If you’re confused about microphones, think of it like ordering off a prefix menu. You get your choice of a few different courses. The main one is how does the mic work?
The two main families are dynamic and condenser. Dynamics work like a speaker in reverse. You’ve got a diaphragm, a coil, and a magnet all hooked up.
With a speaker, you apply power. You move the diaphragm. With a microphone, move the diaphragm, you create current.
In a condenser microphone, the diaphragm is two plates with an electric charge. As the distance changes between the plates, there’s a change in voltage, and we can turn that into a signal. There’s an exception to every rule, but think of a dynamic microphone like George Foreman.
That magnet and coil, sturdy, heavy, bottom momentum, or inertia. Condenser microphone, it’s going to be more like Muhammad Ali. Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee, just remember it needs a power source.
For our second chorus, choose the size of the diaphragm. You can have small or large. A small diaphragm tends to be lighter and faster and might be better for high frequencies.
Whereas a large diaphragm, bigger surface area, generates more power. That means more signal, less noise. Third chorus, directionality.
What happens when you point it at something? An omnidirectional microphone doesn’t care. You point a cardioid microphone like you might point a flashlight.
You’re not going to get as much signal from the sides and behind. A figure eight or bipolar microphone hears out the front and the back. It’s good at rejecting the sides.
Fourth chorus, the orientation of the capsule or the diaphragm. This is called a side address microphone, and you would speak into it this way. This is a front address microphone.
You would point it like this. For today’s last chorus, some microphones have switches that allow you to change their characteristics, like their polar patterns or their frequency response. For the most part, you get to mix and match on all of these.
