Rycote Nano Shield Introduced – High Efficient Modular Windshield System

October 15^th, 20211

Rycote Nano Shield Introduced – High Efficient Modular Windshield System

by Olaf von VossOctober 15^th, 2021

Sound specialist Rycote has developed another solution to suppress the dreaded wind noise during outdoor shoots: The Rycote Nano Shield is a super lightweight but very efficient windshield for use with shotgun microphones of various sizes on a boom.

Capturing decent sound with a boom mic can be quite a challenge, especially outdoors. Wind noise is not only extremely annoying during shooting, but also very difficult to eliminate in post-production. So you really need a reliable yet lightweight solution on set to avoid the dreaded wind noise.

The solution is a so-called dead cat, a fluffy piece of fabric that covers the shotgun mic itself. However, these suckers can be quite heavy, which is a no-go for extended booms. The Rycote Nano Shield is Rycote’s latest innovation to combat wind noise while being super lightweight.

Rycote Nano Shield

To ensure that the Rycote Nano Shield is as versatile as possible, it comes not just in one size, but in several. In fact, it is not a single product, but rather a whole modular system. You can combine the front and rear segments to assemble the perfect windshield for your given microphone setup.

Of course, the bare-bone Nano Shield is not suitable for recording in harsh (stormy) weather conditions, for that you should resort to the aforementioned dead cat. But for normal conditions, the Rycote Nano Shield should strike a perfect balance between being as lightweight as possible and keeping wind noise out of your sound recordings.

The good thing is that you can add layers of wind protection as you go: if it gets really windy, throw on a flurry layer and you’re good to go.

Although the blimp shape may look familiar from afar, a closer look reveals several new design and engineering features that make it our most advanced windshield kit yet.
Rycote

According to Rycote, the new advanced Lyre® mounts are more compliant and offer better handling noise reduction.

The Rycote Nano Shield kits use a unique magnetic locking basket design which can be configured to fit various microphone sizes by simply swapping out basket halves. Each size of basket half can interlock with any other size. They also have two manual locking sliders to hold everything secure and noise free. Quickly and easily access mics by simply pulling the halves apart.

Since the Nano Shield kits are on average 30% lighter than standard kits (depending on the chosen size) and have a smaller footprint when used with the same microphones, handling the whole setup should be more convenient.

The basket shell is made from semi-rigid material that combines strength with flexibility.

For all the relevant sizes and compatible microphones, please check out this PDF file provided by Rycote.

New Lyre Mount

The newly developed Lyre Mount provides a perfectly balanced, lightweight and durable mounting of microphone and windshield.

The best part is: you don’t need any tools to adjust, reposition or swap anything on the Lyre Mount. Only thumbscrews and friction brakes are used, which I find super convenient.

RF Filter & Low Cut XLR

Each Rycote Nano Shield kit comes with a low-profile XLR cable that has both an active in-line RF filter and switchable 80Hz low cut (requires phantom power).