Home Recording Studio Guide Part VI: Introduction to Microphones

When you're building a home recording studio, you'll likely have a lot of things you're going to have to hook up. In the hustle and bustle of building the studio, the last thing you want to do is read countless product descriptions and try to decide just based on that, how you should choose your gear. In this chapter I'll go over microphones and rank them for their different uses. It's time to learn how to get the most bang from your buck when choosing which microphone to pick up.

Just like any other piece of equipment, a microphone has a very specific job. A mic is used to recreate the sound of an instrument or performance as accurately as possible. You can also use the microphone though, to infuse a certain type of sound into your mix. What sound you get out of a microphone all depends on the brand, the quality, the type, the placement when recording and a variety of other things. When choosing one, you'll want to look over the details carefully (or I'll just do it for you!)

Different Microphone Types

When you start looking for microphones, you'll find basically three different types to choose from. This can be a bit confusing at first but once you get the hang of what each of them do, it becomes a little more clear. There are dynamic mics, condenser mics, and ribbon mics. There are also different patterns of polarity (pop). These are omni-directional, cardoid, and figure 8. Hang on! I know it's confusing but I'll explain all of the types and what they do.

Condenser mic: This microphone can be used for a wide variety of purposes, but it performs the best when micing something that well, needs condensing! You're going to get a "wall of sound" of sorts out of condenser mics. It's less sensitive to the peaks and valleys of a recording that the others are. Condenser mics are especially useful when micing drums.

Ribbon mic: The Ribbon mic is used for classical and slow romantic music. It rolls off a bit of the high frequency, so it gives the performance more of a silky sound. You'll hear ribbon mics in action on nearly all of the old crooner music.

Dynamic mic: The dynamic microphone is the opposite of both the ribbon and condenser. It accentuates the mid frequences, giving a very airy feel the recording. This can also be used for various different things, but it's best when recording a atmospheric guitar or some backing vocals.

Patterns of Polarity

Omni-directional: These microphones are used to capture all of the sound in a given area or room. They are not focused on just one thing, but they capture everything that comes into contact with it. Why would this be useful? They're normally used to capture all of the ambient noises of a recording to bring out a little bit more authenticity to the track. If you just recorded each instrument directly, your sound might come out sounding a litle bit processed. Omni-directional mics add that "live" feel to a record.

Cardoid: Cardoid mics pick up only sound that is directly in front of them. These are commonly used in movies and television and are also known as shotgun mics. They're the long "stick mics" you see the cameramen holding. They're useful for isolating just one sound and keeping out background noise.

Figure 8: These pick up sound from both the front and the back.

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