Topic: Omni vs. figure 8 - best for taming wind noise

[Massive Dynamic]

I'll be recording at an outdoor festival again this summer, and I'll either run blumlein or mini j-disk with omnis. I've had good results with both. In case of stronger winds, and with omnis being the least susceptible, does that make the figure 8 the most susceptible?

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I'll be recording at an outdoor festival again this summer, and I'll either run blumlein or mini j-disk with omnis. I've had good results with both. In case of stronger winds, and with omnis being the least susceptible, does that make the figure 8 the most susceptible?

In my experience, yes.

[Gutbucket]

And that experience based yes is backed up by theory AFAIK.

The greater the percentage of velocity component vs pressure component that a mic capsule employs, the more susceptible to wind and handling noise it will be.  That means for single diaphragm mics, figure 8's are more susceptible than supercardioids, which are more susceptible than cardioids which are more susceptible than subcardioids, which are more susceptible than pressure omnis.

I think that also means that LDCs with variable patterns derived by electrically switching two back to back cardioid diaphragms will have the same wind susceptibility in all positions, since physically the mic is always two cardioids (cardioid being an equal sum of figure-8 and omni components), with the outputs of those two capsules electrically mixed in various combinations and polarities to achieve the resulting polar patterns.  Hopefully someone who knows better than I can confirm or refute that.

[John Willett]

Yes - fig-8s are more susceptible to wind noise.

Many, though, have a drooping bass end which does help a bit.

If outdoors in MS I would use in a decent Rycote stereo windshield with windjammer.

[DSatz]

Gutbucket, you're right in general about dual-diaphragm, switchable-pattern microphones--they are sensitive to wind, breath noise, handling noise and external vibration even when set to their "omnidirectional" pattern. They even have some proximity effect in the omni setting, which a pressure transducer wouldn't have at all. Their sensitivity to wind isn't necessarily identical in all pattern settings, but it is certainly greater than that of a pressure transducer in any case.

--best regards