What is a Microphone?

Beanie Sigel was known to "Roc The Mic," Nelly made a "Roc The Mic" remix, and even Jay-Z dubbed his new studio in New York, Roc The Mic Studios. All of these artists have to attribute at least .01% of their success to one man and that man is Mr. Emile Berliner.

Why? Well, because Berliner was the man with the plan back in 1876 and is credited for the invention of the microphone back when he created the device to enhance the Bell Telephone. And it's a good thing he did too, because before Berliner, men would have to stand on tall rocks Jesus style to try to get their point across and the balance deficiency in some men would ultimately lead to personal injury and/or embarrassment. So Berliner gets a pat on the back for that one.

The device created by Berliner and now dubbed the microphone is a type of transducer. A transducer can be anything that transfers one form of energy into another. The microphone happens to be the kind that turns acoustic sound energy (like our voice) into electrical energy. That electrical energy can then be picked up and amplified by a speaker, which then turns the electrical energy back into sound so we can hear it. I'll get into more detail and break down the science of how the microphone actually does the conversion from air pressure to electrical signals in later articles.

And that's a microphone, the short and sweet version! Pretty simple, yet pretty complex. It's kind of cool though to think that the sound we make is a type of energy that can be captured and converted into another type of energy. Hmm.

Copyright 2010 Dan Rozak

Sound connoisseur Dan Rozak loves sharing because sharing is caring.