[I taught REC113Mi Microphone Theory and Application at McNally Smith College of Music for about ten years. This page was designed as a resource for my students. However, if the information on this page is useful to you, I'm glad to have been assistance.]
Specifications & Polar Patterns
- DPA Microphones' "How to Read Microphone Specifications.pdf" All DPA literature is excellent and these two PDF documents are packed with valuable information and useful application tips.
- DPA Microphone's "Directional vs. Omnidirectional Microphones" pdf
- DPA Microphone's "Large vs. Small Diaphragms in Omnidirectional Microphones" pdf
- Shure Microphone's "Unique Directional Properties of Dual-Diaphragm Microphones"
- AudioTechnica Microphones 101: YouTube Dynamic vs. Condenser Microphones Discussion
- Shiny Box Audio's Ribbon Microphones and Phantom Power Discussion. (This video is sort of right. Modern ribbons are fairly insensitive to properly applied phantom power. Many vintage ribbon mics, however, can not tolerate phantom in any form.)
- Heil Sound's Microphone Primer website and It All Starts with the Microphone (PDF Version) Bob Heil is a R&R Hall of Famer, mostly because of his early live sound system design and operation days. Along with Joe Walsh (probably for financing), Bob started Heil Sound Microphones a few years ago and is making a run at being a quality producer of moving-coil microphones. This is a fairly accurate, if biased, explanation of microphone specifications, operation, and theory. (NOTE: Watch out for strange statements like "Because of the tremendous rear rejection of the large diaphragm Heil microphones, most of the models exhibit a pattern not unlike an Omni mic." Obviously, this makes no sense and there are more than a few gems like this in the "technical" portions of the document.)
Microphone Application Resources
- Shure Microphone's "Microphone Techniques for Recording"
- Shure Microphone's "Microphone Techniques for Live Sound Reinforcement"
- Shure Microphone's "Microphone Techniques for Drums"
- Shure Microphone's "Microphones and Multitracks"
- Shure Microphone's "Simon Phillips on Miking his Drum Kit"
- WikiBooks Microphone Techniques Handbook file
- YouTube Stereo Microphone Technique Video
- YouTube Mid-Side Stereo Technique Video
- RecordingHacks.com's video description of how Royer Ribbon mics are made.
- RecordingHacks.com's video description of how the Neuman U87 is made.
Microphone Accessories and Other Equipment
- Rane's "Selecting Mic Preamps" pdf
- ProCo's "How to Pick a Microphone Cable" pdf
- Wired Magazine's "Extreme Audiophiles Take Microphones to Next Level"
Industry Standard Microphone Reviews
- Studio TV's "Shure SM58 - the world's toughest microphone?"
- YouTube Sennheiser ME66-K6 Microphone Product Review
- CGR's Behind the Scenes: RE-20 Microphone Audio Recording
- Shure Microphone's "The Shure Unidyne Microphone Story"
Other Stuff
- The Role of Critical Distance in Overall Microphone Placement (ProSoundNews article)
- myMicSound's "Find your favorite microphone by listening" webpage. Listen to and compare a few microphones. This resource will be more valuable to you after you'd done some experiments of your own, but it's interesting even without that background.
- YouTube Audi's Sound Studio (This is just totally cool. Talk about a 'great job,' these guys have it made.)
- 12 Gauge Microphones
- AB and ABX demonstrations are tricky and these guys prove how marginally useful such a test can be. A semi-interesting demonstration of different microphones (in different positions) on a snare drum:
- And the same group plays with the kick:
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