As I've said on the blog before, when shooting video, audio is as important, if not more important than the visuals. While we're quite tolerant of slightly inferior visual quality, any glitches in audio really do jar with the senses.

With that in mind, finding a good recording solution for shooting video is an absolute must. 

Now, the first thing to say is there is no 'perfect' way of doing it. There are, as ever, many ways to skin a cat. Your solution will be down to budget and priorities, as well as how much hassle you're willing to put up with. 

My method of choice is a Zoom H4n audio recorder. This post is not the place to tell you how good I think this thing is for the money (that will come in a later missive) instead, here I want to show you an accessory I use with the Zoom to help combat wind-noise. 

It's called a redhead windscreen and is available from www.redheadwindscreens.com in Maui. Kalani, the guy that sells them, is a really sound guy (no pun intended!) and the product he sells is first rate. At US$34.95 with free worldwide shipping, it's a bit of a bargain too.

The real question is, how does it perform?  Well, I could go on about how it cuts wind out and improves sound recording outside, but the reality is the best way to show you is to give you a little video comparing the Zoom H4n without a windscreen, with the supplied windscreen and with the Redhead. These recordings were all done without the low cut filter enabled so you can see the genuine quality without processing. By default I'd use 80Hz as a low cut filter setting, but that's also for a future post! So, without further ado, here's the video:

The music is by Howard Eliott Payne and is called 'Dangling Threads'. It's currently at the top of my playlist! 

Zoom H4n windscreen tests from EOS Network on Vimeo.