ABSTRACT
In the earliest days of sound films, cameras had to be housed in small padded booths on the large shooting stages in use at that time to prevent their very audible mechanical noise from being picked up by the microphones. Microphones are fundamental to film and video sound for use in capturing the sounds present on a set, in a sound-effects gathering expedition, on a scoring stage, and in converting the sound into an electrical voltage proportional to the amplitude of the acoustic waveform, varying moment by moment. In production sound recording, and for sound effects recording both on Foley stages and in the field, the general practice is to minimize reverberation as much as possible. Using a more directional microphone generally leads to recording with a higher ratio of direct sound to reverberation, with the intended source emphasized and reverberation deemphasized.
