Week 3

This week we saw the different kinds of microphones, which was very interesting. I always see types of microphones on tv, on shows, on concerts, etc., but I never know which one is for what type of work. To learn that microphones act in the same way than my ears do is nice and it helps me to understand the process that happens when a sound is played. The transients are the sharp changes in the sound waves, they are the sounds that we sometimes hear at the beginning of a song (a mistake, to be clearer). The ''ribbon type'' and the ''dynamic/moving coil type'' are both magnetic. The first one is used on live shows, for singers, for the drums or for the percussive sounds with a sharp attack. The second one is used with rich instruments and voices. It is useful for studio recording. The ''condensor/capacitor type'' is electric and works with negative electrons. The electrons change with the movement of the diaphragm in relation to a plate with a charger and this microphone needs to be amplified. There are a lot of pick-up patterns, but we talked about ; the omni-directional, the bi-directional, the cardiotic and the shotgun. (If I knew how, I would have insert images about it ...) We also saw the miking techniques ; the A-B Miking (which is when you use two microphones, both directed to the same place) ; the X-Y Miking (which consists in putting two microphones in an 90 degree angle) ; and the Mid-side Miking (which is when you don't use two microphones on opposite directions, but one in the middle). And to complete all of this, we talked about how to avoid cancellations or bad phases while we are recording sound.