I got a great email question last night from someone (who shall remain nameless because they think they’d look stupid, although this isn’t at all a stupid question) who was wonder what type of microphone is “best”.
This is a funny question because you have to know “best for what”. Do you want to know what the best value is? Which microphone type is best for recording instruments like drums? Or what type of microphone is best for recording vocals (which I’m guessing is what the question was)?
Well good news, today we are going to take a break from the audacity tutorial and talk a little bit about microphones.
As a lot of you probably already know the 2 “main” type of microphones you have the choice between when doing your average shopping are “dynamic” and “condenser” microphones.
Where do they get these names?
They are named for their transducer type. Yeah sounds kind of complicated right? Well it is, sort of. There is a difference between their types, let’s go to wikipedia:
Dynamic Microphone – Dynamic microphones work via electromagnetic induction. They are robust, relatively inexpensive and resistant to moisture. This, coupled with their potentially high gain before feedback makes them ideal for on-stage use.
Condenser Microphones – span the range from telephone transmitters to inexpensive karaoke microphones to high-fidelity recording microphones. They generally produce a high-quality audio signal and are now the popular choice in laboratory and studio recording applications. The inherent suitability of this technology is due to the very small mass that must be moved by the incident sound wave, unlike other microphone types which require the sound wave to do more work. They require a power source, provided either from microphone inputs as phantom power or from a small battery. Power is necessary for establishing the capacitor plate voltage, and is also needed to power the microphone electronics (impedance conversion in the case of electret and DC-polarized microphones, demodulation or detection in the case of RF/HF microphones).
Source: Wikipedia
Got that?
Well maybe you do maybe you don’t, let’s explain it in normal people terms. Your dynamic microphone is a little bit heavier, a little bit more durable and isn’t as “sensitive” to the highs of recordings. That means it can record things like drums and live shows with little or no problem. Why can it record these things better than most condenser mics?
Well condenser microphones are like your over sensitive friend – they pick up on everything. That means any little thing you say about them it’s going to affect them one way or another, just like this mic. Due to the fact the coil inside a condenser mic is not as heavy as a dynamic mic it’s going to be able to be vibrated by smaller waves. Basically it picks up a higher frequency than the dynamic mic. You can still use this for recording instruments just think things like guitars, tambourines and symbols not heavy bass drums.
You don’t really want a super sensitive condenser mic for a live show because when you breath it hears you. Of course there are filters and things that you can use for those mics, but let’s just pretend you are a cheap guy and want a durable mic to record just about everything you have, what do you use?
Well this is when things get a little bit fuzzy, because our friend the condenser mic has a few different variations, the “Small Diaphragm” and the “Large Diaphragm”. That’s right sports fans, you now have 2 different condenser mics to think about. The small – diaphragm is generally used for things like live shows (due to the fact it’s a smaller mic when you move it won’t pick up as much garbage, and it’s durable) and instrument recording. The Large diaphragm is used for things like vocals in the studio. It has a very nice sound for vocals, and while they aren’t cheap, they are by far the best thing to use for vocals in your home studio.
Again, the dynamic mic can do all of the things the condenser mic can do without any sort of “specialization” but without the specialization you have to accept the fact the recordings will not be as clean.
So back to the question, what type of microphone is “best” for me?
Well -
For Vocal Recording - Large diaphragm condenser mic
For Live Shows - Small Diaphragm condenser mic/Dynamic microphone (Although you have to learn towards the small diaphragm in most cases.)
Drum Recording - Dynamic Microphone
Guitar/Cymbal Recording - Small Diaphragm condenser mic
Good news, there is even more confusing stuff to keep an eye on. What type of pickup pattern does the mic have?
