Why You're Getting Wind Noise ...

MasterSpin

Ride Hard-Die Free
Nov 1, 2017
39
34
18
65
Empire calif.
masterspin77.net
I ride a
2015 mv agusta 800 dragster rr
I was frustrated with severe wind noise on my first 2-3 videos..tried blocking the front vents =nothing...at last I used my neck scarf to block the wind from under my chin=success!..My newer vids are now clear of wind noise at speed..I am using a prism tube with the stock mic.
 
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Mrhooligan

Mr. Hooliganisms
Oct 17, 2017
29
20
8
WA
I ride a
Triumph Thruxton 900
Wow, I'm using a Sony ECMcs3. It's excellent when I'm riding around on roads around 45MPH (I also have the wind screens on. Helps a bit.) After that it gets shotty. I also don't have the most aerodynamical helmet either. But this is excellent information. I'll surely be looking into those proper mics. Thanks for sharing this information!!!
 
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CDA441

Red Viffer VTEC!
Apr 15, 2016
139
125
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Belgium
cda441.wordpress.com
I ride a
'04 Honda VFR800 VTEC
So, I came to the conclusion that my voice is drown out by the wind noise at higher speeds. After numerous attempts with microphone fur and microphones, I finally bought a Sena 20S mic, and the quality is AMAZING!!! Thank you for your service by testing this! The voice is clear, there's a little bit of wind noise, but that doesn't matter because it gives the impression of riding and a little highpass filter can fix this. I probably needed to do this earlier.
 
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CDA441

Red Viffer VTEC!
Apr 15, 2016
139
125
43
29
Belgium
cda441.wordpress.com
I ride a
'04 Honda VFR800 VTEC
Hmpf, after a few tests I feel like I still get an overload of wind noise when going over 120kmh (75mph).
Since I mostly ride highway, it's difficult to cut down on the noise. It's back to the drawing board.
I now have packed the mic tight in some foam from my other mics, and then packed it in fur to isolate the noise/vibration sounds(?) from the helmet. Though I don't know if it would matter. Till 100kmh it's clear as day, then afterwards the quality begins to degrade. Still a better mic than my Philips LFH.
 

HippoDrone

Admin
Jan 2, 2017
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2017 Suzuki GSX-R750
2020 Beta 390RR
2022 Aprilia Tuareg 660
I bury my mic in the cheek piece of the helmet, might help! :)
 

CDA441

Red Viffer VTEC!
Apr 15, 2016
139
125
43
29
Belgium
cda441.wordpress.com
I ride a
'04 Honda VFR800 VTEC
@HippoDrone Well yeah I have tried that too, but the sound is then muffled way too much. Didn't really work out that well. If I talk it's too bassy, and since the wind is also bassy because of the turbulence (idk) it wil drown it out even more :')
I have disassembled the chin bar and filled up the vent with foam and other sound isolating stuff (fur, old furry sweatshirt) and I hope it will cut down on the little wind vortexes that SalvageSV was talking about.
 
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oneblackdo

Wannabie Member
Apr 9, 2019
16
19
3
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
I ride a
2008 KLR650
Thanks heaps everyone for research & sharing.
I've just started with this and find the Sony CS3 picks up all the mechanical & wind noise (which there is a lot of) and drowns out my voice, so, Sena here I come.
Cheers, John
 
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HippoDrone

Admin
Jan 2, 2017
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I ride a
1984 Honda CB100-N
2012 Moto Guzzi V7
2017 Suzuki GSX-R750
2020 Beta 390RR
2022 Aprilia Tuareg 660
Thanks heaps everyone for research & sharing.
I've just started with this and find the Sony CS3 picks up all the mechanical & wind noise (which there is a lot of) and drowns out my voice, so, Sena here I come.
Cheers, John
Hey John, just remember the positioning is often more important than the equipment! :)
 

oneblackdo

Wannabie Member
Apr 9, 2019
16
19
3
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
I ride a
2008 KLR650
Hey John, just remember the positioning is often more important than the equipment! :)
Cheers, yes I've tried a few places - vertical (one pointing up, the other down) in the corner against the cheek pad (heard very little), vertical in the front (much better, but voice drowned out by mechanical & wind noise) & horizontal in front (a little bit better).
Maybe I need a quieter bike???? The new helmet is certainly a lot quieter.
I've just ordered the Sena 20s mic & adaptor to play with.
 
