Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Microphones

Microphones are everywhere in our digital world today. Odds are your work or learning has recently required you to work remotely, and you’ve discovered you need a better mic than the one that’s built into your laptop or phone. If you’ve tried using the built-in mic and speakers, you’ve probably heard from the other side that it’s hard to hear you. Or if you’ve been on the receiving end, heard audio dropping in and out, or gotten feedback through your speakers.

It’s a good idea to invest in a quality mic if you’re doing remote meetings, streaming, or making videos of your own to avoid these problems. There are a lot of choices out there, and the different types, brands, and price points can be more than a little overwhelming. How do you choose the right microphone?

In this article, we’re going to look at how you can make effortless choices when you’re shopping for a microphone. At the end, we’ll share a handful of great microphone options that work well for Zoom lessons, home recording, or streaming. You can skip down to the end to read our suggestions, or keep reading to learn more about mics.

How Microphones Work

Before we start talking about what mics to get, let’s learn a little about microphones themselves. We’ll just go over the basics here, but for a more in-depth look at microphones, how they work, and how best to use them, we have a forthcoming introductory course on home recording that will go into more detail. Subscribe to our mailing list to get notified when it’s released.

Let’s start with a little vocabulary. There are two main types of microphones you might generally consider for home recording or streaming use: dynamic microphones and condenser microphones. Both types come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and specialties, but most microphones fall under these two overarching categories.

Microphones are a type of transducer, which is a fancy word that describes a device that converts one type of energy into another. In the case of microphones, that means converting sound waves into electrical impulses. The active component in a mic that does this is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is made of a thin piece of material, which could be some synthetic material, or a piece of metal. When sound waves hit the diaphragm, it vibrates along with the sound waves. The microphone then takes that vibration and translates it into electrical information that gets sent out to its next destination, whether that might be a mixer, an audio interface, or something else.

You Get What You Pay For

As in most cases, the “you get what you pay for” idiom holds water here. You can absolutely buy a cheap microphone that will, more or less, do what a microphone is supposed to do. How well it does that depends on your knowledge of what you’re investing in. Beyond a certain point, lower prices translates to lower quality components. Low quality components means a low quality audio signal.

When shopping for a mic, you’ll want to be familiar with the terms SPL, frequency response, and impedance as well. Both frequency response and impedance should be readily available on a mic’s specifications wherever you’re shopping. SPL is something you’ll see primarily on condenser microphones.

Sound Pressure Level

Sound pressure level, or SPL, is the measure of sound pressure in the air. We express SPL in decibels (dB). This number on a microphone spec sheet tells you how loud a sound can get before it starts to audibly distort your mic. As mentioned, condenser mic sheets report this spec more often than dynamic ones, the difference between which we’ll explore a little further below.

Frequency Response

Frequency response is a measure of how well a mic picks up different frequencies, or pitches. We measure frequency on a spectrum, usually from the range of the average human’s hearing (20Hz-20,000Hz). Typically you’ll see this either as a range from a low frequency to a high frequency, measured in Hertz (Hz). Lower pitches like the sounds from a bass drum or a tuba have lower frequencies than higher pitches like a violin or flute. Knowing a mic’s frequency response can help you decide whether it’s a good choice for you.

In addition to range, many microphones also have biases toward or against specific frequencies. You can see this on a frequency response graph like this one from mediacollege.com. Generally speaking, a microphone with a flat frequency response (the graph looks fairly balanced across the spectrum) is a good all-around mic for many applications. One that has spikes or troughs along the spectrum would suggest the mic is more specialized.

Impedance

Impedance is a measure of resistance to flow of current. A lower impedance means there is less resistance for the signal from the microphone to flow into the next component in your signal chain. Generally speaking, lower impedance means better components. Lower impedance also means great signal fidelity over longer cable runs. While that won’t affect most home studio applications, it’s good to know that if you ever have to run a long cable you won’t lose quality. On some cheaper microphones you might notice this number quite a bit higher than on some of the mics we’ll highlight here. This can be a sign of a mic having cheaper components.

The Subjective Stuff

Microphones vary in a number of other ways. The rest are less focused on quality so much as they are on purpose. We’ll take a look at three ways they can differ. One is the method they use to pick up sounds. Next is the active area around the microphone that is useful. Last is the method they use to translate audio into digital information.

Dynamic Microphones

Dynamic microphones are generally known for being rugged and affordable. They’re rugged in two ways. First, they have much less fragile components. Second, their design allows them to handle higher levels of sound. Sound pressure level, or SPL, is the measure of the relative pressure of a sound, and the figure you’ll see on spec sheets that tells you the maximum loudness a mic can take before it distorts. Distortion, or clipping, is a crackling or compression of a sound that differs from its source.

