What You Should About The Technology Of Microphones

A microphone is just a sound transducer that takes sound-waves and transforms them, producing electrical current. They are designed to convert the pressure changes into the signal. Mics, for short, come in many variations of polar patterns and design. Mics can be defined into two primary groups namely; dynamic and condenser microphones.

 The two different kinds of microphones have differing ways of catching sound waves. For instance, the dynamic mic uses Faradays law which dictates that an electrical current is induced in a conductor when it moves within a magnetic field. In dynamic mics there are two ways in which mic conductors are arranged in a magnetic field. In the first configuration, the conductor is entwined into a coil and set inside a fixed magnetic cylindrical ring. Inside the coil a cylindrical core is placed to focus the magnetic fields around the coil.

The top-side of the conductor coil is affixed to a diaphragm made of mega-thin material; in most cases aluminum or plastic. Whenever there are pressure changes, the diaphragm fluctuates forcing the coil to move within the magnetic field and a current of electricity that corresponds to the pressure changes is activated in the conductor coil. In the second configuration, a ribbon is freely hung between two perpetual magnets.

Lightweight material like a metallic foil is used to fashion the ribbon. When pressure around the mic varies, the ribbon moves within the magnetic field and current is induced in the metallic ribbon and lead away by the conductors. While the two arrangements are very different, they both use Faradays law.

They are both acoustical transducers that use variation of sound intensity to produce a corresponding electrical signal. Both the coil and ribbon type of dynamic microphones are easily purchased through a reputable store or online. Unlike dynamic mics, the condenser type of microphone uses variation of capacitance to produce a corresponding electrical signal.

 Electrical capacitors are made up of 2 metal plates placed very near to each one another but without any conductivity. Current can only be conducted across the plates when one plate is at a greater potential than the other. The two plates in a capacitor are separated by an insulator, air or vacuum. The capacitor used in the condenser type of mic has one movable plate and one fixed plate.

The flexible plate is very sensitive and moves inwards or outwards when subjected to pressure changes. The two plates are a higher potential when the movable plate moves away from the fixed plate and then returns. This fluctuation of potential correlates to the pressure differences surrounding capsule. The charge in the capsule, the enclosure containing both the stationery and flexible plates, is kept constant by connecting it to a DC power source.

T-power and Phantom power are employed to maintain the capsule at a constant potential. if you think about it, the Mic works like a speaker in reverse and to some extent you'd be correct. Whichever kind of microphone is used, sound waves generate electrical impulses which can end up in either a digital format if you're recording or amplified to alter the volume when put through a speaker.

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Usb Microphones Aren't Just For Pod-casting Anymore

We all know that USB connectivity effectively eliminates your vocal microphone setup time and just kind of makes sense. Plug and play appeals to just about everyone, and I am sure that for most, it wouldnt hurt to cut down on that spaghetti pile of XLR cables that always seem to be tangled around the chair legs.

To be honest, for most recordings I really wouldn't choose a USB microphone. Im just as attached to my microphone preamps and old-ish school way of doing thing as most of us are. I would say that for pod-casts, stuff like that, USB microphones are fine... However, some long-awaited game-changers are making waves in the home studio biz.

 First of all, quality is getting pretty damn good. If you are looking for something to record dialogue for a pod-cast, a headset for gaming, or something to use with SKYPE, then USB has always been the way to go. However, recording vocals for a song means you really need to feel confident with your vocal microphone before you press record. Its that feeling of confidence that has taken time to propagate throughout the home studio community, but things are changing.

 USB microphones as a sub-category of vocal microphones, are still basically thought of as consumer products, and not as good as pro-sumer and professional level wired microphones. Fair enough, that same is probably still true, but the time has come to take notice of what companies like Audio Technica, Shure, AKG, CAD, and NADY are developing for the home studio.

Audio Technicas AT2020 is a competitively priced large diaphragm USB microphone that sounds good enough to fool most home recording gurus. A new development that has a lot of people pretty excited is Shures new X2u XLR-to-USB adapter. Now, you have the luxury of being able to hook up your higher end vocal microphones with the USB adapter seems to good to be true. So far, people seem to have had pretty good results.

