from air movement I'd not noticed (or couldn't possibly have noticed as I can't always stand in or reach the exact position in which I fly my mics).

So, as a safeguard, I now use 'em indoors every time.  For me, skipping them just isn't worth the risk of losing (yet another) recording.

[Marshall7]

I don't use my honkin' big Shure A81WS indoors, but I do use my DPA UA0896

Ditto

[drewloo]

If I have to set up near a ceiling fan or a/c vent I'll run the UA0896 screens, but even if it seems calm where I'm at I'll at least still usually use some Windtech 1200-series screens. 

[Gutbucket]

Depends.  Same reasons as others, including acidjacks's mention of helping to cushion and protect the mics in transport even if I'm not recording with them.  Depending on what I'm hauling and how I'm packing, sometimes I bring an extra screen or two just for that. 

If everything is good air-movement-wise, danger-wise, visual-wise, I'll often not use them to get that little extra top-end shine, but if I'm using the Gefell M94 cardioids indoors at stage-lip or on-stage I'll put the Shure A81WS on them as an intentional EQ device to mellow their 10kHz response bump which can otherwise be a bit too much up close in the free-field.

[taperj]

Windtech 1200 screens are my condom against the world indoors. If there's HVAC I go to UA0896.

[Phil Zone]

I use these

http://www.amazon.com/Bluecell-videomic-windscreen-Diameter-Microphone/dp/B007ZKC6FA/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1393074188&sr=8-8&keywords=Windscreen+bluecell

They work great, what I do is cut them down so they fit my mics length wise, cut them evenly and they look fine. Well made i have had them for a year and have had no signs of wear at all. At the price there is no way to complain.