Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Hiddedevries

May 1st, 2009 – Ever since I started this website, I’ve been planning to do a huge microphone feature since this is an area a lot of newcomers are interested in. I’ve been wrestling with how to cover such a vast subject, and so not much has gotten done on that front. Microphones are arguably the most important link in the recording chain (other than what is being recorded of course) as they are the first part in the signal chain. Like I often say, crap in, crap out.

Different types of  microphones are best used in certain situations. For example, a dynamic microphone is generally used in high SPL (sound pressure level) situations, like the miking of a guitar speaker. Of course, there are never any solid rules and sometimes using things in the “wrong” way, is desirable.

I’ll go over conventional uses for certain microphones in a post soon, but in the meantime, here is an article by HowStuffWorks, explaining different types of microphones. It’s a decent primer, but one common type of microphone they missed is the piezo. A piezo microphone (also known as a contact microphone) uses the vibrations in a solid object to “microphone” the sound. Piezos can be metal plates that are attached to a studio wall to turn it into a big microphone, or they can be embedded into bridges to “listen” for changing structural cues.

If you’re interested in more, you can also visit the Wikipedia page concerning microphones, as well as an old Sound On Sound (one of the more prestigious industry magazines) article on the subject. There’s a lot of information in there, so my future microphone post(s) will focus on simplifying it all.