Microphones

Choosing the right microphone for your needs has become increasingly difficult with the splurge of options available today. You must first consider the main purpose you’ll be using the microphone for eg. live performance and/or studio recording.

The two most common types of microphones are:
Dynamic Mics:

• Cheapest option.
• Don’t require a power source.
• Will produce better results in a noisy recording space because they aren’t as sensitive as the condensor type.
• Work well on louder signals such as drum kits, guitar speaker cabinets & vocals (especially for live vocals). The Shure SM57 and SM58 are two very popular options and there are many generic versions of these microphones available on the market today.

Condensor Mics:

• They require power from either an onboard battery or phantom power from your soundcard or mixer
• They record from greater distances
• Capture higher frequencies
• Work well on stringed instruments, vocals, acoustic guitars & drum overheads

If you are planning to use the microphone for live performances only, then you should seriously consider the dynamic type. Condensor microphones are best suited for studio recording but they also require a very quiet recording space as they are extremely sensitive.

Condensor microphone polar patterns:

• Cardioid
• Figure-8
• Omni-directional

Condensor microphones come in a variety of polar patterns. The most common pattern is the cardioid type which captures sound mostly from the front of the microphone. The “figure-8″ pattern captures sound from the front and back and is useful for certain types of recording situations. Omni-directional microphones pick up sound from all directions and are ideal for capturing the full room sound. Some microphones have one fixed polar pattern while more expensive microphones have the ability to switch to two or more different polar patterns.

Check out our range of microphones for both studio and live purposes

D.I.Y. Recording Workshop - August 2008

We’d like to thank everyone who took time-out to participate in our D.I.Y. Recording Workshop. This was just the first recording workshop in a series we have planned which are aimed at educating keen home recording enthusiast’s of all levels. In this workshop we focused on the basics of home recording including computer and music equipment recommendations and basic audio tracking.

A big thanks to Lee from Innovative Music for his informative segment on microphones and the awesome Novation Nio sound-interface.  Thanks also to Hamish from Music Link who demonstrated the incredible versatility of the Line 6 Variax guitars.

Please feel free to contact us with any suitable suggestions you may have for our future recording workshops. We will keep all email subscribers posted on these up-coming events.