Introduction to Music Production: Different types of microphones
Hi, I am Chan Pei Keong, or you could just call me Nicholas by short. I live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, so I am sure that I am pretty far away from my other classmates. I am currently majoring in Software Engineering and is aspiring to become a game developer in the future.
This lesson is for Week 1 of Introduction To Music Production at Coursera.org. I really like to learn about various kinds of microphones since I like to learn film production as well. So now I will be teaching you the different kinds of microphones used commonly indoors and outdoors.
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| Varieties of microphones |
Famous microphones
We start with the two of the most common microphones seen today, the dynamic and the condenser. You will see both of these are used frequently in special settings. Dynamics are used on live stages for concert singers, in karaoke, and even in seminars and other events. Meanwhile, condensers are popular in recording studios for singing or voice overs. It is also used by famous Youtubers to record their voice for their videos, and you can find them in radio stations as well. Both of them dominates different niche in the market, and we will see why.
Dynamic microphone
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| Shure SM58, a dynamic microphone |
Dynamics are more favorable to consumers because they are robust, cheap, and resistant to moisture. It is also rugged, so it is strong enough to withstand a drop to the ground as well. Dynamics are used in live stages instead of condensers because of its cardioid polar pattern that only picks up sound in its small area and towards a single direction (see image below).
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| Cadioid polar pattern |
Because of its polar pattern, it doesn't pick up the sound from the monitor in front of the singer and the environment around it. Its frequency response is designed to bump up on the vocal. This is the perfect microphone for loud environments such as live concerts, and also for singing. Now wonder why you see every singer uses this on stage?
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| Shure SM58's frequency response |
Condensed microphone
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| AKG C214, a condenser microphone |
However, condensers do not work well on stage as it tends to pick up sounds all around the room. The polar pattern is omnidirectional, so that means it can pick up sounds from any direction. More expensive condenser microphones will allow you to change its polar pattern, which is particularly useful in certain situations.
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| Omnidirectional polar pattern |
This can cause feedback especially when the monitor that the microphone hooked up to is close to it. One particular reason why studios chose condensers is mainly because of its high quality sound and its flatter frequency response which will create more clarity in sound.
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| AKG C214 polar pattern and frequency response |
You can normally see condensers paired with a pop filter, which are used to minimize plosives when recording. Condensers are powered with phantom power, which is a method for transmitting DC electric power through microphone cables which will operate microphones that contain active electronic circuitry.
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| Pop filter |
Application-specific microphones
Aside from these famous microphones, there are several other application-specific designs of microphones. I will be covering several useful microphones that you should know. They are known as contact microphones, lavalier microphones, shotgun microphones, wireless microphones, and parabolic microphones.
Contact microphone
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| Contact microphone |
Contact microphones, also known as pickup or piezo, are stuck onto a solid object to convert any audio vibrations within the object into sound. Contact microphones do not pick up sounds through the air but only transduce through structure-borne sound. You can see these being used for acoustic instruments such as guitar or orchestral band instruments.
Lavalier microphone
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| Lavalier microphone |
Lavaliers are one of those common microphones you see being used for TV interviews or any other public speaking events. It is clipped to collars, ties or other forms of clothing to allow hands-free operations. The cord may be hidden within the clothes which connect to a radio frequency transmitter kept in a pocket, clipped to a belt or simply routed directly to the mixer or recording device.
Shotgun and boom microphone
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| Shotgun microphone |
Shotgun microphones are microphones that have a directional pick-up pattern which were also used in film-making, although it can be used for recording the sounds from music bands as well. One interesting thing about shotgun microphones are that its polar pattern were also named “shotgun” (see image below).
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| Shotgun polar pattern |
You may have also heard about the “boom” mic that is used in film-making. Well actually a boom mic is any microphone that is at the long end of a long, extended pole known as the “boom pole”. It does not matter what type of microphone you use, if it's on an extended pole, it’s a boom mic. Shotguns are commonly used with the boom pole, together with the microphone covers.
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| Boom mic in film production |
Some miscellaneous information: The larger fur microphone cover is called the "Dead Cat", while the smaller fur microphone cover is called the "Dead Kitten". They are also used for the microphone cover for the boom mic, although not strictly necessary.
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| "Dead Cat" and "Dead Kitten" |
Wireless microphone
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| Wireless microphone |
Wireless microphones are also known as radio microphones. It has a small battery-powered radio transmitter in the microphone body which transmits the audio signal from the microphone by radio waves to a nearby receiver unit. It is widely used in the entertainment industry, in TV shows, and also used in combination with the Lavalier microphone. They can transmit in radio waves using UHF/VHF frequencies, FM/AM, or various digital modulation schemes. The low cost, infrared microphone requires direct line of sight between the microphone and the receiver, while the expensive radio frequency models do not.
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| Wired vs wireless microphone |
Parabolic microphone
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| Parabolic microphone |
Finally, the parabolic microphone is a pretty interesting microphone. It uses parabolic reflectors to collect and focus sound waves onto a receiver. It is pretty similar to parabolic antenna (AKA satellite dish) that does with radio waves. It can pick up sounds from many meters away so it is typically used to record the sound the surroundings to field audio for sports broadcasting. The disadvantage is that a smaller dish have poor low frequency (bass) response, so it is not used for high-fidelity recording.
Conclusion
Each microphone has their own use and purposes as each microphone have different sound qualities and polar patterns. With that being said, it is entirely up to the user to choose which microphone to use in certain situations and make sure that the microphone is suitable for the job at hand.
Source:
1) Coursera - Introduction to Music Production (video lecture - Microphone Types)
2) Wikipedia
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_microphone
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavalier_microphone
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_microphone
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabolic_microphone
3) Cineblur.com
- http://cineblur.com/whats-the-difference-between-a-shotgun-mic-and-a-boom-mic/
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