Microphones

A microphone is the only part of a record that hears the room. Everything after it, the preamp, the converter, the mix, is working on a decision the microphone already made: where the sound was picked up, how much of the room came with it, and which part of the instrument got emphasised.

There are three families and they are not interchangeable. A dynamic uses a coil in a magnetic field, needs no power, and takes loud sources without complaint, which is why one sits on a snare drum, in front of a guitar cabinet, and in the hand of a singer who works close. A condenser uses a charged diaphragm and a little electronics behind it, needs phantom power, and hears quiet detail a dynamic will not. A ribbon suspends a thin corrugated strip in a magnet gap, takes the top end gently, and is figure of eight by nature, so it rejects the sides and hears behind it as well as in front.

The third thing, and the one that gets skipped: polar pattern is a bigger decision than family or price. It decides what does not get into the track. In a room nobody has treated, that is most of the work.

Start with the source and the room, not with a shortlist. A loud source in a live room wants a dynamic in close. A quiet, detailed source in a room you have some control over is where a condenser earns its money. If the room is the problem, a figure of eight ribbon, or a cardioid turned so its null points at the worst wall, will do more than a better microphone aimed carelessly.

Pattern next. Cardioid rejects what is behind it. Omni rejects nothing, which sounds like a disadvantage until you hear how much better most omnis handle low frequencies and how little they change when a singer moves. Figure of eight rejects the sides hard, and those two nulls are the most useful tool you have in a room with a problem. A multi pattern microphone is one capsule arrangement and a switch, and the pattern it was voiced around is usually the one it does best.

What the tiers buy. Under a couple of hundred dollars you get a competent, honest tool, and the classic dynamics in that range are on records you already own. From there to around fifteen hundred you are buying quieter electronics, better built capsules and consistency between units, which is worth more than it sounds when you own a pair. Above that you are mostly paying for hand work, tighter tolerances and a particular voice, and that is preference rather than a straight upgrade.

The common mistake is buying one expensive microphone instead of three useful ones. A large diaphragm condenser is not the right answer to every source, and a locker with a dynamic, a condenser and a pair of small diaphragm pencils covers far more ground than any single purchase at the same money. The second mistake is spending everything on the microphone and nothing on a stand that holds position, a shock mount, and a way to get the thing a foot further off the wall.

Proximity effect is a tool rather than a flaw, and it only exists on a directional microphone. Move a cardioid from a foot away to three inches and the low end climbs several decibels. That is where broadcast voices get their weight, and it is also why a singer who drifts changes the tone of the track between takes. An omni has no proximity effect at all, which is one reason omnis sound so natural up close.

Phantom power and ribbons still want care. Most modern ribbons are fine with 48 volts and some need it, but an older passive ribbon can be damaged by phantom arriving through a patchbay or a cable with a short in it. Know which kind you have, and never patch with phantom up.

Buying used, ask about the capsule and what it has lived through. Condenser capsules mind humidity and dust more than they mind age, and a microphone that spent years in front of a singer without a pop filter has taken a lot of moisture. A dropped ribbon can still make sound with a stretched ribbon in it, quieter and duller than it should be.