A studio is a place where we can have the avail facility of sound recordings. According to the type of studio we can record bands, artists, conduct voiceover for commercials, cartoons, shows, movies etc. And from this definition it is clear that microphones are an invincible part of the studio. A microphone is nothing but an acoustic to electric transducer or sensor that has the capability to convert sounds into electrical signal.



The microphones as we know it today started as a telephone transmitter that was developed by Graham Bells and Elisha Gray in the year 1876. The word microphone originally came from Greek that means small voice. Gradually with the revolution in technology microphones now comes with a wide variety and definitely with much more improved versions.

With increasing needs and demands for various kinds of recordings there are variety of studio microphones that are available in the market today. Some of the important types are discussed below in detail.

USB Microphone:

It is one of the latest developments in Usb mic that contains almost all the components of traditional microphone like capsule; diaphragm etc. has got two additional circuits. The Usb microphone is considered as the latest buzz in the world of mobile digital recording and hence has gained an important position in studio recordings.

Condenser Microphones:

It consists of almost no moving parts and supports a very simple mechanical system. In fact it is one of the oldest types of microphones that originated in the early 1900. The structure of the condenser microphone is simply a thin stretched conductive diaphragm held with a backplate, which is nothing but a metal disk. When the pressure of sound comes on diaphragm it slightly vibrates in order to generate the waveform. This causes the capacitance to vary in a like manner, which causes a variance in its output voltage. All the types of condenser microphones work on these basic principles. U87 by Neumann is one of the popular examples of condenser microphone.

Dynamic microphone:

It generates audio signal through the motion of a conductor inside the range of a magnetic field. The thin, light diaphragm moves in accordance to the sound pressure. These microphones sometimes have the capability to absorb or handle very high quality sound pressure levels and commonly used when live telecast are concerned. Musical instruments like electric guitars, drums etc. are recorded in studio through this dynamic microphone. Hand held SM58 by Shure is one of the examples of this type of microphone.

Ribbon Microphone:

It is a type of velocity microphone that responds to the velocity of air molecules by passing through it other than the sound pressure level, a characteristic that most of other microphones respond to. It works by a loose suspended small element, generally a corrugated strip of metal in a strong magnetic field. One interesting fact about this microphone is that they were the first commercially successful directional microphones. R121 of Royer is a popular ribbon microphone.

In the world of entertainment, studios play an important role because this is the only place where perfection in the sound field and music could become more and more melodious. So, studio microphones have got important roles to play today and in times to come.