Music Gizmo

It is an age old notion that costly microphones perform better than the cheap ones and can generate better music; but in recent times the trend has been changed somewhat. At moderate price, manufacturers are dishing out capable microphones; which are in fact copy of specifications of the costlier ones. So, one of the necessary objectives for a beginner would be to get good buying tips for a microphone from the professionals.

Know the purpose

The first and foremost thing is to know the purpose for which you are buying the mic. There can be various necessities for buying tips for a microphone. The need can be as varied as to be used in vocals, onstage or to use with an instrument, or even for recording. You might also want to buy a multipurpose mic that can help you in both or in other works also. There are quite a number of mics that are well used in studio, live recording or with an instrument. Shure SM57, is an example of a mic that can be used on stage and in recording musicals.

Know the Environment

One of the buying tips for a microphone given by the experts is the analysis of the playing place. You should try to match the gear and the mic with the environment. You should not spend money on buying costlier mic if you are planning to use it in the home environment where the acoustics are far less than ideal. Sensitivity of a mic is also a deciding factor on its price; so in case of a home environment a less receptive and less costly mic will do the job well and good. Performance of a mic also depends on the quality of the gears it is used with. High quality mic packages can guarantee you higher quality music otherwise it might work below par.

Want to know the specifications?

A good buying tip for a microphone is to understand the basic mechanism and terminology of a mic. Polar pattern is the shape of field of sensitivity of the mic. In other words it is the direction from which the signal is coming. An omnidirectional mic can capture music or sound from any direction; where a bi directional mic can respond to sounds coming from any two sides, neglecting the other two directions.

Unidirectional mic, as the name suggests, is for obtaining sound from one direction only. Unidirectional mic comes with three types, cardioid, hypercardioid and supercardioid. The cardioid mic is heart shaped. The name comes form the word cardiac. It rejects sounds from 180 degrees opposite of the mic facing direction. It is most sensitive straight on, along with the sides due to its shape.

The hypercardioid is able to catch more sound from beyond the range of 180 degrees but does not capture sounds that are coming from 90 or 270 degrees. Supercardioid, in fact, can accept a bit more sound from the range of 180 degrees direction but then from the sides the sound is captured the minimum than the other two.

These are some of the basic buying tips for a microphone, which a budding player should remember before investing in a costly microphone.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for music gear, speakers, and microphones. You can find the best marketplace for music gear, speakers, and microphones at these 3 sites: music gear, music equipment, speakers, and laser microphones, unidirectional microphone.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Microphones that are used most of the time are unidirectional or omnidirectional. The music artists who use microphones for conventional purposes employ the microphones according to their needs. Unidirectional microphone is a perfect instrument for one speaker or someone who is using a solo instrument.

Unidirectional microphones are the ones, which catch the music when the sound is aimed at its center. Omnidirectional microphone, on the other hand, can pick up sounds from any direction. The electronic pick up, which captures the sound, is placed in center of a mesh-covered dome.

The basic purposes of the omnidirectional microphones are same that are to receive vibrations from outside sources of music, and convert them to electronic signals. One of the discrete identification of the omnidirectional microphone is their distinctive rounded end.

A heavy mesh bulb inside the mesh covered dome, which gives protection to the sensitive electronics, is the heart of the mic. If outside particles or potentially unwanted objects enter the filament of the mic, it will cause disturbance in the working of the mic. The capturing of the music will be disrupted; as well the quality will get distorted. The mesh acts as a filter and lets only the sound element enter through it. Sometimes, a foam rubber shield is also used to give extended protection.

This foam rubber shield has another propose, that is to bar the wind and heavy breathing noise. One of the major concerns for omnidirectional microphone is the capture of the ambient noise. The thick wire mesh usually minimizes this problem also.

When a group of singers or instrumentalists performs, they use the omnidirectional microphone instead of the other variations. The mic is placed in a top position, like suspending from a ceiling, to facilitate picking up of the music. The instrumentalists who are in the group, for example, choral group, vocalist, pianist or guitarist, can place the mic in a position, which suits best.