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Uvtyler

Wannabie Member
Apr 13, 2019
3
1
1
31
I ride a
2003 v rod
Picked up a 20s sena mic. Firat adapter didnt qork. Used another 9ne from OP's link and all audio runs straight from the gopro hero 4 and not the mic itself. Lav mic picks up to much wind noise no matter what I do. I have a lot of wind pushing up from my vrod as well (helmet lifts up after 100mph. ) I'm at a loss on how to proceed :(
 

HippoDrone

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Jan 2, 2017
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2012 Moto Guzzi V7
2017 Suzuki GSX-R750
2020 Beta 390RR
2022 Aprilia Tuareg 660
Sounds like you need a new helmet if it lifts up, doesn't sound like it fits properly. Once you have a helmet that wants to stay on your head, if you are getting a lot of wind, then you need to work out how to reduce that. I think I have seen something possibly called a helmet sock (I may be mistaken on the name) which fits around the base of the helmet and blocks the wind from coming up into it from underneath. You also don't really want your mic touching the shell of the helmet, it will suffer with induced wind noise there too. burying the mic in the cheek pad seems to work well for a few people, I do that on my road and dirt helmets.
 

Uvtyler

Wannabie Member
Apr 13, 2019
3
1
1
31
I ride a
2003 v rod
So I was wrong. My mics arnt being recognized by the go pro at all. Iv gone through 2 diffrent 10 pin miniusb to 3.5 adapters my guess is I need to bite the bullet and by the gopro one. Idk. Yes I do need a new helmet regardless. I have a mesh chin qind block and had the mics behind chin pads ect. My gopro just isnt recognizing the adapter and therfor not engaging my mics
 
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Uvtyler

Wannabie Member
Apr 13, 2019
3
1
1
31
I ride a
2003 v rod
After checking the miniusb with a charging cable (which I made sure qorked with another device) it appears to not be qorking
 

HippoDrone

Admin
Jan 2, 2017
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West Sussex, UK
I ride a
1984 Honda CB100-N
2012 Moto Guzzi V7
2017 Suzuki GSX-R750
2020 Beta 390RR
2022 Aprilia Tuareg 660
Am glad you have found the issue, hopefully now you know that, you'll have some success resolving it! :)
 

Dragon Cru

Wannabie Member
May 30, 2019
9
7
3
33
I ride a
2008 Harley-Davidson Super Glide
So I've seen post after post about wind noise, so I figured I'd just share all of my info in one place. As I've mentioned before, I'm a video professional and have worked with video and audio for around 15 years at this point.

In pretty much every case I've seen, the wind noise that motovloggers experience is caused by poor microphone choice.

Yes, I know we don't have many options so people get the usual lav/lapel mic and shove it behind a cheek pad or cover it in fur. But my statement is fact. Lav mics aren't meant for motovlogs.

Lav mics are designed to be clipped to a shirt/jacket and pick up a person speaking in a controlled environment from about 6" to 12" from their mouth. And motovloggers take this same mic and run it down the highway at 65 mph and expect it to pick up clean audio.

Let me explain why a lav mic is generally bad for this purpose, and why the foam you stuck on it is only minimally effective.

First, lets begin with a basic understanding of pickup pattern ...

View attachment 1776

Lavaliere mics are generally cardioid or omnidirectional microphones. The image above shows a cross section of the "on mic" area of each ... or where you get clean, natural-sounding audio. Imagine the images in 3D, where the center of a graph is the tip of the mic and the pattern shown rotates all the way around it.

As you can see, the omnidirectional pattern will pickup audio from any direction and the cardioid is focused on the 180* directly in front of the mic. This is great for a lav becasue when the speaker turns their head the dynamic range of the audio is maintained.

So, with that explained, let's look at the actual mic options ...

View attachment 1777

This is a standard form factor for a lav mic. Looking closely you can see open areas for sound waves to pass through uninterrupted on the tip and also on the sides. While great for a presentation, when you put this thing in 60 mph winds, those areas catch the air and if they don't direct wind directly into the mic itself, they create turbulent vortices right beside it that's picked up in your recording. Even if the mic is pointed right at your mouth with the wind behind it, the air will still catch on the sides and wrap around the tip and be picked up.

