ORIGINAL: krizrox

I can't remember the last time I used a wind screen. I might make this kind of generalization about the two types:

A windscreen is going to impact the sound quality more than the pop filter. I think you might find that the windscreen knocks some of the hi freq's out whereas the pop filter is more transparent. Also, because of the nature of how it's designed, the pop filter has a greater range of movement. I mean, you can't put a wind screen 8 inches in front of the mic.

And one more thing: you usually don't get a wind screen with a large diaphragm condenser mic. Those are more for the handheld dynamic mics or shotgun mics. Windscreens tend to wear out quickly. All that stretching and pulling tends to break them after a short while. If all you're doing is home studio stuff just get a pop filter and be done with it. A good one should last you many years.

That really surprises me. I would've thought a 1/2" thick foam pop filter, would supress the sound more than a 1/32" thick windscreen.

ORIGINAL: OffAnAirplane

That really surprises me. I would've thought a 1/2" thick foam pop filter, would supress the sound more than a 1/32" thick windscreen.

A pop filter like on of THESE does not have 1/2" thick foam, or any foam. It's like the same stuff as pantyhose are made out of, stretched over a hoop.

Cheers.

I bought an inexpensive one and it had a cheap clamp which didn't hold for jack. I got tired of messing with it so I took it off. If I ever buy another one I'm going pay close attention to how it mounts on the stand. I'm sure the more robust clamps are more expensive.

ORIGINAL: yep

ORIGINAL: OffAnAirplane

That really surprises me. I would've thought a 1/2" thick foam pop filter, would supress the sound more than a 1/32" thick windscreen.

A pop filter like on of THESE does not have 1/2" thick foam, or any foam. It's like the same stuff as pantyhose are made out of, stretched over a hoop.

Cheers.

Right! The material is a very loose mesh. I'm not sure if it's exactly the same material as pantyhose but it's close enough. Some of these pop filters are made of metal but the idea is the same. All you're trying to do is prevent the blasts of air that occur from the hard syllables like P's and T's and B's and such. Wind screens are foam (or foam with fuzzy material on the outside) to reduce the noise from... well... wind! That's not to say that a windscreen can't act as a pop filter but it's main purpose is to reduce wind noise when you're outside. It's more of a broadband noise reduction solution I guess.

There are other ways of dealing with all this. One trick is to tape a pencil in front of the diaphragm (I guess this trick works best on the side address type mics). I've tried that and it works but not as well as a pop filter. The concept is to deflect the hard, rapid movement of air away from the diaphragm. A very poor man's solution is to simply angle the mic away from the singer. Sing off axis. That can work too.

I say just byte the bullet and get yourself a good one. It will last a long time and you won't have to worry about it again. Or make one out of coat hangar and panty hose. it doesn't have to look pretty - just has to work (although yep's previous comment about the commercial cool factor has merit )

ORIGINAL: krizrox

ORIGINAL: yep

ORIGINAL: OffAnAirplane

That really surprises me. I would've thought a 1/2" thick foam pop filter, would supress the sound more than a 1/32" thick windscreen.

A pop filter like on of THESE does not have 1/2" thick foam, or any foam. It's like the same stuff as pantyhose are made out of, stretched over a hoop.

Cheers.

Right! The material is a very loose mesh. I'm not sure if it's exactly the same material as pantyhose but it's close enough. Some of these pop filters are made of metal but the idea is the same. All you're trying to do is prevent the blasts of air that occur from the hard syllables like P's and T's and B's and such. Wind screens are foam (or foam with fuzzy material on the outside) to reduce the noise from... well... wind! That's not to say that a windscreen can't act as a pop filter but it's main purpose is to reduce wind noise when you're outside. It's more of a broadband noise reduction solution I guess.

There are other ways of dealing with all this. One trick is to tape a pencil in front of the diaphragm (I guess this trick works best on the side address type mics). I've tried that and it works but not as well as a pop filter. The concept is to deflect the hard, rapid movement of air away from the diaphragm. A very poor man's solution is to simply angle the mic away from the singer. Sing off axis. That can work too.

I say just byte the bullet and get yourself a good one. It will last a long time and you won't have to worry about it again. Or make one out of coat hangar and panty hose. it doesn't have to look pretty - just has to work (although yep's previous comment about the commercial cool factor has merit )

Ah. I guess I had pop-filter and windscreen confused. It makes more sense now.

Yes, Kriz is right. I would not recommend using a Windscreen as a Pop Filter, it'll suck the highs out of your recordings.

on the musicians friend site i was reading the reviews and one guy said that the reason a pop filter works better than a windscreen is because it's got distance between itself and the mic to diffuse the sound better...

sounds logical to me. =)

Boy, does the English language never stop changing? Years ago no one ever referred to a regular old ball shaped foam pop filter as a wind screen. They certainly wouldn't keep out a 30 mph wind blast. That wool wind screen I posted a pick of will though and it'll block out highs a little too but not so much as you might think. But I've never been able to tell the difference between a foam ball and a filter made of mesh/nylon. Both are completely transparent to my ears. By the way, google, "foam pop filter" and you'll get 1,200 hits. Apparently I'm not the only one who remembers that foam filters used to always be referred to as "pop" filters. I would never refer to one as a wind screen because they simply will not keep out wind. As far as I'm concerned foam and nylon are still both pop filters. You can debate all day as to which is better at keeping out pops. But I've never been able to hear any loss of sound quality with either of them.

Also, I may be wrong but, as I recall, both foam and nylon filters block out lows--not highs. Any of you guys know John Beale? He's pretty well known in the video world. Anyhow he has a web page showing some spectral graphs of measurments he did of a speaker playing a 1khz test tone with his Sony VX2000 Camcorder 12" in front of it using the built in stereo mics while he had a fan off to one side of the mic blowing toward it at both 6.5 and 7.5 mph speeds. Obviously the higher the speed, the higher the fan noise in frequency. He measured the frequency changes between using no pop filter against using a foam one and then a foam one with a sock over it. He the took the Camcorder's sound file into Cool Edit afterwards and graphed out the difference in sound between them all. It shows the foam pop filter and with the sock cutting lows by 6 to 7db depending on whether the sock was on over the filter or not. The fan at 6.5 mph had a pretty high center curve at 42hrtz or so while the 7.5 mph fan speed centered the frequencies at around 60hrtz. The pops generated by speach would be even lower I would think. But anyhow, if you look at the graphs you'll see that the foam filter by itself didn't effect the 1khrtz tone or anything above at all. It just brought down the lows where it was supposed to. You can see the web page here: Wind Test

Obviously there wasn't much high end to lose in his test but still, do you really think you can hear a loss of anything with a foam filter? It doesn't sound any different to me really. An actual wool wind screen--yes--you can hear a loss of highs, but I can't imagine anyone hearing any difference between a mic with a foam pop filter and one without except for the loss of pops. And pop filter or no pop filter, I still have to talk/sing off axis a little if I'm close to the mic.

Interesting... on closer examination, I realize that the Windscreen I have uses a material more like cotton from a t-shirt, but very thin.

I wonder if this offers any different performance than a nylon one.

Oops, sorry. I meant to say Pop Filter, not Windscreen.