What are these things behind homeplate?

[CrowsofFritz]

Fast forward to 0:45 seconds in to see. Are these microphones?

I imagine they are, because I always hear the umpire and the catcher's mitt loud and clear. I'm pretty sure they also put a gate on these mics, because the fan volume gets louder for the split second that I hear the catcher's glove.


Derek Jeter a huge hit in final All-Star Game, with possible assist from Adam Wainwright - ESPN

 

[zekthedeadcow]

Those are parabolic microphones. Extremely directional but have poor frequency response unless they are large. They are very common in sports, surveillance and wildlife recording. They are basically an omni mic in the hot spot of a parabolic dish.

 

[CrowsofFritz]

Ah, they're extremely directional? I would have thought they were like a shotgun mic considering they have one mic aiming at a spot with a diameter no larger than 6 feet, but I have no idea how sound and microphones work in long distances.

Thanks for answering!

 

[zekthedeadcow]

The use of a omni is because the mic has to be placed in a specific place... the focal point of the parabolic. the sound hits the dish and is reflected to the focal point. So the mic needs to be able to adequately pick up sound from every angle of the dish.

 

[CrowsofFritz]

Makes sense! But the dish seems to focus the direction a bit, does it not? Not in terms of the mic itself, but if sound would otherwise hit a mic and there's a dish blocking it.

 

[c7sus]

Cup your hands over your ears, it's pretty much the same effect.

 

[rob aylestone]

In parabolic satellite dishes, the loss from the RF shadow of the LNB is made up for by the extra gain.
BIG EARS PARABOLIC REFLECTOR Yellow
Very handy outside, but very thin audio quality - but for sports, they're pretty handy.

 

[CrowsofFritz]

Yeah, from cupping my ears, I can tell that the sound was louder in the higher frequencies. It's probably more extreme due to the size of the dish. This makes me certain that they use a gate for the baseball games.