And then there is this kind of mic ...

View attachment 1778

This choice is even worse with dual microphones exposed in all directions. There is literally no direction to face this thing that would begin to shield the mics from wind.

So, why can't you just put foam or fur on it and fix the problem? Because that's not what the foam is designed for.

Mic windscreens are designed to stop a stray breeze or breath from hitting the mic directly. When you increase that to 60 mph there is so much velocity it will make it's way to the mic through any "standard" foam. Even professional shotgun mics with foam and fur will pick up a decent breeze on location.

You can get a super dense foam that could possibly stop the wind at speed, but you will do that at the expense of audio quality and volume.

Volume is a notable problem becasue the cameras we use are generally auto gain controlled, meaning that they constantly ride the input level to average a certain dB. When you make the mic less sensitive with dense foam, the gain is increased introducing signal noise and likely still picking up the wind that you are trying to get rid of, but more of a dull roar than the sharp hiss you're used to.

The same goes for fur. It's designed to stop low velocity wind and works better than foam as it's more irregular. But it won't stop noise from wind hitting the mic directly.

So, how do you fix it?

You get the mic out of the wind.

You can have some luck tucking the mic behind a cheek pad, and if successful you'll hear yourself, but you'll likely have a lot of high frequencies cut out and your voice will sound deep and boomy. Maybe you're cool with that. Personally, I'd rather have my own clear voice.

To do that you need to keep the mic itself close to your mouth, unimpeded by dense layers of foam ... and you need it out of the wind.

So, you divert the wind. That's the best option. You can do this in several ways. If you have a full face helmet with ways to block wind in the mouth area, put the mic there and face it toward you. Close the front vent. If this isn't working it's likely that there are vortices swirling in that open space coming in from under the helmet and there is still indirect wind hitting the mic.

So, you can create a physical barrier of some type to shield the mic from the wind that's still there. A small piece of plastic glued behind/around the mic will work fine for this. It should be a decent distance away from the mic in case it's creating it's own vortices which could be picked up.

Personally, I've been suggesting the Sena 20s mics to people with issues. I use a Sena wired mic from a SMH10R that I had to custom wire. The 20s versions are the same mics but have a 2.5mm plug that can be easily adapted to the common 3.5mm plug needed for action cameras.

I recommend these mics becasue they are engineered to reduce wind noise in our specific application.

View attachment 1779

Look at the design of the Sena boom mic. Notice the small opening and large plastic shield with tapered edges. This is engineered to divert wind coming directly at the back of the mic around it. And it does so far enough away as to not let any created vortices reenter the mic's pickup area. The tapering on the edge reduces the turbulence created as the wind is diverted.

This mic can capture clean audio at speed from an open face helmet. Sure, Sena uses advanced noise cancelling technology, but they can only apply that to the audio that's captured. With only one mic, you have to kill the wind noise to effectively clean up the voice because you don't have a secondary audio stream to compare to and remove the unwanted frequencies.

And yes, the Sena mics come with foam windscreens. These are no different than the same ones I've said don't work for other mics. In the case of the Sena application, they are there to reduce noise coming directly toward the front of the mic, like breath or a crosswind when you turn your head. If you look hard over your shoulder, the Sena mic will still pick up wind noise with the shift in direction.

So, all that to say that while foam and fur and position can help, the only way to actually cure the wind noise issue without sounding like you're speaking from another room is to divert the wind around the mic. And there are mics out there specifically designed to do this. Maybe don't reinvent the wheel and spend $25 on a mic designed for the job. It's worth it.


What type of connector does the mic from the sena 20s have? Meaning, can it be used on something other than a sena 20s?
 

oneblackdo

Wannabie Member
Apr 9, 2019
16
19
3
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
I ride a
2008 KLR650
Sena 20s for the win!
I've done a couple of test up to highway speed and it's amazingly clear - a bit of wind/mechanical/exhaust noise, but only background levels.
Thanks again!


Cheers, yes I've tried a few places - vertical (one pointing up, the other down) in the corner against the cheek pad (heard very little), vertical in the front (much better, but voice drowned out by mechanical & wind noise) & horizontal in front (a little bit better).
Maybe I need a quieter bike???? The new helmet is certainly a lot quieter.
I've just ordered the Sena 20s mic & adaptor to play with.
 

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