Let’s hit up wikipedia and let them explain it to you
Omnidirectional
An omnidirectional (or nondirectional) microphone’s response is generally considered to be a perfect sphere in three dimensions. In the real world, this is not the case. As with directional microphones, the polar pattern for an “omnidirectional” microphone is a function of frequency. The body of the microphone is not infinitely small and, as a consequence, it tends to get in its own way with respect to sounds arriving from the rear, causing a slight flattening of the polar response. This flattening increases as the diameter of the microphone (assuming it’s cylindrical) reaches the wavelength of the frequency in question. Therefore, the smallest diameter microphone will give the best omnidirectional characteristics at high frequencies.The wavelength of sound at 10 kHz is little over an inch (3.4 cm) so the smallest measuring microphones are often 1/4″ (6 mm) in diameter, which practically eliminates directionality even up to the highest frequencies. Omnidirectional microphones, unlike cardioids, do not employ resonant cavities as delays, and so can be considered the “purest” microphones in terms of low coloration; they add very little to the original sound. Being pressure-sensitive they can also have a very flat low-frequency response down to 20 Hz or below. Pressure-sensitive microphones also respond much less to wind noise than directional (velocity sensitive) microphones.
An example of a nondirectional microphone is the round black eight ball.[8]
[edit] Unidirectional
An unidirectional microphone is sensitive to sounds from only one direction. The diagram above illustrates a number of these patterns. The microphone faces upwards in each diagram. The sound intensity for a particular frequency is plotted for angles radially from 0 to 360°. (Professional diagrams show these scales and include multiple plots at different frequencies. The diagrams given here provide only an overview of typical pattern shapes, and their names.)[edit] Cardioids
US664A University Sound Dynamic Supercardioid MicrophoneThe most common unidirectional microphone is a cardioid microphone, so named because the sensitivity pattern is heart-shaped. A hyper-cardioid microphone is similar but with a tighter area of front sensitivity and a smaller lobe of rear sensitivity. A super-cardioid microphone is similar to a hyper-cardioid, except there is more front pickup and less rear pickup. These three patterns are commonly used as vocal or speech microphones, since they are good at rejecting sounds from other directions.
A cardioid microphone is effectively a superposition of an omnidirectional and a figure-8 microphone; for sound waves coming from the back, the negative signal from the figure-8 cancels the positive signal from the omnidirectional element, whereas for sound waves coming from the front, the two add to each other. A hypercardioid microphone is similar, but with a slightly larger figure-8 contribution. Since pressure gradient transducer microphones are directional, putting them very close to the sound source (at distances of a few centimeters) results in a bass boost. This is known as the proximity effect[9]
[edit] Bi-directional
“Figure 8″ or bi-directional microphones receive sound from both the front and back of the element. Most ribbon microphones are of this pattern.[edit] Shotgun
An Audio-Technica shotgun microphone”Shotgun” microphones are the most highly directional. They have small lobes of sensitivity to the left, right, and rear but are significantly less sensitive to the side and rear than other directional microphones are. This results from placing the element at the end of a tube with slots cut along the side; wave cancellation eliminates much of the off-axis sound. Due to the narrowness of their sensitivity area, shotgun microphones are commonly used on television and film sets, in stadiums, and for field recording of wildlife.
[edit] Boundary or “PZM”
Several approaches have been developed for effectively using a microphone in less-than-ideal acoustic spaces, which often suffer from excessive reflections from one or more of the surfaces (boundaries) that make up the space. If the microphone is placed in, or in very close proximity to, one of these boundaries, the reflections from that surface are not sensed by the microphone. Initially this was done by placing an ordinary microphone adjacent to the surface, sometimes in a block of acoustically transparent foam. Sound engineers Ed Long and Ron Wickersham developed the concept of placing the diaphgram parallel to and facing the boundary.[10] While the patent has expired, “Pressure Zone Microphone” and “PZM” are still active trademarks of Crown International, and the generic term “boundary microphone” is preferred. While a boundary microphone was initially implemented using an omnidirectional element, it is also possible to mount a directional microphone close enough to the surface to gain some of the benefits of this technique while retaining the directional properties of the element. Crown’s trademark on this approach is “Phase Coherent Cardioid” or “PCC,” but there are other makers who employ this technique as well.Source: Wikipedia
Hit up the wikipedia page for sure, it has some great diagrams for you that should help you decide what type of pattern you want for you mic.
I hope this little guide helps you decide what type of microphone is “best” for you.