Great development for anyone who likes to simplify in the home studio, but doesnt want to give up the collection of wired Sennheisers. The X2u adapter is perfect for multi-track recording and features zero latency. If you have been gradually adding components to your home studio setup over the years, I suggest you consider spending a couple hundred bucks on a USB condenser microphone and lay down a couple vocal tracks, just for fun. I am willing to bet thaht you will be pleasantly surprised at how close the margin between price and USB microphone performance has become.

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Different Uses Of Various Microphones

Microphones are used in many applications such astelephones, tape recorders, hearing aids, motion picture production, live and recordedaudio engineering, in radio and television broadcasting and in computers for recording voice, VoIP, and for non acoustic purposes such as ultrasonic checking.

 A microphone is a device made to capture waves in air, water or hard material and translate them into an electrical signal. The most common method is via a thin membrane producing some proportional electrical signal. Most microphones in use today for audio use electromagnetic generation are dynamic microphones, capacitance change condenser microphones or piezoelectric generation to produce the signal from mechanical vibration.

 Uses of different kinds of microphones

Condenser microphones span the range from cheap instruments to high quality instruments. They generally produce a high quality audio signal and are now the popular choice in laboratory and studio recording applications. They require a power source, provided generally from microphone inputs from a small battery. 

Professional microphones often sport an external power supply for reasons of quality perception. Power is necessary for establishing the capacitor plate voltage, and is also needed for internal amplification of the signal to a useful output level. Condenser microphones are also available with two diaphragms, the signals from which can be electrically connected such as to provide a range of polar patterns such as cardioid and omnidirectional.

 Carbon microphone, formerly used in telephone handsets, is a capsule containing carbon granules pressed between two metal plates. The carbon microphone can also be used as a type of amplifier, using a small amount of sound energy to produce a larger amount of electric energy. Carbon microphones were used as early telephone repeaters, making long distance phone calls possible in the era before vacuum tubes.

 Crystal microphones used to be commonly supplied with vacuum tube or valve equipment such as domestic tape recorders. Their high output impedance matched well to the high input impedance of the vacuum tube input stage. They were difficult to match to early transistor equipments and were quickly supplemented by dynamic microphones for a short while, and later small eletret condenser devices. The high impedance of the crystal microphone made it very susceptable to handling noise, partly from the microphone itself, but also from handling of the connecting cable.

 Shotgun microphones are high directional microphones. They have small lobes of sensitivity to the left, right, and rear but are significantly more sensitive to the front. This results from placing the elements inside a tube with slots cut along the side and wave cancellation eliminates most of the off axis noise. Shotgun microphones are commonly used on TV and film sets, and for field recording of wildlife.

 Conclusion

The microphone is a ubiquitous piece of equipment and comes in a number of models. Found in everything from telephones to computers to recording studios, microphones are part of our daily life. It is perhaps the most critical part of the audio chain. A good quality microphone will provide the basis for excellent audio, whereas a poor quality will mean poor quality audio, no matter how good the rest of the system is.

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How to Buy a Karaoke Wireless Microphone

Thanks to advances in recording technology, microphones for karaoke have improved tremendously in the past few years. Wireless technology has also improved dramatically, resulting in wireless karaoke microphones that not only are rugged and full of cool features; they work as well as their corded counterparts.

What to look for in a good wireless karaoke microphone: rugged construction is the first thing to look for, its a sign that the mike is of good quality, and will hold up under constant use. You would be surprised at how even an amateur karaoke setup can wreak havoc on poor quality microphones. Next, look for noise filter technology. If your mike loses signal for even a second, it can send a nasty bit of noise through your sound system, resulting in an embarrassing glitch in your performance.

How to make a cheap Microphone Pop-Filter

Noise filters monitor this condition and will attenuate any noise that results from losing connection. Battery life is another important consideration. While many lower-priced mikes use nine-volt or triple-A batteries, the better units feature rechargeable battery packs with a recharging base. This is a great convenience, and well worth the extra money.The specs on your microphone can be manipulated to look good on the package, so beware of incredible specs on a cheap mike. A

ll mikes can state a wide frequency response - its the sensitivity at the low and high ends that separate a good microphone from a cheap one. There are 3 main types of wireless - FM, VHF and UHF. Older mikes used FM frequencies, but were prone to interference. Newer, multichannel VHF and UHF models give better performance.

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