NOTE: If you can't find your answer here, read the formatted version of Harvey Gerst's 'big thread', available here.
What is the difference between a dynamic microphone and a condenser microphone?
Condenser mics differ from dynamics in that they capture the sound via a “capacitor” that changes its value (capacitance) in proportion to the sound waves vibrating it. To do this, the “capacitor” needs to be electrically energized and its output immediately amplified to “drive” the preamp input. Since the signal from a condenser has been electrically amplified, it can be pretty “hot”.
Think of it like this: Go to your local favorite fast food joint and get a “water” to go and a clear straw. Poke the straw through the lid and seal up the hole around it with putty, play-dough, or something so that it is airtight. Once it’s all sealed up, squeeze the cup and notice the water moving up the straw. Release the cup and notice the water moving back down the straw.
In this analogy, the cup is the capacitor and it capacitates water. In a condenser mic, the capsule is the capacitor and it capacitates voltage (which it gets from the phantom power supply). When the diaphragm (represented above by the outside of the cup) is vibrated via sound waves, the voltage charge on the capsule moves up and down like the water in the straw. This is a very, very tiny change in voltage, but it can be measured with a good Field Effect Transistor (FET). This measurement is then amplified into a good strong signal before being sent down the line to the preamp. Besides supplying a voltage source to the capsule, the phantom power also supplies power to this pre-preamp built into the mic.
Dynamic mics, on the other hand, work like this: Long, long ago, some dead scientist discovered that if he took a piece of wire, wound it into a coil and passed it through the magnetic field of a magnet, current flowed through the wire. Likewise, if the coil was moved in the opposite direction, the current also flowed in the opposite direction. (Remember doing this in grade school science and wondering, “what am I learning this for?”)
Later, another scientist (probably dead too) discovered that if he made a lightweight coil out of very fine wire, attached the coil to a very lightweight membrane, and mounted it so that it moved freely back and forth across a magnet, it would generate currents proportional to the sound waves “felt” by the membrane.
Thus, a dynamic mic captures the sound by moving a coil through a fixed magnetic field in proportion to the sound waves vibrating it (backwards from a speaker). This MECHANICALLY produces a small electrical signal, which is sufficient to drive the preamp input. Trouble is, even though it can “drive” the preamp input, its interaction with the preamp depends on the mic’s output “impedance” (resistance at every frequency) and the preamp’s input “impedance”. This can change all over the place, depending on things like whether the pre’s input is transformer or capacitor coupled, type of transformer used, type of mic, etc, etc.... In addition, since the signal is “mechanically” amplified, it most often is not as “hot” as a condenser’s electrically amplified signal.
What does this mean? Well, to me
it means that:
1. The preamp design has more to do with the sound of a dynamic mic than that
of a condenser mic.
2. Dynamic mics are generally going to be noisier then condensers because they
need more gain due to the weaker signal. Actually, it’s the preamp that’s
noisier. The mic itself is actually very quiet.
It is for these reasons that I believe condensers are generally better for use with cheaper mic pres simply because their interaction is going to be more predictable and quieter.
Now, having said all that (whew!), one thing you ask was what are the differences in audio quality & maximum sound levels? Well, I just covered the sound levels, but as far as quality goes the best I can tell is that dynamics come very close in audio quality to condenser mics, DEPENDING on the preamp you’re running them through.. - Flatpicker
In the real world, dynamics and condensers are like the yin and yang, they both are absolutely necessary. Good dynamics shine on percussion, cabs, brass, and vocals, especially backing vocals. If your dynamic isn't doing it on cab, either the source sucks, the mic sucks, what the mic is plugged into sucks, or the mic is in the wrong place, which sucks. Many fine tracks of electric guitar, maybe even the majority of them, have been tracked using a single dynamic, so that's not the problem. Dynamics are old friends from the stage. You know how to work their proximity, and how to avoid 'plosive's and sibilence by positioning. (sorry, to me dynamics don't go in front of cabs, they're vocal mics.) Less prone to picking up background noise, less detailed, dynamics airbrush you. With lower output, they want a pre with a lot of clean gain.
If a dynamic is an audience, a condenser is a music critic, and a room critic. If it likes the room and the source, it can capture detail and nuances that are lost on most dynamics, even most ribbon mics. If you want to capture something that sounds really, really good, a condenser will do it, when used properly. The reverse is also true. Do not expect forgiveness from a condenser. - Richard Monroe
What is phantom power, and what is bias voltage?
Download this .doc file (word format), compiled by crazydoc.
What is the difference between cardioid, hypercardioid, and supercardioid patterns?
