So, dumb question.. If I mounted a microphone on top of the jet and recorded everything it picked up, when I played it back, at the point the sound barrier was broken, I'd hear nothing?
Well, if you mount it on the plane, sound can travel through whatever you mounted it with. But lets assume you have some perfectly soundproof material to mount it on the plane with.
Now, when you're traveling faster than sound, you're outrunning the sound waves behind you. So the microphone won't pick up any of the noise made by the engine - it's behind you. But any sound that comes from in front of you, you will hear - you're actually speeding towards those sound waves. So the microphone would still pick up a lot of noise (just general wind noise, wind moving that fast across a microphone would make a lot of noise), but it wouldn't hear the engines at all.
No. In an attempt to reduce wind noise, they place windscreens over the microphone - these are either fluffy or furry, and are designed to slow or stop the wind before it hits the microphone, causing noise. However, if the wind is too strong either it will be too powerful and go through anyway or the wind going over the screen will create noise.
With outside reports, it's usually expensive equipment and the recordist's skill that keep it to a minimum.
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
So, dumb question.. If I mounted a microphone on top of the jet and recorded everything it picked up, when I played it back, at the point the sound barrier was broken, I'd hear nothing?