How make a windscreen muff for ORTF Microphones in 8 steps ?
The windscreen muff for ORTF microphones are almost rare or very expensive. Given the size of my wallet and my attraction for DIY, so I made my own ORTF windscreen with 2 microphones with cardioid Sennheiser K6, ME64 heads.
So, make your windscreen muff ORTF in 8 steps, you need:
- 63mm diameter tube with cap (DIY store)
- Rigid foam or adhesive felt plates (DIY store)
- Thread Ring microphone clip (music store)
- 2 Balls “Oball” (toys store)
- Synthetic Fur or Windjammer Rycote for Baby Ball Gag (internet store)
.1st STEP :
Take a drill to drill 4 holes diameter 22 mm (diameter of K6 microphone) into the tube to fit the angle of 110° and microphone head of 17 cm (ORTF’s method) :
2nd STEP :
Drill in the middle of a plug hole of 14 mm diameter to fix the threaded ring for microphone holder (return force or glued) :
3rd STEP :
Paste PVC cap on the tube of 63 mm:
4th STEP :
Cut a piece of foam (or sheets of felt) of dimension 45 x 25 mm, enter the first microphone in the bottom holes and place the foam inside the tube, above the micro. The objective is to block microphones in the tube:
5th STEP :
Surround the wiring tape around one of the cells of the Oball, this stand the microphone k6 22mm diameter. Repeat the operation for the second ball and try to assemble them in order to adjust (look the 2nd photo):
6th STEP :
Sew in reverse a synthetic fur square of 130 x 130 mm on 3 sides, the slide on a Oball and sew on the taped cell, repeat this step for the 2nd Oball:
7th STEP :
So that Oball well fit on the windscreen ORTF, you can add elastics:
8th STEP :
Join the microphones and Oballs and this is the great contemporary art you need to get:
With the threaded ring of a standard format, you can put this on a small windscreen ORTF microphone stand (as the picture above), on a pole, or even better on a tripod for the field recording (picture below) :
You can replace synthetic fur by Windjammer Rycote for Baby Ball Gag, so its better against strong wind
It’s ready ! Let’s go to recording…
Well, it is true, should not rely on this form of furry beast but rather the sound color, besides all the sounds of the creations of this website have been made with the windscreen ORTF (listen for example “Trafic Nature” broadcasting with Arte Radio)
Finally, if you have any questions, please write me and let me also share your ideas studding…
Sorry for my bad english : Original article in french
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Thanks for this! An incredible idea – especially given the cost of commercial ORTF wind solutions.
I use a slightly modified version of your wind screen with some shockmounts I already had.
I use two Rycote Invision MKIII Lyre Shockmounts, two Oballs, and two Rycote Baby Ball Gag WindJammers. The larger circle in the Oball stretches perfectly around the lip of the Rycote shockmount.
I have yet to take this out in the field, but have done some windy recordings on a roof and it seems sturdy. I’ll be doing a test recording for a future session in high wind conditions later this month, so will give an update.
My only concern now is the slight bit of extra material from the BBG Windjammer around the Oball… the Rycote product is probably slightly larger making a tighter fit. Maybe a larger Oball like geometric design could be 3D printed out of elastic plastic.
Bonjour!
Thanks you! I have adapted your design as well, what a neat idea. I’ve also bought the Rycote Baby Ball Gag Furs which have to be tested though. I use a Superlux S502 ORTF Mic which has 22mm diameter capsules.
As an improvement over the tape and glue I’ve found these bicycle grips to be used as an adaptor: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B016TDIZ6C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can slip the large hole of the O Ball right over the largest ring, and the (shortened and cut) grip slips right over the capsules. It’s all tight but flexible as well. It doesn’t make a bit of a sound and sit’s really well.
Thank you for the grand idea, it’s about 10% of the costs of the rycote thing… And it’s even fun to build. The rycote blimps are not as flexible as the O Balls, I see that as an advantage.