A couple of months ago I had the chance to record (probably) the biggest fan in Norway. I was working on a reality show and we were filming at Voss Vind. Voss Vind is a company that runs a wind tunnel in Voss, Norway. You can read more about it here. The reality show contestants were competing against each other in the wind tunnel instead of voting each other out.

The fan was running non-stop, so dialogue recording was a challenge even outside the tunnel. Dialogue recording inside the tunnel was not possible. The wind speed inside was as high as 250 km/h, so a wind jammer wasn’t going to help much. The wind tunnel system also recycles the air. This means that any loose parts, like a steel mesh windscreen from a lav, would go through the system and return seconds later at 250 km/h. Not good. With wind at 250 km/h blowing in your face, chances are you’re not going to talk much, but focus on keeping your mouth shut. I decided to stop worrying about dialogue inside the tunnel and capture sound effects for post instead. The dialogue outside the tunnel worked very well and post was happy.

I was allowed to stand in the waiting area, which is a 3 m long hallway with an open door to the tunnel. I used a zoom H4n with two layers of wind jammer wrapped around it. The fan was super loud, but if I kept the gain at the lowest setting, it was possible to record without distortion.

The sample I’ve uploaded starts with the fan powering up. In the next part one of the instructors is flying as far up as he can an then diving down. You can hear changes in the wind when he passes by. Unfortunately, the audience is applauding a couple of times, even though I asked them not to. Well, you can’t have everything. At least I got some pretty cool fan recordings.

Equipment used: Zoom H4n

You can check out this video to see how the pros fly in the wind tunnel:

Voss Vind: dynamic 4-way competition from Lika Borzova on Vimeo.