a dead cat wind shield for the ZOOM H4N

E

E2009

New member
Hello,
I have the ZOOM H4N portable digital recorder and I would like to buy a dead cat wind shield for its internal microphones. Anyone knows if there are any for sale at shops for this specific model?

I also tried to make one myself by going to a fake fur store and buying some furs, but I am afraid those furs are not doing a good job. Does anyone know what is the exact name of that fur so I can tell the store man what I want ? how do I clean it from its messy loose hair that goes everywhere (vacuum cleaner did not help) ? can anyone give me an exact planning (marking the size, cutting and sewing) of how to do it myself correctly ?
 
You dont really want to use fake fur...you want to get the stuff from the fabric store that is black and has that long fur like fur...that stuff wont get all over the place.

What you want to do is fold a small piece over the end of the recorder that has the elements on it...cut it to a size that will just make it arround the mics and far enough down the device to allow access to the controls.

then you should flip it arround to the side with the nap of the material and sew down the sides till you have something that will fit over the mics really nice...then sew in an elastic piece that will seal it up arround the opening...I made mine in about 10 minutes for my H2...it costed about $2

I have a good mind to actually market this...and the shockmounts I designed for SDCs several years back that someone ended up copying and getting into Tape-op.

I also sorta have a design for a fur bear like thing that might allow for sneaking the field recorder into a few concerts disguised as a cigerette case or girls cell phone case.
 
I've done the DIY route for my OTHER mics. You're basically looking for soft fur, fine fur, and fur in excess of 1" long. Hobby lobby only had 1/2" fur when I went and got some. Three layers later and a mostly effective windscreen. Make sure that there's no creases, or exposure on the back side. It doesn't really matter the size of the flaw / hole in coverage, if there is one it's going to negate the effectiveness of most of your efforts. My litmus test of sorts was to hold the fur over your ears and if there was no quantifiabile degredation to what you hear sans fur, it's good enough to use for DIY fake fur. Effectiveness on the other hand depends on length, density, and rigging. And you don't want the kind that sheds / comes off easy.

If it's a light wind, I've heard of covering the unit with a panty hose can help. Beyond that there are commercial items specific for that unit and purpose.

http://www.redheadwindscreens.com/
 
I havent seen any put out by Zoom... but a few companies do charge between $30 to $60 for what I made for about $2:rolleyes:

I should make hundreds of them, and put up a website...Im going to buy a sewing machine and do this...lol.
 
Ya I just got a flier from GC a little over a week ago with all the portable recorders for sale is where I had seen it. and come to think of it the dead cat picture was the same across the board of all the different company's --but it did look like it would fit nicely on the H4N my only concern for all the others I have seen in the past would not.

Now darrin h2000 if your going to get a sewing machine which mic pre would you suggest to use with it ? and would you use a compressor pre needle or pre bobbin ?
 
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