In case of solo vocalists, they can use the omnidirectional microphones and still get the amplified effects. Unidirectional microphones, on the other hand, needs to be positioned in a suitable arrangement and the musicians and speakers are needed to seat accordingly.

One of the major drawbacks of the mic is that being a non human device it cannot differentiate between wanted and the unwanted sound or music. So, most of the times, the environmental sounds are also captured and amplified like the music. There are musicians and performers who want the background noise of the audience to be amplified but more often than not this is unwanted part of the recording. Unidirectional mic, however, is best suitable in picking up the foreground music only and not the backgrounders.

There are other problems, too, that a performer needs to take into account in case of the omnidirectional microphones. If the mic is placed near the speaker it has the chance of picking up irrelevant sounds, which get amplified by the mic and produce awkward noise. However, keeping all the drawbacks in mind, the mic creates more solution than the problem it creates.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for music gear, speakers, and microphones. You can find the best marketplace for music gear, speakers, and microphones at these 3 sites: music gear, music equipment, speakers, and laser microphones, omnidirectional microphone.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Perhaps the most directional and qualitative one among others is the shotgun microphone. By direction, we mean the directivity of the microphone that usually is defined by the shape. Between the two elements of a microphone, that is inner and outer, the inner elements determine the structural shape of the capsule and the outer is the interference tube. Moreover, this microphone has amazing audio quality and is best for using in TV, films and wildlife recordings.

Shotgun microphone used to be like an externally powered long condenser microphone, but after the modification it is now a long barreled one with acceptance angle. It is mainly used with the DV cams, especially for shooting documentaries and covering live events. It proves to be more fruitful even incase there is no sound recordist. Therefore, once it is mounted on the camcorder its performance begins. But it needs a good mount like the Universal Mini Mount that has two-inch height extension to remove the tip of the microphone from the upper portion of the picture. And this kind of extension is mainly necessary for the smaller camcorders.

Another method of using a shotgun microphone that is usually preferred by the professionals is boom mounting. The main benefit of using a shotgun in a boom pole is that it can be brought closer to the subject that will give better signal and will exclude ambience sound. Moreover, there will be richness in the sound.

However, the commonly used shotgun microphone brand is the Audio-Technical that provides various types of shotgun mikes that differ in the features in many ways. Like there is short shotgun super-directional microphone, stereo short shotgun super-directional microphone, ultra compact narrow acceptance short shotgun microphone, short shotgun condenser microphone, etc.

Their features are as follows:

Short shotgun super-directional microphone: This is the high performance shotgun that has outstanding long distance audio pick up as it has narrow acceptance angle of line. It is smooth and has natural sounding on-axis audio quality with off-axis rejection of sound from sides and rear of the microphone.

Stereo short shotgun super-directional microphone: Used mainly by the broadcasters, sound recordists, and videographers, this one has the quality stereo audio. It is compact; light weighted and is perfect for pistol grip, boom and camera mount. Moreover, it features switchable low frequency roll-off, independent line cardioids and figure of eight condenser elements. But it needs phantom powering.

Ultra compact narrow acceptance short shotgun microphone: It is primarily for the broadcast and video production audio acquisition and the shortest in the shotgun category. It is a high performance microphone that can be mounted on boom pole or DV camcorder. The noticeable quality is that it has good sound rejection from the sides and rear and it also has modified response that minimizes noise.

Short shotgun condenser microphone: It provides the facility of reproduction for close, medium, and long distance pick up of sound. There are different settings for different pick-ups like normal for close to medium pick up and tele for long distance. And in this tele range setting there is unidirectional condenser to pick up dialogs and sound effects at a distance, while removing the ambiance.

These are a few high quality shotgun microphones that are generally used by the professionals.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for music gear, speakers, and microphones. You can find the best marketplace for music gear, speakers, and microphones at these 3 sites: music gear, music equipment, speakers, and laser microphones, parabolic microphone.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com