So, this is the last post of the month. Instead of going off and talking about yet another pair of heapdhones, I thought I'd leave the month of gear with a note on microphones or mics. For the starting studio producer/musician, a decent microphone can be more important than great headphones or speakers. Like headphones however, mics come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and types. This post is about some of those and what you might want as a starter mic.
To be honest however, I will say that I have much less experience in shopping for and discerning mics since I still only have one mic and have not been in the habit of looking at them like I do with headphones. Still, I think that this will be an informative and good post for those who are unaware and are interested in recording at some point.
Let's get to it, first up is what different types of mics are there? I'm just going to cover a couple as I'm sure to miss some but these are the ones I can come up with right now. Lavalier mics are a really common mic used by singers and speakers around the world. These are the mics that clip onto a shirt and might also be referred to as lapel mics. The most obvious use of these is to capture a person's voice and are useful in hands free contexts. These are also not to be confused with headset mics which are attached to a headset, although they serve a similar purpose.
Next up are condenser mics. Condenser mics use a capacitor to produce sound. As such they also require what is referred to as 'phantom power' or extra power to record since the capacitors need to charge in order to work. It is very important to know what kind of mic you are getting because some mics require 'phantom power' while others can get damaged if 'phantom power' is on. Others still don't require and don't get damaged by 'phantom power'. Condenser mics are a really commonly used mics for studio recording since they tend to have a better response over large frequency ranges.
Dynamic mics are next. These are really rugged and resistant to moisture. They work by using electromagnetic induction, similar to how headphones and speakers work, but backwards to capture sound instead of output it. So where are these useful and why wouldn't you use these to record with as much as condenser mics? Well, due to their ruggedness they make for really great stage mics since they can really take a beating. For example the Shure SM58 is a dynamic mic that I'm pretty sure everyone has seen at least once. It is known for its durability even when singers throw them around and seem to just sort of bash on them. However, dynamic mics tend to be less accurate than condenser mics and do poorly with bass instruments like cello and bass. However, it is important that every mic will be good at different things, just like every pair of headphones has a particular set of music which just sounds really really good on them. Dynamic mics also, unlike condenser mics, do not require 'phantom power' however they also don't get damaged by it so it's not a big deal either way.
Next I want to briefly talk about polar patterns. This is actually a topic that is incredibly important to think about. You can find dynamic mics with a good low end or good, cheap condenser mics. However, the thing you really have to think about in the end is the sound you want to capture and mic type is less important than the polar patter the mic has. So what is a polar pattern? Well a mic's polar pattern is the area where a mic picks up sound best. What that means is that some polar patterns focus on the sound directly in front of the mic, the cardioid family specifically. Others pick up sound in all directions equally, these are omnidirectional. Figure 8 or bidirectional polar pattern mics pick up sound from the front and back well but reject sound from the sides. So when are each of these useful? Cardioids are the most common since they focus heavily on what's in front of them you can record multiple sources with cardioids without a lot of crossover sound from things to the sides or back. Omnidirectional mics are also commonly used but for a different purpose. Omnidirectional mics are good at picking up all the sound in a space so are commonly used to give that sense of space back into a recording. Bidirectional mics are a bit more rare but a use case would be for a radio show where you have the host and a guest, you can record with one mic both people sitting across from each other without worrying about more external sound from the sides really.
For a starter mic, I would go with a cardioid condenser mic. Just as a whole, they make for a really good general purpose mic. The SM58 is also a really great mic used ubiquitously and really not very expensive at all at around $100. Whatever you do, make sure you read up on whether your mic requires 'phantom power' or not because some mics can actually get damaged if it's on and doesn't need to be. I hope this was useful and happy shopping with your newfound audio gear knowledge, until next month.
--CsMiREK
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