Dynamic Microphones; ideal for general purpose use. They use a simple design with few moving parts. Dynamic microphones are better suited to handling volume.
http://www.hitsquad.com/different-types-of-microphones/
‘Generally, they have a lightweight diaphragm and a small coil of wire that works together to produce small electrical outputs that have to be amplified to be reproduced. Since it does not require overly sensitive electronics, it can be built to be robust, moisture resistant, and relatively inexpensive – making them road worthy and ideal for stage and live performance use.’
The only downside to a Dynamic Microphone is its inability to pick up high frequencies accurately, which means that there is barely any detail in the sound that is being recorded, it only picks up sound close to the microphone. Dynamic Microphones can handle high sound pressure levels, they are also better with feedback sound. It’s a Microphone that should mostly be used for stage plays or singers singing on a stage as there is a better chance of picking up the singers voice. The best selling Microphone in the world is a Dynamic Microphone called a Shure SM57.
Condenser Microphones; Requires power from batteries or an external source. The audio signal from this microphone is stronger than that from a dynamic microphone, it’s also sensitive to loud sound.
http://www.hitsquad.com/different-types-of-microphones/
‘It was invented at Bell labs back in 1916 and was also called a capacitor microphone, up to this day the core concept behind the design of condenser mics remain relatively unchanged’
These Microphones are able to catch the full detail of any Audio, they have a pair of electrified conducting plates and a small built-in preamplifier. This helps this certain type of Microphone helps them to respond and reproduce sound a little more accurately. A useful feature to a Condenser Microphone is the fact they can switch pickup patterns. The brands of these Microphones include Rode and Neumman.
Lapel Microphone; attaches to your shirt, used in interviews.
‘When you are out shooting and recording someone’s speech is critical to your final video quality, using your camera’s on-board microphone, or even a shotgun mic may not be your best option. In cases where your purpose is to capture a subject’s voice, (e.g. public speaking engagements, talking head interviews, etc…), you’ll want to consider a lavalier microphone, also called a “lav” or lapel mic.
Source: When & How to Use Wireless Lavalier Microphones (Lapel Mics) for Video http://tubularinsights.com/wireless-lavalier-mic/#ixzz4NKk0MBvT
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Polar Pick Up Patterns;
Omnidirectional – Pick up audio equally well in all directions.
http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/What-are-omnidirectional-microphones
‘Omnidirectional microphones are microphones that pick up sound with equal gain from all sides or directions of the microphone. This means that whether a user speaks into the microphone from the front, back, left or right side, the microphone will record the signals all with equal gain. Omnidirectional microphones have a polar plot which is circular, because it records sound from all directions, 0º to 360º, with equal gain. The polar plot image shown is a typical polar plot response of an omnidirectional microphone. You can see the circular pattern. So whether a user speaks into the microphone from any direction or angle, the same gain will be achieved. Omnidirectional microphones are advantageous over undirectional microphones in that they allow greater flexibility in the directionality of sound pick-up. Stated again, a user can speak into any side of the microphone and it will still pick up good gain from all sides. This can be very useful in applications where sound needs to be recorded from multiple directions. An example of this may be a musical performance where there is a band of musical instruments in front and a choir singing behind. A undirectional microphone would only be able to pick up one of the two with good gain while recording the other very lowly, if at all.’
http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/What-are-cardioid-microphones
Cardioid – ‘Heart shaped’ pattern, can also be considered unidirectional, it picks up sound within 120 degrees.
‘Cardioid Microphones are microphones that pick up sounds with high gain from the front and sides but poorly from the rear. Cardioid microphones are named for the fact that their directional sound pick-up is roughly heart-shaped in nature.’
‘Cardioid microphones are used in applications where sound needs to be picked up from the front and sides but not the rear. An example of this may be musical performance where a singer may be singing in the front, a band playing instruments on the sides, with an audience of viewers in the back. In a scenario, it may be desired only to record the music, the singer in front and band on the sides, but not the audience in the rear. For this type of scenario, cardioid microphones have great use and application.’
Hyper-cardioid – Similar to Cardioid but have a tighter 100 degrees pick up. They project more sound from the side and pick up a little from behind.
‘A hyper cardioid mic is like a super cardioid on steroids; the front pickup angle is even narrower and focused, which results in greater rejection of unwanted noise and feedback. To give you an idea, the typical pickup angle on a super cardioid mic is around 115 degrees, whereas a hyper cardioid can be as low as 105 degrees. This increased focus is especially beneficial when operating in very loud stage environments where unwanted sound bleeding back into the mic can be a real headache. Controlling bleed is imperative on a loud stage; because, if left unchecked, it can result in a washy, unfocused sound – or even worse, feedback. When used correctly, a hyper cardioid mic is your best defence against troublesome stage noise thanks to superior off-axis rejection.’
How is sound picked up?
Supercardoid – Offer a tighter pick up angle than a cardioid, offers more side rejection. Sensitive to sound sources behind it, directly in front of the mic.
- They are the most resistant to feed back.
- They are used for single sound sources, need to be picked up in loud environments.
Bidirectional or figure eight polar pattern;
What does it look like?
It’s shaped like an eight.
How is sound picked up?
Sensitive to sounds coming from the front and rear of the microphone.
What types of situations are they used for?
Narrow pickup angle, which makes them useful for isolating one voice, or instruments that are surrounded by other sound sources, as long as there is nothing directly behind the mic.
For the practical lesson, we recorded sounds in different locations to see what we could pick up;
We also wrote up about where the mic was placed in each direction and what we could hear from each direction;
In the café, the mic was facing away from us; we could hear people talking to the right of us, we could hear keys to the left of us, a humming refrigerator as a background noise from behind us and we could also hear people moving around to the side of us. Outside the student union, the microphone was faced away from us and to the right of us we could hear people playing ping pong and to the left people playing foosball. Over the other side of the courtyard, we could hear people talking and behind us, the games being played inside.
Outside of the college by the carpark we faced the microphone away from us to face the cars so the microphone could pick up the movement of the cars. We could hear seagulls to the right of us, cars in front of us, motorbikes starting up behind us and people talking to the left of us.
What did you learn from the task?
From this task I learnt how different microphone’s work and how important each of them are and that you need a certain microphone to make sure the sound is correct and sounds good. I learnt how easy it is to make Foley sound effects and when I would have to use them e.g. crackling of fire, I would use a piece of plastic and crunch it up in my hand to create the effect. I also learnt some Foley sounds are harder to create and you have to put quite a lot of thought and effort into being a Foley engineer.
What worked well?
The use of the taps in the bathroom to create running water but at a much more sensitive and higher level resulting in the effect of realistic running water, minus the sound of people around the bathroom that the device was picking up.
What would you change next time?
Next time I would change the way we recorded the Foley effect of a galloping horse, we used a can and tapped it against a wall but it wasn’t very effective.
Jessica Foster 
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