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I am working on sound redesign for the skydiving scene in Godzilla thus, a lot of wind involved. Will blowing onto the microphone damage it in anyway?
Microphones: RODE NTG-3 and NT1-A
If so or if not, are there any suggestions for creating fast/harsh wind for skydiving scenes? Thank you.
Not as long as you don't seriously overdo it, especially not the NTG-3 which can take quite a beating. What you will get if blowing too hard into a regular microphone is an absolutely useless distorted sound though, and any directional mic will get boomy as hell from any kind of wind. If you wanna use actual blowing noises, an omnidirectional mic is a much better choice.
Ribbon-mics can get trashed by just sneezing into it, they're extremely delicate, but both dynamic, electret and condenser microphones are pretty solid in that department.
There are numerous ways to record wind as well as designing it, myself I've used everything from hanging the mic from a car at decent speed and covered well in windshieldings, to rubbing canvas to miking up a drafty window to actually using a noise-generator (both my JUNO-60 and the POLYSIX can get decent stuff, and to some extent my C-64-synth and the SQ-80, although they're much more limited in application). Though synthesizer sounds never works for anything but pure sweetening (adding elements to enhance rather than actually lead anything).
Here's another post discussing the subject: Creating Evocative Wind Sounds
This is an important thing to consider when working in extreme circumstances.
Blowing on certain mics can absolutely damage them. Most modern varieties can handle it, but older LDC's, certain ribbons, and even some older dynamics could be damaged by harsh air flow.
All that said, average dynamics and even SDC's can and do survive skydives all the time.
The biggest concern is for any large diaphragm or ribbon mic, or any mic with a low SPL rating (in many ways, SPL is harsh direct air) - those aren't good choices to take into harsh conditions in general.
If you want to be certain, I'd recommend double-checking with the manufacturer. They will be able to give you much more detailed information as to how much pressure they can withstand.