Cardioids have a heart-shaped polar pattern at most frequencies, but they tend to be more omnidirectional at low frequencies. Hypercardioids are less wide compared to cardioids, but still have some omni characteristics at lower frequencies. Supercardioids are similar to hypercardioids at high frequencies, but they act more even at low frequencies by creating a deeper rejection point at around 125° off axis.
So what the hell does all this mean when it comes to choosing the right mic, based on polar patterns?
If you're getting a mic for recording just your voice, it's easier to use a smooth cardioid mic that will be fairly flat and natural and you don't worry too much about picking up bleed from other instruments due to the wide pattern of most cardioid mics.
If you're playing guitar at the same time, you want to try and keep the sound of the guitar out of the vocal mic, so you need a tighter mic pattern (like a hypercardioid) and you try to put the guitar in the null of the pattern so that it doesn't get heard by the vocal mic. And it holds true for the guitar as well; you might use a second hypercardioid on the guitar to keep the vocal out of the guitar mic. But hypercardioids aren't perfect, especially at lower frequencies.
That's where the supercardioid comes in; it's got a solid null point at 125° at just about all frequencies.
So why not just use hypercardioids and supercardioids for everything? Part of the problem is that hypercardioids and supercardioids don't always have the best frequency response, so you pay a price in performance for that deeper rejection. And they have more proximity effect (which is not always a good thing).
For stage and live work, the rejection in a hypercardioid and supercardioid mic is a blessing, especially when working with on-stage monitors, but it's not as important in the studio, where accuracy counts more. - Harvey Gerst
Can a microphone be damaged by noise (specifically, drums)?
It ain't the SPL that causes havoc with condenser and ribbon mics on kick drums up close - it's the big puff of air that is generated when you whack that big piece of plastic with a beater. That puff of air can pop a sensitve ribbon mic or stretch a condenser diaphragm considerably. When you bottom out a condenser mic, you can lose some of the charge, or some of the mic's capacitance. In most cases, the mylar, or ribbon, won't spring back to it's original tension.
IF it does survive the blasts from a session, it won't ever sound the same again, since you've stretched the ribbon, or stretched the mylar (in a condenser mic).
Some solutions: Use a pop filter, just as you would for a vocalist, or anything that will prevent the blast from directly hitting the diaphragm. Put a sock on it. Yeah, you'll lose some top end, but it might save the mic. Stretch a couple of pair of panty hose over the mic - same reason. You want to basically divert or lower the wind part of the signal.
Whispering into a mic won't hurt it and it won't generate a high SPL; whispering into a mic while standing outdoors - with a 70 mph wind coming from over your shoulder - ISN'T a good idea. Same principle.
With a ribbon mic almost any air blast is bad, if not potentially fatal. My Coles 4038 ribbon mic came with an 8 page owner's manual; 7 of those pages were devoted to what not to do: Don't take it outside, don't put it near air ducts, don't close the door too fast, don't blow into the mic, don't close the mic case lid too quickly, don't swing the mic fast if it's on a boom arm, etc. The V67 could probably withstand being put inside a kick drum, but it won't be the same mic coming out as it was when it went in...Over a period of time, it will drop the resonance of the capsule noticably. Bottoming out a condenser capsule can cause arcing and a reduction in sound quality if it persists. - Harvey Gerst
A good rule of thumb... 127 is the 'threshold of feeling' ["feeling" equals 'hurts like a motherf*cker'!!]... 140 is the 'threshold of pain' [your eyes "go white", you loose equilibrium]... while transient signals [like a drum hit] will have less of an effect the fact of the matter is that if it hurts you're gonna know it. - Fletcher
Yes, all microphones have a maximum sound pressure level (SPL) that cannot be exceeded without causing distortion and possibly damaging the mic. It does not matter if your downstream signal chain compresses or attennuates the signal enough so that the signal does not peak, the microphone is still being tortured beyond it's capacity. If you really must play the amp that loud then you need to mic further away and/or use sound attennuation blankets.
BTW if it is too loud for the mic it is also almost certainly too loud for your ears. Consider hearing protection. - Innovations
VERY loud sources can stretch the diaphram. That being said I mic kicks with LDCs all the time. I'll put a dynamic inside the kick and the LDC out in front of the kit about 3'. - Track Rat
Is there a difference in sound quality between budget mic cables and expensive 'designer' cables?
Yes, the difference between a very cheap mic cable, like something from Radio Shack (which may not be balanced you know!) and a higher quality cable is really quite dramatic. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't tested the claim for myself.