Dynamic mics also tend to be biased toward certain frequencies of sounds, and need to be pretty close to the sound source to get the best results. While that might not sound like a great all-around option, this can actually be really beneficial when you want to focus on a specific sound and focus on other sounds. There’s another strategy you can use to isolate sound sources that we’ll cover a little later in this article.

Condenser Microphones

Condenser mics are commonly used on the voice, especially in singing. They tend to be more fragile than their dynamic counterparts, and are often more expensive. While they are less durable than dynamic mics, they do a much better job of capturing detail. They also require electrical current in order to capture sound. Often referred to as “phantom power” or “+48V,” this current allows the capsule of the condenser mic to work. Condenser mics also generally operate at a lower max SPL than dynamic mics.

You might find condenser microphones described as having a “flat frequency response.” This means that condenser mics have fewer biases along the length of the audio spectrum. This is generally good for capturing sounds in a way that’s very similar to how you might hear them in a room. For this reason, condenser mics are very popular for recording voice. In the case of a streamed video lesson like we do here at The Lesson Foundry, this would be a great solution for many musicians too. Even for louder instruments, like trumpet or percussion, distancing the microphone a bit from the sound source can work wonders.

Polar Patterns

Now that we’ve looked at the basic differences between dynamic and condenser mics, let’s talk about polar patterns. As we mentioned earlier, different microphones have different pickup areas that are useful for accepting sounds. These designs allow mics to be specialized for different uses. Polar patterns generally fall into three big categories: cardioid, bidirectional, or omnidirectional.

The Cardioid Polar Pattern

Above is an example of what you might find on a microphone spec sheet. This is a cardioid polar pattern. How do you read this graph? Imagine the center of the circle is the capsule or diaphragm of the mic seen from above. The degree values show the direction sound can come from relative to the front. A value of zero degrees means the sound is coming from directly in front of the mic’s diaphragm. Ninety degrees would be directly from the side of the mic.

The upside-down heart shape of the cardioid pattern shows that this particular microphone does a really great job picking up sound straight across from it. The further it is rotated away (toward 180 degrees) from the sound source, the less sensitive it becomes to that sound. Another way to look at it would be to say it does a great job rejecting sound from 180 degrees away from the diaphragm.

A mic with a cardioid pattern might be a great solution to pick up just one specific sound source and not a lot of other sounds. These are a great choice for video streaming or conference calls, and you’ll find that most popular microphones for this purpose fall into this category.

Other Polar Patterns

The two other polar patterns, bidirectional (also known as “figure-eight”), and omnidirectional, are less useful in the streaming and conference call applications. However, they do have their own uses as well. Figure-eight mics can pick up sounds from either side of their diaphragms. This means they’re a great single-mic solution for face-to-face interviews. Omnidirectional microphones can pick up from all around them, and are great for live conferences that need to be recorded or broadcast.

This list is not exhaustive. Other more specialized polar patterns exist as well, and some microphones out there actually have switchable polar patterns. To learn more, be sure to keep an eye out for our home recording class coming soon!

Converting Audio to Digital

If you’re planning to use a microphone to record sound to a computer, or to send it through a stream like a Zoom call, you’ll need a device that can convert that audio from an analog signal into digital. There are two ways we can translate sounds into information computers can understand.

All-Analog Mics

Most professional or project-level microphones have an XLR output. That output connects to a wide array of gear that accepts analog audio via an XLR cable, like in the image below.

If you plan to use an XLR microphone, you’ll need a separate device, called an audio interface, that converts this analog signal into something your computer can understand. We won’t cover that process in great detail here, but you can learn more from us at a later time with a forthcoming article, and our upcoming introductory home recording class.

The big advantage to choosing this method is that you can switch or upgrade microphones easily to accommodate different situations. For example, you might start with an inexpensive dynamic microphone, but later decide to upgrade to a much nicer condenser. Or, you can have different mics for different sound sources, such as one for voice and one for trumpet.

All-in-One Mics

The other option is to get an all-in-one solution, the USB microphone. These microphones have all the analog-to-digital conversion components built in. A single USB cable connects these mics to your computer. This option offers a number of benefits. Having all the functions in one device is convenient, takes up less physical space, and takes fewer cables to get you up and running. If you’re mobile or you can’t dedicate a lot of desk space, this is a great option. USB mics also tend to be a less expensive solution.

Like the expression “jack of all trades, master of none,” USB mics do it all, but aren’t the best at it. The microphones themselves can produce pretty high quality results, but cramming all the necessary parts into one mic means they may not perform as well as a dedicated mic and interface might. The other challenge is that while audio interfaces offer both analog to digital (sound to computer) and digital to analog (computer to speaker) conversion, USB microphones generally can’t do the latter, and aren’t the most powerful at the former. Having a dedicated digital to analog converter is good because it takes some of the processing away from your computer, allowing it to do a better job at handling other tasks, like managing a streamed video conference!

