Microphone Capsules
For musicians and enthusiasts, in this section, we will delve into an indispensable element of the microphone, a key component in any audio chain, namely the microphone capsule. How many times have you found yourself in a musical instruments store unaware of its real importance? The capsule is generally considered the heart of every microphone. There are essentially two types of capsules available in the market: dynamic and condenser capsules. To understand their characteristics, one needs to grasp, from a technical standpoint, the functioning of the microphone to which they are applied.
Dynamic microphones are based on an electrostatic principle whereby a coil, stimulated by sound waves hitting the microphone capsule, moves back and forth within a permanent magnetic field generated by a magnet inside the microphone capsule. According to a complex physical principle, a potential difference, let's say an electrical signal, with a wave equal to the sound wave that hit the microphone capsule, is created across the ends of the coil (similar to a spring). The operation of condenser microphones is similar but based on an electrodynamical principle. A condenser is an electronic element charged with a certain amount of electrical charge, and composed of two armatures, like two walls, generally one fixed and one movable; as the distance between these changes, the condenser will generate a potential difference between its armatures. In a condenser microphone, one of the two armatures is the capsule onto which the sound hits, creating an electrical wave output equal to the incident sound wave.
The Best Microphone Capsules in the Musical Instruments Store
Depending on the occasions when you will use your microphone, you can understand which capsule is more suited to your needs. Our musical instruments store guarantees the necessary assistance to clarify any doubts and guide you to a reasoned purchase to avoid unpleasant surprises when using the device.
The microphone capsule is the soul of every microphone. Thanks to it, the pressure of sound waves generated by a source such as the human voice, a musical instrument, or any other environmental sound, can be transduced into electrical impulses necessary for amplification, recording, and all other uses presupposed by modern audio technologies.
The technologies and types of microphone capsules and therefore of microphones in general are numerous, and among these, we list some types of microphones such as: dynamic, panoramic, condenser, directional, cardioid, supercardioid, hypercardioid, omnidirectional, etc.
The choice of the right type of microphone depends on the use and the sound source to be amplified and the origin of the sounds to be amplified. For example, a cardioid microphone is one that can capture sounds that come from the front in a heart-shaped hypothetical arrangement, not picking up sounds from the back and too laterally. The supercardioid, on the other hand, can broaden the sensitivity of sounds to the sides, the hypercardioid is halfway between a supercardioid and an omnidirectional. The omnidirectional, of course, captures sounds coming from any part.