You don't have to go buying Monster cable though. In fact, if your current signal chain or recording device is of low quality, then cables are the wrong place to start.
You could build your own cables - it's one of the few DIY projects that can really pay off, plus you gain very important soldering skills! You can build a 20' Canare or Mogami cable with switchcraft or neutrik connectors for the price of a single 10' cheapo cable a lot of the time! Another benefit is that you can make custom lengths.
Anyhow, yeah the Blue cables are great. Even just the Belkin cables with neutrik connectors that you'll likely find at your local music store will be fine. Now Canare, Mogami, Monster, Blue, etc will all be BETTER, but in my amateur opinion, your recordings won't really suffer from junk cable until you get down into the radioshack/generic garbage.
The absolute cheapest high quality route is Canare Star Quad with Switchcraft connectors, built yourself. We're talking like $0.30 per foot plus $4 in connectors for a single cable. Beat that! Also, Markertek makes their cables using Canare and Switchcraft, so if you're not into building, that's another source. - Slackmaster 2000
Is it necessary to have shockmounts for my microphones?
Mic stands - like anything else made of steel - will pick up vibrations from the floor and transmit them to whatever is sitting on the top. If that's a mic in a hard mount, then it goes into the mic body and something of it will register. The vibrations that tend to pass that way seem to be low frequencies - like someone walking across the stage, or traffic outside the window. A low pass filter deals with a lot of it, but not all.
If you isolate the mic form any hard connections, as with a [shockmount], or by sitting the thing on a feather pillow, you interrupt that line of transmissions and the noise doesn't get into the signal. - Treeline
I never use a shockmount, and I've never had any problems. Ever. If you have $40-$50 to blow on a shockmount, feel free, but for my money, I'd put that $40-$50 in better cabling. I guess if you're recording people who insist on stomping on the ground while they're singing, it may be worthwhile. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. - cominginsecond
I once recorded a choir in a limestone church from like the twelfth century, and thought that since the floor probably weights a few tonnes per square foot I would be safe without shockmounts on some of the mics. Big mistake! I ended up having to filter out the constant low frequency rumble from the traffic on the surrounding streets, and since the mics I used are somewhat bass shy from the beginning that didn't exactly help things. I won't make that mistake again... - BasPer
Is it necessary to use a pop filter?
Pop filters prevent the rush of air on consonants such as 'p', 'd', etc. from exploding in the mic. Because of their sensitivity they are necessary when singing close and directly at a mic. - Innovations
Always use a pop filter even if you are not getting pops because it helps prevent moisture from getting on the diaphragm. - sweetnubs
A pop filter also blocks some of the highs, so you may NOT always want to use one - DJL
What effect does the size of the diaphragm have on the sound of a condenser microphone?
Generally speaking . . .Large-diaphragms for color and size, small-diaphragms for accuracy and transient response, and medium-diaphragms for versatility. - Chessrock
How should I store my microphones to prevent damage from moisture, dust, etc?
Drastic changes in temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure will affect your mic... and that is one reason why it's best to try and keep your studio environment as constant as possible. - DJL
You should store your mics in their case with a desinex pad by the diaphragm. The pad absorbs moisture. When the crystals turn color time to put the pad in the oven and dry it out. You especially need to do this with vocal mics or if you are in a high humidity area. Also always use a pop filter even if you are not getting pops because it helps prevent moisture from getting on the diaphragm. Keep you mics in their case after use. Don't let them sit out because dust collects on the diaphragm and it will f*ck them up. - sweetnubs
Check out this site for a better alternative to the short lived silica packets. I use these here in Florida (humidity city) in conjuction with a hygometer for my acoustic guitars. One would probably do for a mic cabinet. : http://www.zorb-it.com/ - Wannaplay
How important is it to build up a microphone 'palette'?
