Chapter 5 - Microphones Blog Post - Posted on 2016-12-31 by Hunter White

Microphones are a very cool and well-used invention. Without the invention of the microphone, we wouldn't have radio shows, our favorite songs, or even television and movies like we know them to be. This chapter went over the history of the microphone, microphone specifications, and microphone circuit types. The first microphone was invented in 1876 and they have come a long, long way since then. I was taught that there are three different types of microphones. There is a condenser mic, ribbion mic, and dynamic microphones. Dynamic mics are used for mainly live concerts while condenser mics are used mostly for recording atmospheres. When using a microphone, there are four different types of pickup patterns. These are how the microphones record. For instance, when recording a person can choose if they want to record out of all sides of the microphone or if they only want to record out of one side of the mic. These different patterns have different names. There is an omni-directional pattern which means it records from every side. There is bidirectional which means it records from the frontside of the mic and from behind. Then there is hyper-cardiod, super cardiod, and ultra cardiod. 

This chapter allowed me to become a lot more knowledgable about a microphone. Before reading this chapter I had no idea there were different types of microphones, I just assumed there was only one. So thank you for teaching me.