Rycote Softie Background Rejection

[leo17]

Hello everyone,

I recently got a Sennheiser mkh416 and a classic softie to go with it. During my first test (indoor) I noticed that the softie (to my ears) considerably improves the directionality and generally the sound of the mic (if compared to the mic naked). This came as a surprise to me, as I originally thought that the softie would just block the wind and damp the highs a bit.

Am I being fooled or are there actual sound improvements with the use of a windjammer?

Thank you in advance for any clarification,

Leonardo

 

[Ty Ford]

Depending on the specific environment and direction of off-axis sound sources, there might be a slight loss in HF response. See what happens over time.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[daniel]

On 18/04/2017 at 7:29 PM, leo17 said:

Hello everyone,

I recently got a Sennheiser mkh416 and a classic softie to go with it. During my first test (indoor) I noticed that the softie (to my ears) considerably improves the directionality and generally the sound of the mic (if compared to the mic naked). This came as a surprise to me, as I originally thought that the softie would just block the wind and damp the highs a bit.

Am I being fooled or are there actual sound improvements with the use of a windjammer?

Thank you in advance for any clarification,

Leonardo

 

When you say "improves the directionality" does this not really mean an increases off axis rejection? IMHO, 1 is the function of the other and the rubber 'flange' of a softy is going to attenuate some of the pressure waves arriving at the back of the mic.

"generally improves the sound of the mic" is potentially a bit subjective and based on the context of use but the 416 does have a bit of a 'knee' (bump) c. 10khz, partly to compensate for being in a some kind of wind jammer (which will reduce the HF getting to the mic) and could be expected to be a normal context of use. I've not read this anywhere so this should be considered conjecture.