TheAudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourse

MODULE02:MICROPHONES

Introduction

Thepurposeofthismoduleistogiveyoualltheknowledgeandunderstandingyouneedtobeable
tousemicrophoneseffectively.Youshouldnotehoweverthatthisisjustthestart.Microphone
techniqueisaskill,acraftandanart.Yes,itisallbasedonafirmfoundationofscientificand
engineeringknowledge.Butyouneedtopractisethatartandthemoreyoupractise,overaperiod
ofyears,thebetteryouwillbecome.Eventuallyyouwillcometoapointwhereyoucanjustlookat
anensembleofinstrumentsandknowwheretopositionthemicrophones.Butyouwillalwayslisten,
thencorrectandfinetunethemicrophonepositions.

Themostimportantfeatureofmicrophonetechniqueistheabilitytoselecttherighttypeof
microphoneandpositionitwell.Butyouwillalsofindthatdifferentmodelsofmicrophonehave
theirownindividualsoundqualities.Choosingthecorrectmodelofmicrophoneisrarelymakeor
break.Ifthetaskinhandrequiresalargediaphragmcapacitormicrophone,thenyouwillbeableto
achieveprofessionalresultswithanymicrophoneofthattype.Ofcourseitmustbeofprofessional
qualityandworkingproperly.Butasyoucometoappreciatethesubtledifferencesbetweenmodels,
thenyouwillfindyourself,forexample,choosingtheNeumannM147insteadoftheAKGC12VR,or
perhapsviceversadependingonthetask.

Thepracticalassignmentprojectforthismodulewillencourageyoutolistenverycloselytoyour
microphones,andcomparethesoundqualitiesofwhichtheyarecapable.Ifyouonlyhaveone
microphone,thenyourworkwillbelimited.Evenso,itispossibletolearnalotabouthow
microphonesbehaveinarealliferecordingsituation,justbystudyingthesoundofonemic.

Theaudioexamplematerialinthismodulewillshowyouhowaselectionofdifferentmicrophones
sound,onspeech,singingandpercussivesoundsources.Thesearesoundsthatdemonstratewell
thesometimessubtle,sometimeblatantlyobviousdifferencesbetweenmicrophonetypesand
models.

Ifittakeslongerthanthenormalweeklyscheduletocompletethismoduleandyourpractical
assignmentproject,dontworry.Itisbettertodoeverythingtothebestofyourabilityratherthan
rush,evenintheslightest.

Goodluck!

DavidMellor
CourseDirector,AudioMasterclass

AudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourseModule02Introduction