There's going to come a time, even in the realm of the home recordist, where his abilities have superceeded the audio buddy/sm57 chain. At that point, there's nothing wrong with increasing his palettes. By the same token: I started off trying to record one of THE most difficult instruments, the grand piano, because thats what I play. Had I been somehow "forced" to use the above mentioned chain, I would have given up long ago. But ONLY by increasing both my mic palette, and my pre-amp palette was I able to have a chain of sufficient quality where differences in mic placement of "an inch" or so made an audible difference. - Michael Jones
I feel in the scope of things, mic choice is and should be down the line of importance for most home recordists, because I think just about everything else will have a MUCH greater impact on the sound. I am certainly not excluding the choice and use of different mics for certain applications, but if you listen in the clinic (which I know you do), mic choices doesn't really mean squat in my opinion in most of those tunes. Maybe I am not giving enough credit to those that take those fine subtlties of different mic choices and put them to good use (as there are those that do that, for sure), but for the most part, other factors such as clean signal path, playing in tune, being able to PLAY, mic'ing in a "proper and useful" manner, technique and finnese with the instrument, cabling and mic pres...(like the behringer VS radio shack comparision), production, timing, EQ use, use of effects, mixing abilities, monitor setups....on and on.... all have a MUCH bigger impact with those with what I would call the "home setup". - mixmkr
For a newbie, one man operation at home, I agree that trying to build a palette is somewhat a waste of time. Only the guy who wants to be an engineer or expanding out to record multiple musicians should focus on a palette building approach. That said, in trying to find the one mic and preamp that gave me the quality I was looking for, I ended up with a lot of mics and preamps. Now that I have narrowed things down a bit I will be unloading some of my crayons. - Middleman
If you're looking to add "color," to your palette and increase your options, I'd have to say the mic is the most expensive place to do it . . . so it might not necessarily be the most optimal point in the signal chain to focus on for the beginning or intermediate-level / home recordist.
We shouldn't be worrying ourselves with adding "colors" to our "palette" untill we first work out some issues with our song arrangements, tracking technique, performance, etc. - chessrock
Is direct input ever a viable alternative?
GUITAR:
Distortion sounds crappy when "line" recording...
The Amp has a particular tone, power, presence and response so it colors the sound a lot. you are used to hear your guitar through an amp (rehearsals, shows...) so you will probably be more pleased with an amp tone.
The mic also allows you to capture a bit of room if you want, so it will sound more natural that way.
There is no rule, just stick to what you like and don't be afraid to try new techniques... someday you will get tired of a particular sound and you'll want to change it, so it's good to start trying from now.
Mic techniques give you almost infinite possibilities... - PowerCouple
For some clean electric guitar, sometimes a direct feed just sounds wonderful. I used to love the way a Rockman in the clean 1 setting with a Tele recorded. But for any kind of growl, I feel you have to have a mic in front of an amp. There's something about the interaction of the sound in the room coming back to the guitar, the compression that the speakers under load imparts, the sound that is a composit of a good guitar played well into an amp that's actually moving air. That's where a decent mic in front of an amp prevails. - Track Rat
Direct input or mic? Both, because it depends on a lot of factors: music genre you are playing in, clean versus distorted...and the type of amp: tube v. fuse...stack size, is it a Marshall, Mesa, Fender, etc. Plus, let's not forget the song you are recording, because how the other instruments interact with your guitar sound in the particular arrangement of the song you are recording can make or break your current guitar sound depending on what you are after.
I have a Crate amp...Ok, maybe not the best in the world, but I paid good money for it back in the day, and it still has its uses from time to time. I also have a digitech amp modeler, an SM-58 mic, and an ART Studio Pre-amp. For my most recent project, I recorded a sample with bass and drums of the tune I planned on recording. This was a sample that captured all the pertinent areas where the guitar would have to sound its best. I then spend almost a month trying every conceivable combination (guitar to modeler to preamp to 4 track) of presets on my amp modeler to get the sound that was closest to what I was looking for. I then repeated the whole process, only this time recording with an amp (guitar to modeler to amp, mic to preamp to 4 track)..
Despite getting completely sick of this process, I managed to come up with two very solid guitar sounds, which I recorded to two separate tracks. These sound so good that very little tweaking will be needed when it comes time to mix.
The key here is experimentation, both direct and with a mic. Try out your sounds against prerecorded instruments. Also, if you are using the preamps on your mixer, do NOT tamper with EQ. Leave the nobs at zero. Better yet, if you have a separate preamp, skip the mixer altogether and go straight into the preamp, and then into the recorder.. Finally, don't make your decisions based on headphones, always listen to the sounds through the monitors.- Cyrokk
BASS:
Biggest problem in recording bands usually turns out to be who's gonna own the bottom octave of music. Everybody but the singer is fighting for that big bottom sound. Most bass amps tend to be a little sloppy, so we run them into an instrument input on our mic pres, or into our Ampeg SVT rackmount preamp, or a number of other boxes that will give us more control over the sound. Plus, I add a lot of top end while I'm tracking a bass, emphasizing string noise and the higher notes. - Harvey Gerst
SIMULTANEOUS direct input and mic usage: If you're taking a direct signal and mic'ing at the same time...then the 57 is probably an ideal mic for you. The direct signal will provide you with the really low-lows (that the 57 doesn't respond to), while the 57 will give you more of the punch and definition that the Direct signal might not deliver. It's a good combo. - chessrock