That s one of the eternal mysteries of the universe that may never be known. But if you are a recordist, you d better learn how they work, because microphone mastery is the most essential skill you need right up there with knowing how to set levels and developing the people-engineering techniques needed to convince the band to finally go home at 3 a.m. To get you started, we ll look at how microphones work, how they are constructed, how to tell the differences between a good one and a bad one, and how different types of mics suit different recording applications. The first thing to know is that not all microphones are intended for recording. In fact, most are not.
Every telephone contains a microphone.
It isn t a very good one in recording terms, but it works fine for its intended purpose. Here we ll concentrate on microphones designed for recording. In the simplest definition possible, a microphone is a device which translates acoustic waves into electrical currents. Doing that seemingly simple job with high quality and reliability is a task that has challenged engineers since the device s early days. Designers have come up with numerous styles and designs for microphones.