Michael Gallagher is a researcher from Manchester and he explores different audio methodologies and the sonic environment. In his website, he writes a study on how to reduce wind noise. In lake district, where the filming will take place, is a location where bad weather is a challenge I will have to face with certainty. Fast and strong wind, as well as rain are factors which I will have to overcome while filming. In his post he suggests different methods which are usable in order to be able to record as clear as possible even while under these conditions.
Michael mentions 4 ways in which I am able to apply to my recording.
The first object he mentions for noise reduction is the windshield. Windshields are essential on every microphone we use on an outdoor environment. Any environment which is classified as outdoor, will have wind blowing by even when not very noticeable at first with our ears.
Secondly, Michael mentions that finding a shelter where you can use it to block wind. Fortunately where I will be recording is a closed forest with lots of trees and this technique is something which I will definitely be using to overcome this problem. However, even though the trees help stop the wind noise, it creates a loud wind noise at the top of the trees. However, for this particular film I will not have much dialogue to pick up outdoors. In this case I will try to pick up as much ambiance sound as possible with minimal extreme wind noises.
The third technique he mentions which I will be doing is getting down low. The lower you are to the ground the less velocity the wind will have. This will help massively with this major problem we encounter at every shoot we attend.
Lastly, he mentions that, contact microphones and Hydrophone microphones are great as they are almost immune to wind. I will take one Hydrophone microphone to our film shoot which I will be able to use if the weather starts to become a major issue which my boom microphone won’t be able to solve.