Our Powerhouse Microphone Recommendations

A quick Google search will tell you, endless options abound when you’re looking for a good mic. We put together a list of mics that won’t break your wallet that also happen to be excellent performers, especially for video streaming and conferences.

Audio Technica AT2020 & AT2020USB

This microphone has been on a ton of must-buy lists at this price range since it came out in 2004, and there’s a reason why. This cardioid condenser mic has a broad, flat frequency response all across the audio spectrum and can handle a high sound pressure level. This microphone is a great all-around option that works well for voice, acoustic instruments, and even louder sounds too. Audio Technica graciously offers this both in XLR format at just $99, and a USB version that plugs straight into your computer for $149.

The XLR version will require phantom power, while the USB version gets power directly through your USB cable. The downside to the USB version of this mic is that it has no gain control. This means the mic automatically sets your input level. In most cases, this shouldn’t be a big problem. Learn more about the AT2020 below.

Zoom ZDM-1

This end-address dynamic microphone from Zoom (unrelated to the video conferencing company, by the way), is an excellent and affordable mic. Designed as an affordable podcast mic, it is geared well toward a clear response for voice. It comes in at an impressive $79, making this a nice upgrade from a less expensive mic solution. Like all XLR mics, you will need an audio interface to get the audio into your computer, but being a dynamic mic means it doesn’t require phantom power.

On the down side, Zoom Corp reports the frequency response at 50 – 18,000 Hz, meaning this mic might sound a little “warmer” than a condenser counterpart that can register those upper frequencies near the top of human hearing. If you’re using this for voice, that should pose no trouble at all, but on other instruments you might find it lacking. Learn more about the ZDM-1 below.

Shure SM57 and SM58

These two microphones are the workhouses of the live sound industry, and with good reason. Even if you’re not super familiar with microphones there’s a pretty decent chance you’ve seen these names come up before. Lauded as some of the most rugged microphones around, both the SM57 and SM58 also do an excellent job in the midrange frequency departments. Both are cardioid polar pattern mics. Being dynamic microphones, they respond best when they’re close to the sound source, which makes them great at rejecting unwanted noise.

The SM57’s design lends it more to be useful for instruments, while the 58 is more geared toward voice, but both can handle either application well, including the loudest sources. Both are priced right around $99. While they are extremely durable, they do have a less broad frequency response than a condenser microphone. Learn more about the SM57 and SM58 below.

Røde NT-USB

The Røde NT-USB microphone is a great USB microphone option that offers a cardioid polar pattern, a wide frequency response from 20 – 20,000 Hz, and an included pop filter to help manage the plosive and sibilant sounds. It also includes a desktop stand. The NT-USB has a sturdy metal construction like its bigger cousins in the Røde mic family. It also features a headphone output right on the microphone body for zero-latency monitoring. This mic is a little more expensive than the Audio Technica offering, coming in at $169.

A couple cons to this mic are, it does not have a gain control to set the input level, meaning the microphone does this automatically. In many cases, this is okay, but it might not always do the best job. It would be a nice feature to be able to adjust this. Apart from that, this is a solid microphone, and it can serve well in a video conference or voice recording setting. Learn more about the Røde NT-USB below.

Blue Yeti USB

The Blue Yeti USB has been the most popular USB microphone out there for years, and there’s a good reason why. It’s great at what it does, and offers a little more versatility than the competition in the same relative price point. The Blue Yeti USB retails now for around $129. It features the ability to change polar patterns, a frequency response from 20 – 20,000 Hz, and a higher SPL handling than some of the competition.

Like the Røde, the Yeti also features a headphone output for monitoring without latency, with the added bonus of a mute button right on the mic. A rugged metal construction and sturdy integrated stand make this a great desktop microphone. This mic is a plug-and-play solution, too. You don’t need to install driver software for it to work. The Yeti also features a gain control, unlike the competition, so you can set your input level on the microphone.

In addition to the usual downsides that come with all USB microphones, the Blue Yeti does have some cons. It is a pretty heavy microphone with a pretty substantial stand. There is also no included pop filter, and it is pretty susceptible to pops and clicks. To learn more about the Blue Yeti USB, click the image or link below.

Scratched the Surface

Well, now that we’ve covered a lot of the fundamentals, you should have a much better understanding of how mics work. Or at the very least, you have a handful of ideas to help you on your mic shopping adventure. But we’ve only just scratched the surface. If you’re interested in a deeper dive or more information about all of this, more posts are coming soon. And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to comment below. We would be glad to help however we can!