ABSTRACT
Microphones, or mics, are used to capture a sound much like people ears. Microphones are one of an audio engineer's finest tools. When choosing a microphone, there are three major categories to consider: transducer/element type, directional characteristic and frequency response. Every microphone choice is like a stroke of the brush adding texture, tone, and color. Which microphones people choose can influence whether a recording is bright or dark, edgy or mellow, or muddy or clear. Three steps are involved in recording: capturing the sound, storing the sound, and listening back to the sound. Directional characteristics determine how isolated a sound will be from other sounds and how much environment will be heard in the recorded sound. A microphone with a non-linear frequency response will color or alter the way the source sounds and will not capture the source in a transparent way. Common ribbon microphones include: Royer R-121 or R-122, RCA 44, Beyerdynamic M 160, and Cascade Fat Head.
