Sometimes you don’t have the hardware you need, and you can either do without or let the project’s needs inspire you to create an alternative. That’s pretty sweet, and it’s even sweeter when you find a solution that’s dirt cheap.
[Chu_st] created a sub-$10 blimp mount for his shotgun mike. It consists of a PVC pipe which attaches to the microphone’s shock mount. Plastic gardening grid is used for the shell, shaped by hand into the desired blimp shape and secured with zip ties and gaffer tape. [Chu_st] suggests using nylon stocking as a wind screen. The microphone itself attaches to a length of bicycle seat tube using a standard mic clamp.
For DIY microphone projects, we got you covered, with everything from a low noise floor microphone to one built out of a hard drive published previously.
Who else thought this post was going to be about weaponized dirigibles?
Did the Mike \ not ‘MIC’ Throw your thoughts.
Shotgun “mic”. Now what exactly does this hack do?
Nicely done. The plastic cage by itself is just a frame; you will need to cover it with a piece of cut up-pantyhose, furnace-filter medium, or fake fur to achieve protection from the wind.
I have a couple of commercial windscreens and have fabricated some mounts. As important as blocking wind, you also have to have enough shock isolation so than any handling noise isn’t transmitted from the grip or pole to the mic. The solid yellow foam support of this unit might affect the directional pattern of some shotgun mics.
The second paragraph of the write-up says that the yellow cylinder is a piece of PVC pipe that attaches to the microphone’s shock mount. It further suggests using nylon stocking for a wind screen.
Pretty well done imho.
Okay, I have to get some coffee going…Do I own a blimp? Do I need to mount a microphone to it?
Is this big brother on steroids?
IMHO -1. Newbs without knowledge of audio production are given insufficient info to even know what’s going on. Took them to chin deep in the pool with no explanation and then simply gave links to other stuff at the deep end near the diving board.
This hack is kewl and nicely/cheaply solves a problem and many readers ARE likely to want at one time or another. Would go well on a selfie stick. Especially good for audio recording family reunion picnics in the wind. Would have been nice if you at least mentioned that a shotgun mike is directional.
anyone who knew what this was for, like me an’ mine thought it was cool
anyone who didn’t possibly got to learn something
I disagree. Skipped important information. Crack the egg “OVER” the fry pan.
This be technical stuff. During interviews I’ll ask a simple procedure be described. Something incredibly simple like hooking an installed car battery up to a charger. If I get “you just hook the cables up and turn it on” vs “Power off. Red to positive first, then black to metal ground somewhere on the engine. Power on”, the latter candidate wins. My people need to be able to explain technical procedures to one another properly/correctly and with enough detail to be safe and this question lets them demonstrate if they already have that communication discipline or never got it and think it’s not important. The latter group needs extra training, sometimes LOTS, and I don’t have time for that. Seems to me that in an online pure text environment which lends authors an aura of being an expert… it becomes an even more important selection criteria.
Just me though! You go with whatever level of quality criteria you want. Ahhh… you DID decide what level YOU personally want to be at, right?
An Audio Rental where i live has almost this exact blimp. Homemade and the y charge quite a buck for it. I don’t know they didn’t bought one yet, it’s been like 3 years since the start renting it.